Rejection
One Minute Wisdom (1989)
Context: "What kind of a person does Enlightenment produce?"
Said the Master:
"To be public-spirited and belong to no party,
to move without being bound to any given course,
to take things as they come,
have no remorse for the past,
no anxiety for the future,
to move when pushed,
to come when dragged,
to be like a mighty gale,
like a feather in the wind,
like weeds floating on a river,
like a mill-stone meekly grinding,
to love all creation equally
as heaven and earth are equal to all
— such is the product of Enlightenment."
On hearing these words one of the younger disciples cried, "This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead," and walked away, never to return.
“Christ is dead and his teachings moribund.”
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…
As quoted in Twentieth Century Journey: The Start 1904-1930, William L. Shirer, Little, Brown & Company, (1976) p. 402 (proclaimed in 1922)
1920s
“The dead are specters of the living, but the living are specters of the dead.”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist
Light (1919), Ch. XIV - The Ruins
Context: I am not in pain. I am extraordinarily calm; I am drunk with tranquillity. Are they dead, all — those? I do not know. The dead are specters of the living, but the living are specters of the dead. Something warm is licking my hand. The black mass which overhangs me is trembling. It is a foundered horse, whose great body is emptying itself, whose blood is flowing like poor touches of a tongue on to my hand.
“Religion teaches you to be satisfied with nonanswers. It’s a sort of crime against childhood.”
Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author
“You can't teach biology with a bottle containing dead animals and organisms.”
Roman Vishniac (1897–1990) American photographer
Shepard, Richard F. "Roman Vishniac, 92, a Biologist And Photographer of Jews, Dies". New York Times (1859-Current file); Jan 23, 1990; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1951 - 2002) pg. D23.
“Honor is for the living. Dead is dead.”
Drew Karpyshyn book Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
Source: Path of Destruction
“Now there are classes indeed where the newly dead are instructed. I used to teach some of these.”
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) American Writer
Session 331, Page 331
The Early Sessions: Sessions 1-42, 1997, The Early Sessions: Book 7
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Variant: If you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.
Source: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
