“All those agonizing philosophical-theological conundrums amount to "Ask a silly question, get a silly answer."”
Source: Harvest of Stars (1993), Ch. 63
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Poul Anderson 140
American science fiction and fantasy writer 1926–2001Related quotes
Nature and the Greeks (1954)
Context: I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good or bad, God and eternity. Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains, but the answers are very often so silly that we are not inclined to take them seriously.
“I am well aware that in theological and democratic terms I am, no more than "God's silly vassal"”
Scotland in the World Forum (February 4, 2008), Church of Scotland (May 25, 2009)
Statement in his Introductory profile at The University of Adelaide http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/people/profiles/academic.html#abbott.
“We all believe silly things. What matters is how silly and how many.”
“We must get rid of the silly, sloppy idea that all people are equal in capacity.”
"Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, A Gentleman and a Scholar", Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1949
“There is nothing more silly than a silly laugh.”
Nam risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.
XXXIX, line 16
Carmina
The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays by Albert Camus, An Absurd Reasoning : Absurdity and Suicide p. 3 (1942, 1955)
Absurdity and Suicide
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), An Absurd Reasoning
Context: There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest – whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories – comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer. And if it is true, as Nietzsche claims, that a philosopher, to deserve our respect, must preach by example, you can appreciate the importance of that reply, for it will precede the definitive act. These are facts the heart can feel; yet they call for careful study before they become clear to the intellect. If I ask myself how to judge that this question is more urgent than that, I reply that one judges by the actions it entails. I have never seen anyone die for the ontological argument.