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Tag Archives: quotations
Selected quotes from Anti-Politics
“Power and authority, as substitutes for performance and rational thought, are the specters that haunt the world today. They are the ghosts of awed and superstitious yesterdays. And politics is their familiar. Politics, throughout time, has been an institutionalized denial … Continue reading
Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, quotations, Religion and Philosophy
Tagged anarchism, quotations
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Selections from The Unbroken Thread
“The great benefit to be derived from reading pre-modern authors is to come to realise that after all we [moderns] might have been mistaken.” – C.F.J. Martin [C.S. Lewis] argued that instinct, science’s go-to answer to our central question, just … Continue reading
Selections from Jesus, Son of Man
Earlier I posted comments for Kahlil Gibran’s moving Jesus, Son of Man, and now share some quotations from it. Then He looked at me, and the noontide of His eyes was upon me, and He said, “You have many lovers, … Continue reading
The death of Liberty
“Liberty never dies from direct attack. No man ever arises and says ‘Down with Liberty.’ Liberty has died in 14 countries in a single score of years from weakening its safeguards, from demoralization of the moral stamina of the people….If … Continue reading
Wisdom Wednesday: The Great Tradition
This week features a quote from Will Durant, whose epic Story of Civilization, partially co-written with his wife, was a masterful review of western history — surveying literature, politics, philosophy, etc — from Mesopotamia to Napoleon. This particular quote comes … Continue reading
Posted in history, quotations
Tagged history, quotations, Will Durant, Wisdom Wednesday
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Wisdom Wednesday: Enough
Hearing wisdom and knowing wisdom are two different things. The usual human experience is to hear a thing, remark on its insight, and then shove it away in some dark closet of our minds, where it is forgotten and fruitless. … Continue reading
Posted in quotations
Tagged quotations, Robert Ingersoll, simple living, Wisdom Wednesday
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Quotes from the Ground Beneath Us
“Quotations to follow tonight,” I said. I didn’t expect AT&T to have another network outage, though mercifully this one wasn’t as long as the twelve days (you better believe I counted) of February. But enough telecom griping! On to the … Continue reading
Perspective from Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
I recently finished Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a slim little volume introducing readers to relativity (special and general), quantum mechanics, particle physics, heat, time, and our place in the universe. As it’s less than a hundred pages I don’t … Continue reading
Buddhist cyberpunk?
“As a child I’d believed there was an essential person, a sort of core personality around which the surface factors could evolve and change without damaging the integrity of who you were. Later, I started to see that this was … Continue reading
The measure of a man
I am presently reading Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton, and in it he quotes a bit from Michel de Montaigne which is worth sharing. “A man have have a great suite of attendants, a beautiful palace, great influence and a … Continue reading