“A man who wants the truth becomes a scientist; a man who wants to give free play to his subjectivity may become a writer; but what should a man do who wants something in between?”

— Robert Musil, book The Man Without Qualities

Source: The Man Without Qualities

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Robert Musil21

Austrian writer 1880–1942

James Richardson (1950) American poet

#349
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten Second Essays (2001)

“When the man who ought to want a stock doesn't want it, why should I want it?”

Edwin Lefèvre book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Source: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923), Chapter XVII, p. 211

“The knowledge of the cross brings a conflict of interest between God who has become man and man who wishes to become God.”

Jürgen Moltmann (1926) German Reformed theologian

Source: The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology

“I didn't become a scientist because I want to impress lawyers. The word for people who are neutral about truth is "liars".”

PZ Myers (1957) American scientist and associate professor of biology

at Council for Secular Humanism, October 9, 2010.
Context: I have been told that my position won't win the creationist court cases. Do you think I care? I didn't become a scientist because I want to impress lawyers. The word for people who are neutral about truth is "liars".

“What makes a good writer of history is a guy who is suspicious. Suspicion marks the real difference between the man who wants to write honest history and the one who'd rather write a good story.”

Jim Bishop (1907–1987) American journalist and author

As quoted by Lewis Nichols http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/30/obituaries/lewis-nichols-times-drama-critic-during-world-war-ii-dead-at-78.html in "Talk With Jim Bishop" http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F03EEDE133AE53BBC4E53DFB466838E649EDE, The New York Times (6 February 1955).

“Who isn’t frustrated and does not prove it by his actions — if you want to say so? But through art the psychologically maimed may become the most distinguished man of his age. Take Freud for instance.”

William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) American poet

Introduction
The Wedge (1944)

“A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn't hurt others.”

David Gemmell book Legend

Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 15

“The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.”

Anatole France book The Revolt of the Angels

Variant: For the majority of people, though they do not know what to do with this life, long for another that shall have no end.
Source: The Revolt of the Angels (1914), Ch. XXI

“The man who receives five thousand dollars a year wants six thousand dollars a year, and the man who owns eight or nine hundred thousand dollars will want a hundred thousand dollars more to make it a million, while the man who has his millions will want everything he can lay his hands on and then raise his voice against the poor devil who wants ten cents more a day.”

Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) American Labor Leader[AFL]

What Does the Working Man Want? (speech), Louisville, KY (May 1890)

“A man who loses his privacy loses everything. And a man who gives it up of his own free will is a monster.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“A man who wants the truth becomes a scientist; a man who wants to give free play to his subjectivity may become a writer; but what should a man do who wants something in between?”

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