Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …
Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 12 “Agent” section 4, p. 226
“Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense.”
— Hermann Hesse, book The Glass Bead Game
The Glass Bead Game (1943)
Context: "If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn't there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?"
The Master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said, "There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht — I can see they have already begun."
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Hermann Hesse168
German writer 1877–1962Related quotes
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Source: Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933), p. 14
Context: Every interpretation is hypothetical, for it is a mere attempt to read an unfamiliar text. An obscure dream, taken by itself, can rarely be interpreted with any certainty, so that I attach little importance to the interpretation of single dreams. With a series of dreams we can have more confidence in our interpretations, for the later dreams correct the mistakes we have made m handling those that went before. We are also better able, in a dream series, to recognize the important contents and basic themes.
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Friedrich Nietzsche book Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks
Source: Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks (posthumous), p. 81
“Everything that I carry tied up in me, can be found anywhere else, freed.”
Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet
Todo lo que llevo atado en mí, se halla suelto, en cualquier parte.
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Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 184; this also has been quoted as "What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time."