Freethought & Rationalism Archive

phaedrus · 04-06-2002, 01:43 AM

During my existence on this planet have come across some quotes which i liked and which were close to my beliefs and some i like just for heck of it coz they sound good. Most are to do with philosophy (not just the academic one, but life in general). Would love to hear favourites of others here. Am starting off with a few of my own (have tried to give sources wherever i can, but some of them are through secondary sources)

Quote:

I respect faith, but doubt is what gives me an understanding and education - Anonymous

Quote:

Philosophy may in no way interfere with the actual use of language; it can in the end only describe it. For it cannot give it any foundation either. It leaves everything as it is.
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

Quote:

All beginnings lie in the darkness, and what is more, they can be illuminated only in the light of what came later and from the perspective of what followed � Gadamer

Quote:

We are now in the process of wakening from the nightmare of modernity, with its manipulative reason and fetish of the totality, into the laid-back ["joyful," as Nietzsche would say] pluralism of the postmodern, that heterogeneous range of life-styles and language games which has renounced the nostalgic urge to totalize and legitimate itself....Science and philosophy must jettison their grandiose metaphysical claims and view themselves more modestly as just another set of narratives.-Terry Eagleton

Quote:

In passing from history to nature, myth acts economically: it abolishes the complexity of human acts, it gives them the simplicity of essences, it does away with all dialectics, with any going back beyond what is immediately visible, it organizes a world which is without contradictions because it is without depth, a world wide open and wallowing in the evident, it establishes a blissful clarity: things appear to mean something by themselves. - Roland Barthes : Mythologies

hezekiah jones · 04-06-2002, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Existentialism is nothing else than an attempt to draw all the consequences of a coherent atheistic position. It isn't trying to plunge man into despair at all. But if one calls every attitude of unbelief despair, like the Christians, then the word is not being used in its original sense. Existentialism isn't so atheistic that it wears itself out showing that God doesn't exist. Rather, it declares that even if God did exist, that would change nothing.

There you've got our point of view. Not that we believe that God exists, but we think that the problem of His existence is not the issue. In this sense existentialism is optimistic, a doctrine of action, and it is plain dishonesty for Christians to make no distinction between their own despair and ours and then to call us despairing.

- Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions.

Quote:

If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

- David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

The Admiral · 04-06-2002, 05:29 PM

"To know that one is ignorant is the beginning of wisdom". I don't know who originated that one, but I like it because I know that I am ignorant.

The Admiral

ex-preacher · 04-06-2002, 06:01 PM

"Life ain't nothing but a funny, funny riddle."
-John Denver

tempest · 04-06-2002, 06:53 PM

Of what is real, Heraclitus said around 500 BC,
- "In the same river we both step and do not step, we are and we are not."

Ever since I've read that, I've always been right.

Viti · 04-06-2002, 07:19 PM

Quote:

...We share this billion-mile-an-hour ride. We have a common cause against the night. You start with little common causes. -Ray Bradbury Something Wicked This Way Comes

Quote:

The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance...logic can be happily tossed out the window. -Stephen King

[ April 06, 2002: Message edited by: LadyShea ]</p>

04-06-2002, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ex-preacher:
<strong>"Life ain't nothing but a funny, funny riddle."
-John Denver</strong>

Quote:

Thank God I'm a country boy!

... eh, uh.. , oh

David Bowden · 04-08-2002, 07:09 AM

"Be either a philosopher or one of the mob."
-Epictetus, Enchiridion

"It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."
-Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. VI

"It is a part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate."
-Thomas Jefferson

"Everything that is useful to the whole business of living together in a civilized way is energy well spent."
-Italo Calvino

"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."
-Reinhold Niebuhr

"It will be true in the next millennium as it was in this, that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Pay the price."
-Norman Lear

"The end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue."
-Alexander the Great, according to Plutarch

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."
-Winston Churchill

Ubi dubium ibi libertas. (Where there is doubt there is freedom.)
-quoted in Sagan's Demon-Haunted World, ch 24

"All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have."
-Albert Einstein

"I shall always tell you," her aunt answered, "whenever I see you taking what seems to me too much liberty."
"Pray do; but I don't say I shall always think your remonstrances just."
"Very likely not. You're too fond of your own ways."
"Yes, I think I'm very fond of them. But I always want to know the things one shouldn't do."
"So as to do them?" asked her aunt.
"So as to choose," said Isabel.
-Henry James, Portrait of a Lady

"Logic is neither a science nor an art, but a dodge."
-Benjamin Jowett
(

)

Finally, a short poem by Danish writer Piet Hein:

The road to Wisdom?
Well, it's plain
and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less.

[edited to correct spelling.]

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: wide-eyed wanderer ]</p>

phaedrus · 04-10-2002, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have. James Baldwin : The fire next time

parkdalian · 04-11-2002, 12:03 AM

"I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit."
- Mark Twain

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04-06-2002, 05:29 PM	#3
The Admiral Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Racine, Wi. USA Posts: 768	"To know that one is ignorant is the beginning of wisdom". I don't know who originated that one, but I like it because I know that I am ignorant. The Admiral

04-06-2002, 06:01 PM	#4
ex-preacher Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: University of Arkansas Posts: 1,033	"Life ain't nothing but a funny, funny riddle." -John Denver

04-06-2002, 06:53 PM	#5
tempest Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: United States Posts: 11	Of what is real, Heraclitus said around 500 BC, - "In the same river we both step and do not step, we are and we are not." Ever since I've read that, I've always been right.

04-08-2002, 07:09 AM	#8
David Bowden Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Everywhere I go. Yes, even there. Posts: 607	"Be either a philosopher or one of the mob." -Epictetus, Enchiridion "It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." -Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. VI "It is a part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate." -Thomas Jefferson "Everything that is useful to the whole business of living together in a civilized way is energy well spent." -Italo Calvino "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary." -Reinhold Niebuhr "It will be true in the next millennium as it was in this, that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Pay the price." -Norman Lear "The end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue." -Alexander the Great, according to Plutarch "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is." -Winston Churchill Ubi dubium ibi libertas. (Where there is doubt there is freedom.) -quoted in Sagan's Demon-Haunted World, ch 24 "All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have." -Albert Einstein "I shall always tell you," her aunt answered, "whenever I see you taking what seems to me too much liberty." "Pray do; but I don't say I shall always think your remonstrances just." "Very likely not. You're too fond of your own ways." "Yes, I think I'm very fond of them. But I always want to know the things one shouldn't do." "So as to do them?" asked her aunt. "So as to choose," said Isabel. -Henry James, Portrait of a Lady "Logic is neither a science nor an art, but a dodge." -Benjamin Jowett ( ) Finally, a short poem by Danish writer Piet Hein: The road to Wisdom? Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less. [edited to correct spelling.] [ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: wide-eyed wanderer ]</p>

04-11-2002, 12:03 AM	#10
parkdalian Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Nouveau-Brunswick Posts: 507	"I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." - Mark Twain

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