Quotes about depth
page 8

Edmund Burke photo

“Civil freedom, gentlemen, is not, as many have endeavoured to persuade you, a thing that lies hid in the depth of abstruse science. It is a blessing and a benefit, not an abstract speculation; and all the just reasoning that can bo upon it, is of so coarse a texture, as perfectly to suit the ordinary capacities of those who are to enjoy, and of those who are to defend it. Far from any resemblance to those propositions in geometry and metaphysics, which admit no medium, but must be true or false in all their latitude; social and civil freedom, like all other things in common life, are variously mixed and modified, enjoyed in very different degrees, and shaped into an infinite diversity of forms, according to the temper and circumstances of every community. The extreme of liberty (which is its abstract perfection, but its real fault) obtains no where, nor ought to obtain any where. Because extremes, as we all know, in every point which relates either to our duties or satisfactions in life, are destructive both to virtue and enjoyment. Liberty too must be limited in order to be possessed. The degree of restraint it is impossible in any case to settle precisely. But it ought to be the constant aim of every wise public counsel, to find out by cautious experiments, and rational, cool endeavours, with how little, not how much of this restraint, the community can subsist. For liberty is a good to be improved, and not an evil to be lessened. It is not only a private blessing of the first order, but the vital spring and energy of the state itself, which has just so much life and vigour as there is liberty in it. But whether liberty be advantageous or not, (for I know it is a fashion to decry the very principle,) none will dispute that peace is a blessing; and peace must in the course of human affairs be frequently bought by some indulgence and toleration at least to liberty. For as the sabbath (though of divine institution) was made for man, not man for the sabbath, government, which can claim no higher origin or authority, in its exercise at least, ought to conform to the exigencies of the time, and the temper and character of the people, with whom it is concerned; and not always to attempt violently to bend the people to their theories of subjection. The bulk of mankind on their part are not excessively curious concerning any theories, whilst they are really happy; and one sure symptom of an ill-conducted state, is the propensity of the people to resort to them.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (1777)

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali photo

“From my early youth, since I attained the age of puberty before I was twenty, until the present time when I am over fifty, I have ever recklessly launched out into the midst of these ocean depths, I have ever bravely embarked on this open sea, throwing aside all craven caution; I have poked into every dark recess, I have made an assault on every problem, I have plunged into every abyss, I have scrutinized the creed of every sect, I have tried to lay bare the inmost doctrines of every community. All this have I done that I might 68 distinguish between true and false, between sound tradition and heretical innovation.”

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic

Whenever I meet one of the Batiniyah, I like to study his creed; whenever I meet one of the Zahiriyah, I want to know the essentials of his belief. If it is a philosopher, I try to become acquainted with the essence of his philosophy; if a scholastic theologian I busy myself in examining his theological reasoning; if a Sufi, I yearn to fathom the secret of his mysticism; if an ascetic (muta'ahhid) , I investigate the basis of his ascetic practices; if one ofthe Zanadiqah or Mu'attilah, I look beneath the surface to discover the reasons for his bold adoption of such a creed.
The Deliverance from Error https://www.amazon.com/Al-Ghazalis-Path-Sufism-Deliverance-al-Munqidh/dp/1887752307, p: 20-21

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali photo
Annie Besant photo
Dave Barry photo
Gerald James Whitrow photo

“Whether the stars were all at the same distance, or whether they were scattered throughout infinite space, or whether they formed a finite system of vast but limited depth, were questions that could not be answered until towards the end of the eighteenth century.”

Gerald James Whitrow (1912–2000) British mathematician

Until then, stellar astronomy was a field left to the unaided imagination.
The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1949)

Thomas Merton photo

“This new language of prayer has to come out of something which transcends all our traditions, and comes out of the immediacy of love. We have to part now, aware of the love that unites us, the love that unites us in spite of real differences, real emotional friction… The things on the surface are nothing, what is deep is the Real. We are creatures of Love. Let us therefore join hands, as we did before, and I will try to say something that comes out of the depths of our hearts. I ask you to concentrate on the love that is in you, that is in us all. I have no idea what I am going to say. I am going to be silent a minute, and then I will say something…”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

'O God, we are one with You. You have made us one with You. You have taught us that if we are open to one another, You dwell in us. Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts. Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection. O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept You, and we thank You, and we adore You, and we love You with our whole being, because our being is Your being, our spirit is rooted in Your spirit. Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes You present in the world, and which makes You witness to the ultimate reality that is love. Love has overcome. Love is victorious. Amen.'
Closing statements and prayer from an informal address delivered in Calcutta, India (October 1968), from The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1975); quoted in Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master : The Essential Writings (1992), p. 237.

“Being an incomplete female, the male spends his life attempting to complete himself, become female. He attempts to do this by constantly seeking out, fraternizing with and trying to live through and fuse with the female and by claiming as his own all female characteristics - emotional strength and independence, forcefulness, dynamism, decisiveness, coolness, objectivity, assertiveness, courage, integrity, vitality, intensity, depth of character, grooviness, etc.”

and projecting onto women all male traits - vanity, frivolity, triviality, weakness, etc. It should be said, though, that the male has one glaring area of superiority over the female - public relations. He has done a brilliant job of convincing millions of women that men are women and women are men.
Source: SCUM MANIFESTO (1967), p. 2 (hyphens (not en- or em-dashes) so in original).

Thomas Carlyle photo
Robert Greene photo
Helen Keller photo

“Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free. Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and joy. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. Now I rejoice in the consciousness that I can think, act and attain heaven. My life was without past or future; death, the pessimist would say, "a consummation devoutly to be wished."”

But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living. Night fled before the day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up in a passion of obedience to knowledge. Can anyone who has escaped such captivity, who has felt the thrill and glory of freedom, be a pessimist?
Optimism (1903)

Michel Henry photo

“Our flesh carries in it the principle of its manifestation, and this manifestation is not the appearing of the world. In its pathetic self-impressionality, in its very flesh, given to itself in the Arch-passibility of absolute Life, it reveals the one which reveals itself to itself, it is in its pathos the Arch-revelation of Life, the Parousia of the absolute. In the depths of its Night, our flesh is God.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Michel Henry, Incarnation. Une philosophie de la chair, éd. du Seuil, 2000, p. 373
Books on Religion and Christianity, Incarnation: A philosophy of Flesh (2000)
Original: (fr) Notre chair porte en elle le principe de sa manifestation, et cette manifestation n’est pas l’apparaître du monde. En son auto-impressionnalité pathétique, en sa chair même, donnée à soi en l’Archi-passibilité de la Vie absolue, elle révèle celle-ci qui la révèle à soi, elle est en son pathos l’Archi-révélation de la Vie, la Parousie de l’absolu. Au fond de sa Nuit, notre chair est Dieu.

Philip Roth photo
Philip K. Dick photo
Isaac Asimov photo

“I don't believe in flying saucers... The energy requirements of interstellar travel are so great that it is inconceivable to me that any creatures piloting their ships across the vast depths of space would do so only in order to play games with us over a period of decades.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

"On Flying Saucers" in Is Anyone There? (1967), pp. 215–216
General sources

Noam Chomsky photo
Angelique Rockas photo

“I myself have experienced the volcanic existential depths of the Greek language. It was during a performance of Medea by Tzeni Karezi at the Herod Atticus theatre in Athens ,when she was pleading to the callous Jason to take pity on her and she used the word ' splachniasou.'”

Angelique Rockas South African actress and founder of Internationalist Theatre, London

'Pity' is too weak a word to describe the emotional and psychological depths ' splachniasou' expresses. 'Splachna 'is the part of the body where a woman carries her unborn children, the very root of ontological existence. How deep can you get!

On the Greek language
Interview on Helenism .net (September 2011)

Robert Greene photo

“Learn to measure the people you deal with by the depth of their soul, and if possible associate as much as you can with those of the expansive variety.”

Robert Greene (1959) American author

Chap. 8 : Change Your Circumstances by Changing Your Attitude
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

Ernestine Rose photo
Giordano Bruno photo

“Cause, Principle, and One eternal
From whom being, life, and movement are suspended,
And which extends itself in length, breadth, and depth,
To whatever is in Heaven, on Earth, and Hell;
With sense, with reason, with mind, I discern,
That there is no act, measure, nor calculation, which can comprehend
That force, that vastness and that number,
Which exceeds whatever is inferior, middle, and highest;
Blind error, avaricious time, adverse fortune,
Deaf envy, vile madness, jealous iniquity,
Crude heart, perverse spirit, insane audacity,
Will not be sufficient to obscure the air for me,
Will not place the veil before my eyes,
Will never bring it about that I shall not
Contemplate my beautiful Sun.”

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer

"Of Love" as translated in The Infinite in Giordano Bruno : With a Translation of His Dialogue, Concerning the Cause, Principle, and One (1978) by Sidney Thomas Greenburg, p. 89
Variant translation:
<p>Cause, Principle and One, the Sempiterne,
On whom all being, motion, life, depend.
From whom, in length, breadth, depth, their paths extend
As far as heaven, earth, hell their faces turn :
With sense, with mind, with reason, I discern
That not, rule, reckoning, may not comprehend
That power and bulk and multitude which tend
Beyond all lower, middle, and superne.</p><p> Blind error, ruthless time, ungentle doom,
Deaf envy, villain madness, zeal unwise,
Hard heart, unholy craft, bold deeds begun,
Shall never fill for one the air with gloom,
Or ever thrust a veil before these eyes,
Or ever hide from me my glorious sun.</p>
As quoted in "Giordano Bruno" by Thomas Davidson, The Index Vol. VI. No. 36 (4 March 1886), p. 429
Cause, Principle, and Unity (1584)

Paulo Coelho photo
George Packer photo
J.B. Priestley photo
Walker Percy photo
James Thomson (B.V.) photo
Prevale photo

“You are the intense shiver that constantly runs through the depths of my heart.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Sei il brivido intenso che percorre costantemente la profondità del mio cuore.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“Every day is a blank sheet on which to write notes of music, notes coming from the depths of the soul. A sheet on which to blow a smile, to give it life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Ogni giorno è un foglio bianco su cui scrivere note di musica, note provenienti dal profondo dell’anima. Un foglio su cui soffiare un sorriso, per donargli vita.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“The night is made to dream, imagine, travel and compose intense melodies that describe the depth of one's soul.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La notte è fatta per sognare, immaginare, viaggiare e comporre intense melodie che descrivono la profondità della propria anima.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“The night dresses us with magic, leaving us free to dream, travel, interpret everything with the depth of our soul. The power of thought and will transform desire into reality.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La notte ci veste di magia, lasciandoci liberi di sognare, viaggiare, interpretare tutto con la profondità della propria anima. La forza del pensiero e di volontà, trasforma il desiderio in realtà.
Source: prevale.net

Denise Levertov photo
Khalil Gibran photo

“I too died. But in the depth of my oblivion I heard Him speak and say, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."”

And His voice sought my drowned spirit and I was brought back to the shore.
And I opened my eyes and I saw His white body hanging against the cloud, and His words that I had heard took the shape within me and became a new man. And I sorrowed no more.
Who would sorrow for a sea that is unveiling its face, or for a mountain that laughs in the sun?
Was it ever in the heart of man, when that heart was pierced, to say such words?
What other judge of men has released His judges? And did ever love challenge hate with power more certain of itself?
Was ever such a trumpet heard 'twixt heaven and earth?
Was it known before that the murdered had compassion on his murderers? Or that the meteor stayed his footsteps for the mole?
The seasons shall tire and the years grow old, ere they exhaust these words: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Philip: And When He Died All Mankind Died
The Madman (1918), Jesus, The Son of Man (1928)

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo

“To punish the guilty adequately exceeds the power of any civilised man; for the atrocities which have been committed are such as to be imagined and perpetrated only by demons sallying forth from the lowest depths of hell.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician

Speech in the Guildhall, London, on the Indian Mutiny (9 November 1857), quoted in The Times (10 November 1857), p. 7
1850s

Frithjof Schuon photo
Gregory of Nyssa photo

“People who look down from some high peak on a vast sea below, probably feel what my mind has felt, looking out from the sublime words of the Lord as from a mountain-top at the inexhaustible depth of their meaning.”

Gregory of Nyssa (335–395) bishop of Nyssa

Homilies on the Beautitudes VI: 1, tr. S. Hall, in H. R. Drobner and A. Viciano (edd.), Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English Version and Supporting Studies (Brill, Leiden, 2000).

Prevale photo

“The depth of your eyes constantly tends my hand to my days.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La profondità dei tuoi occhi tende costantemente la mano ai miei giorni.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“I would like every day to feel the scent of your skin, like the taste of your kiss, admire your sensuality, perceive your sweetness, listen to the beating of your heart, understand the depth of your soul, rejoice with your smile, have fun with your liking and be able to fully live your harmony.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Vorrei ogni giorno poter sentire il profumo della tua pelle, gradire il sapore di un tuo bacio, ammirare la tua sensualità, percepire la tua dolcezza, ascoltare il battito del tuo cuore, comprendere la profondità della tua anima, gioire con il tuo sorriso, divertirmi con la tua simpatia e poter vivere appieno la tua armonia.
Source: prevale.net

“It speaks to our feelings and imaginations, as it were by suggestion; reaching for this very reason depths of our being quite beyond the power of mere words.”

Walter Raymond Spalding (1865–1962) American music pedagogue and author

On instrumental music, page 2 https://books.google.com/books?id=pQARAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA2.
Music: An Art and a Language (1920), Preliminary Considerations (Ch. I)

Frithjof Schuon photo
Bo Xilai photo
Phill Kline photo
Jiddu Krishnamurti photo
Alastair Reynolds photo

“Nature shouldn’t be able to do this, Sunday thought. It shouldn’t be able to produce something that resembled the work of directed intelligence, something artful, when the only factors involved were unthinking physics and obscene, spendthrift quantities of time. Time to lay down the sediments, in deluge after deluge, entire epochs in the impossibly distant past when Mars had been both warm and wet, a world deluded into thinking it had a future. Time for cosmic happenstance to hurl a fist from the sky, punching down through these carefully superimposed layers, drilling through these carefully superimposed layers, drilling the geological chapters like a bullet through a book. And then yesterday more time—countless millions of years—for wind and dust to work their callous handiwork, scouring and abrading, wearing the exposed layers back at subtly different rates depending on hardness and chemistry, util these deliberate-looking right-angled steps and contours began to assume grand and imperial solidity, rising from the depths like the stairways of the gods.
Awe-inspiring, yesterday. Sometimes it was entirely right and proper to be awed. And recognising the physics in these formations, the hand of time and matter and the nuclear forces underpinning all things, did not lessen that feeling. What was she, ultimately, but the end product of physics and matter? And what was her art but the product of physics and matter working on itself?”

Source: Blue Remembered Earth (2012), Chapter 17 (pp. 292-293)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“I sometimes think that my own weakness lies in not realizing the full depths of the weakness and stupidity of men. As a reasonable creature myself I seem to have an unfortunate tendency to expect others unlike myself to be reasonable.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (p. 267)
Short fiction, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Walt Disney photo

“We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.
.. They say I'm a conservative, but I consider myself a true liberal.”

Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman

As quoted August 2004 in How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life by Pat Williams, Jim Denney, pg. 371
Year unknown, published in 2004

“The Holy Spirit that Christ promised to send […] creates in man new depths which harmonize him with the "depths of God"”

Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) Jesuit theologian and cardinal

Job 11:7
Source: Catholicism (1938), Ch. XI. "Person and Society", p. 186

“The Holy Spirit that Christ promised to send to his own […] creates in man new depths which harmonize him with he "depths of God".”

Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) Jesuit theologian and cardinal

Job 11:7
Source: Catholicism (1938), Ch. XI. "Person and Society", p. 186

Viktor Yanukovych photo

“I would like to say that in the end, our task should be, if we are speaking of metal, to process it to the highest depth so that we can trade with the most sophisticated products...”

Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine

Source: * Янукович: Перерабатывать зерно в мясо ** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAmDEwlydIw ** en ** 2022-06-12 ** 2009-12-25

Ernst Jünger photo
Ernst Jünger photo

“What sweet nectars and scents would emerge once the depths of your essence are revealed.”

Source: SHADES OF VANITY: Shades and Shadows of Eroticism

Prevale photo

“In a negative period it is fundamental never to lose hope of being able to overcome difficulties, starting to work on oneself for bring back vital light to the depths of one's essence.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: In un periodo negativo è fondamentale non perdere mai la speranza di poter superare le difficoltà, iniziando a lavorare su sé stessi per riportare luce vitale nel profondo della propria essenza.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“For those who create or interpret it, music is the maximum expression of the depth of his soul.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Per chi la crea o la interpreta, la musica è la massima espressione della profondità della sua anima.
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“A person's beauty, as a value, is measured by the depth of his soul, never by his appearance.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La bellezza di una persona, come valore, si misura dalla profondità del suo animo, mai dal suo aspetto.
Source: prevale.net