Raymond Smullyan (1919–2017) American mathematician
Is God a Taoist? (1977) http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTaoist.html
Source: Dracula
Raymond Smullyan (1919–2017) American mathematician
Is God a Taoist? (1977) http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTaoist.html
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1961, UN speech
Context: The political disposition of peoples should rest upon their own wishes, freely expressed in plebiscites or free elections. If there are legal problems, they can be solved by legal means. If there is a threat of force, it must be rejected. If there is desire for change, it must be a subject for negotiation, and if there is negotiation, it must be rooted in mutual respect and concern for the rights of others.
“To enter into your own mind you need to be armed to the teeth.”
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
Refusing to bargain for freedom after 21 years in prison, as quoted in TIME (25 February 1985)
1980s
Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) Japanese author, Nobel Prize winner
Japan, the Beautiful and Myself (1969)
Context: The Zen disciple sits for long hours silent and motionless, with his eyes closed. Presently he enters a state of impassivity, free from all ideas and all thoughts. He departs from the self and enters the realm of nothingness. This is not the nothingness or the emptiness of the West. It is rather the reverse, a universe of the spirit in which everything communicates freely with everything, transcending bounds, limitless. There are of course masters of Zen, and the disciple is brought toward enlightenment by exchanging questions and answers with his master, and he studies the scriptures. The disciple must, however, always be lord of his own thoughts, and must attain enlightenment through his own efforts. And the emphasis is less upon reason and argument than upon intuition, immediate feeling. Enlightenment comes not from teaching but through the eye awakened inwardly. Truth is in "the discarding of words", it lies "outside words". And so we have the extreme of "silence like thunder", in the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra.
“Unless you find paradise at your own center,
there is not the smallest chance
That you may enter”
Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) German writer
The Cherubinic Wanderer
Hsu Szu-chien Taiwanese politician
Hsu Szu-chien (2019) cited in " Dr. Szu-chien Hsu Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Republic of China (Taiwan) Remarks https://www.csis.org/analysis/dr-szu-chien-hsu-deputy-minister-foreign-affairs-republic-china-taiwan-remarks" on Center for Strategies & International Studies, 10 June 2019.
“Free yourself from the imprisonment of your own limiting beliefs and prejudices.”
Steve Maraboli (1975)
Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 83
Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…