“The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds”

— Thomas Merton

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Thomas Merton 92

Priest and author 1915–1968

Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) Canadian eductor

p. 333 https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7725710M/Peter's_Quotations
Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)

“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Attributed to Dr. Laurence J. Peter. Earliest source is "Peter's Quotations," page 333. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7725710M/Peter's_Quotations
Misattributed
Variant: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind then what are we to think of an empty desk?
Variant: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

“We somehow believe that our point of view is superior, higher than those of the greatest minds—either because our point of view is that of our time, and our time, being later than the time of the greatest minds, can be presumed to be superior to their times; or else because we believe that each the greatest minds was right from his point of view, but not, as he claims, simply right.”

Leo Strauss (1899–1973) Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservativism

“What is liberal education,” pp. 7-8
Liberalism Ancient and Modern (1968)

“The way out of our negative emotions is into our negative emotions. The way out of our illusions is into our illusions. The way out of our suffering is into our suffering.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

“In previous armies, soldiers used their time to clean their weapons and stock up on ammunition. Our weapons are words, and we may need our arsenal at any moment.”

Subcomandante Marcos (1957) Mexican activist

"The Movement of Movements" (2004) " The Hourglass of the Zapatistas http://books.google.com/books?id=gh052B6W1HYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=movement+of+movements&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sBSVT5CXC4OC8QSUzfSiBA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=In%20previous%20armies%2C%20soldiers%20used%20their%20time%20to%20clean%20their%20weapons%20and%20stock%20up%20on%20ammunition.%20Our%20weapons%20are%20words%2C%20and%20we%20may%20need%20our%20arsenal%20at%20any%20moment.&f=false"

“We insist that our concept of perspective is the total antitheses of all static perspective. It is dynamic and chaotic in application, producing in the mind of the observer a veritable mass of plastic emotions.”

Carlo Carrà (1881–1966) Italian painter

this quote of Carrá attacks one of the core principles of Cubism
1910's
Source: 'Piani plastici come espanzione sferica nello spazio', Carrà, March 1913