
„Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.“
— T.S. Eliot 20th century English author 1888 - 1965
Preface to Transit of Venus: Poems by Harry Crosby (1931)
A collection of quotes on the topic of distant, other, likeness, use.
„Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.“
— T.S. Eliot 20th century English author 1888 - 1965
Preface to Transit of Venus: Poems by Harry Crosby (1931)
„Longing is the agony of the nearness of the distant.“
— Martin Heidegger German philosopher 1889 - 1976
„Tell me, O muse, of travellers far and wide“
— Homér Ancient Greek epic poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey
„A nomad I will remain for life,
in love with distant and uncharted places.“
— Isabelle Eberhardt Swiss explorer and author 1877 - 1904
„I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?“
— Ernest Hemingway American author and journalist 1899 - 1961
No source in Hemingway's works has been found. May have originated in a 2000 post to the Usenet group alt.support.depression. link https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/alt.support.depression/wYH4aCNHyp4/_d50yuXTeHsJ
Disputed
„I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country.“
— Charles Darwin, book The Voyage of the Beagle
Source: The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), chapter XXI: "Mauritius To England" (second edition, 1845), pages 499-500 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=512&itemID=F14&viewtype=image
Context: I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country. To this day, if I hear a distant scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feelings, when passing a house near Pernambuco, I heard the most pitiable moans, and could not but suspect that some poor slave was being tortured, yet knew that I was as powerless as a child even to remonstrate. I suspected that these moans were from a tortured slave, for I was told that this was the case in another instance. Near Rio de Janeiro I lived opposite to an old lady, who kept screws to crush the fingers of her female slaves. I have staid in a house where a young household mulatto, daily and hourly, was reviled, beaten, and persecuted enough to break the spirit of the lowest animal. I have seen a little boy, six or seven years old, struck thrice with a horse-whip (before I could interfere) on his naked head, for having handed me a glass of water not quite clean; I saw his father tremble at a mere glance from his master's eye. … And these deeds are done and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be done on earth! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty: but it is a consolation to reflect, that we at least have made a greater sacrifice, than ever made by any nation, to expiate our sin.
„I'll tell you about it because I am here and you are distant.“
— Richard Brautigan, book In Watermelon Sugar
Source: In Watermelon Sugar
„The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable.“
— Charles Bukowski American writer 1920 - 1994
„The covers of this book are too far apart.“
— Ambrose Bierce American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist 1842 - 1914
„The distance is nothing when one has a motive.“
— Jane Austen, book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice
Total 614 quotes distant, filter:
„I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.“
— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
— Carl Sagan, book Pale Blue Dot
Source: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), p. 8, Supplemental image at randi.org http://www.randi.org/images/122801-BlueDot.jpg
— Yoko Ono Japanese artist, author, and peace activist 1933
Game Is Not Over - 2005 Oxford Union Address http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/news-oxfordjune2005.html
— Jimmy Carter American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981) 1924
— Louisa May Alcott American novelist 1832 - 1888
As quoted in Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book (1923) by Elbert Hubbard, p. 62
— William of Ockham medieval philosopher and theologian 1285 - 1349
Opera Theologica (1986), edited by Gedeon Gal, Vol. I, p. 31.
— Terry Pratchett English author 1948 - 2015
Source: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
— Jimmy Carter American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981) 1924
— Gerhard Richter German visual artist, born 1932 1932
on the art academy in Düsseldorf
after 2000, Gerhard Richter: An Artist Beyond Isms' (2002)
— B.K.S. Iyengar Indian yoga teacher and scholar 1918 - 2014
Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p.22
— Kurt Tucholský German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer 1890 - 1935
Da gab es vier Jahre lang ganze Quadratmeilen Landes, auf denen war der Mord obligatorisch, während er eine halbe Stunde davon entfernt ebenso streng verboten war. Sagte ich: Mord? Natürlich Mord. Soldaten sind Mörder.
From Der bewachte Kriegsschauplatz, published 1931 under the pseudonym Ignaz Wrobel; compare http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldaten_sind_M%C3%B6rder.
— Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United States of America 1743 - 1826
Known as the "anti-slavery clause", this section drafted by Thomas Jefferson was removed from the Declaration at the behest of representatives of South Carolina http://alexpeak.com/twr/doi/draft/#ex2.
1770s, Declaration of Independence (1776), Earlier drafts
— James Bradley English astronomer; Astronomer Royal 1693 - 1762
Miscellaneous Works and Correspondence (1832), Demonstration of the Rules relating to the Apparent Motion of the Fixed Stars upon account of the Motion of Light.
— Ali Khamenei Iranian Shiite faqih, Marja' and official independent islamic leader 1939
Message of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei To the Youth in Europe and North America http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001, Khamenei.ir (January 21, 2015)
2015
— Joseph Conrad Polish-British writer 1857 - 1924
Command at Sea: the Prestige, Privilege and Burden of Command
— Brian Cox (physicist) English physicist and former musician 1968
Conclusion in Wonders of the Universe - Destiny
— Cesare Pavese Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator 1908 - 1950
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
— Solomon king of Israel and the son of David -1011 - -931 BC
I Kings 8:41-43 on the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem
— Julius Nyerere Tanzanian politician and writer, first Prime Minister and President of Tanzania 1922 - 1999
On higher education, 1960s. UDSM Alumni Newletter, volume 7. No. 2, November 2007, ISSN 0856 - 8805
— Stendhal, book The Charterhouse of Parma
De loin nous ne nous faisons pas d'idée de ce que c'est que l'autorité d'un despote qui connaît de vue tous ses sujets.
Source: La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma) (1839), Ch. 16
— John Ronald Reuel Tolkien British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy works 1892 - 1973
No. 247: To Colonel Worskett (20 September 1963)
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)
— Jane Roberts American Writer 1929 - 1984
Source: The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto (1981), p. 62
Context: I'm taking it for granted here that there is a Source or God, but that our visions of such a vast psychological reality are limited, even shoddy and destructive. The idea of a crucified God to me at least is aesthetically appalling, for example. Why not a God who loves earth and life for a change? If we're going to insist upon a superhuman God, then why a distant, tempestuous God 'the father'? Why not a God who has the finest human abilities carried to their fullest; God the superartist, superlover, superartisan or athlete or farmer? At least such designations would upgrade the conventional ideas of a godhead. And of course Christianity leaves out any goddesses, so that along with Darwinian and Freudian theories religion is not just parochial but 'sexist' as well. And no one ever talks about Christ, the lover of women...
— Czeslaw Milosz Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator 1911 - 2004
"The World": Love (1943), trans. Czesŀaw Miŀosz
Rescue (1945)
Context: Love means to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills —
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.
— Miyamoto Musashi Japanese martial artist, writer, artist 1584 - 1645
Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Water Book
Context: The gaze should be large and broad. This is the twofold gaze "Perception and Sight". Perception is strong and sight weak.
In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. It is important in strategy to know the enemy's sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword. You must study this. The gaze is the same for single combat and for large-scale combat.
— Carl Sagan, book Pale Blue Dot
Source: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), p. 8, Supplemental image at randi.org http://www.randi.org/images/122801-BlueDot.jpg
Context: Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
„Sometimes memory tricks you. Sometimes beauty is best when it's distant.“
— David Levithan, book Every Day
Source: Every Day
— Rainer Maria Rilke, book Letters to a Young Poet
Letter Four (16 July 1903)
Variant: Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. (Translation by Stephen Mitchell)
Letters to a Young Poet (1934)
Context: Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
— Brian Tracy American motivational speaker and writer 1944
Source: Personal Success
— Iris Murdoch, book The Message to the Planet
The Message to the Planet (1989) p. 509.
„It struck me that distant cities are designed precisely so you can know where you came from.“
— Colum McCann, book Let the Great World Spin
Source: Let the Great World Spin
— Friedrich Nietzsche German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist 1844 - 1900
The Gay Science (1882)
— Haruki Murakami, book South of the Border, West of the Sun
Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun
— Douglas Adams, book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
„Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.“
— Theodore Roosevelt American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858 - 1919
— Don DeLillo American novelist, playwright and essayist 1936
Source: White Noise: Text and Criticism
— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910
Variant: Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
„It's strange to be so physically close to someone who's so distant“
— Suzanne Collins American television writer and novelist 1962
„In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line.“
— Will Durant American historian, philosopher and writer 1885 - 1981
Source: The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers
— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968
1960s, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
Source: The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Context: Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
— Vera Nazarian American writer 1966
Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
„The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.“
— John Burroughs American naturalist and essayist 1837 - 1921
— Woody Allen American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician 1935
— Cecelia Ahern, book Love, Rosie
Variant: I don’t want to be one of those easily forgotten people, so important at the time, so special, so influential, and so treasured, yet years later just a vague face and a distant memory. I want us to be best friends forever
Source: Love, Rosie
— John O'Donohue Irish writer, priest and philosopher 1956 - 2008
Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
„You,” I said, “are sweet music in a distant room.“
— Patrick Rothfuss, book The Wise Man's Fear
Source: The Wise Man's Fear
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn
Pt. III, The Theologian's Tale: Elizabeth, sec. IV.
Source: Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863-1874)
„Whenever a new situation presented itself, you had to remain cool and distant“
— Paulo Coelho Brazilian lyricist and novelist 1947
Source: Veronika Decides to Die
— Gabriel García Márquez, book One Hundred Years of Solitude
Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), p. 1
— Gloria Whelan British children's writer 1923
Source: Parade of Shadows
„The distant soul can shake the distant friend's soul and make the longing felt, over untold miles.“
— John Masefield English poet and writer 1878 - 1967
— Douglas Adams, book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Source: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish