Sam Harris, Big Think Sam Harris On Death http://bigthink.com/ideas/3127 (July 4, 2007)
2000s
Context: We just don’t teach people how to grieve. You know, religion is the epitome, the antithesis of teaching your children how to grieve. You tell your child that, “Grandma is in heaven”, and there’s nothing to be sad about. That’s religion. It would be better to equip your child for the reality of this life, which is, you know, we... death is a fact. And we don’t know what happens after death. And I’m not pretending to know that you get a dial tone after death. I don’t know what happens after the physical brain dies. I don’t know what the relationship between consciousness and the physical world is. I don’t think anyone does know. Now I think there are many reasons to be doubtful of naïve conceptions about the soul, and about this idea that you could just migrate to a better place after death. But I simply don’t know about what... I don’t know what I believe about death. And I don’t think it’s necessary to know in order to live as sanely and ethically and happily as possible. I don’t think you get... You don't get anything worth getting by pretending to know things you don't know.
Source: To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue (2000), p. 50
“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”
Source: Atlas Shrugged
VH1 Divas Live
2007, 2008
“You should know me well enough by now to know I don't ask for things I don't think I can get.”
“If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want.”
“Life is like a trumpet. If you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out.”
Music Preservation Society biography http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/downloads/HandyBiography.pdf
Variant: Life is like a trumpet - if you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out of it.
Variant: Professor Johnston often said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree.
Source: Timeline
“Nobody's going to hand you anything. You don't get what you don't go after.”
Source: The Exiled Queen
"Fun, Yes, But By No Means Civilized": Interview with Joe Dante (Part 2) https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/fun-yes-but-by-no-means-civilized-interview-with-joe-dante-part-2 (July 8 2009)
