Quotes about existence
page 72

Ch 1 Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Counsels and Maxims Source: Counsels and Maxims http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/counsels/chapter1.html 2017-12-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20171201131253/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/counsels/chapter1.html,

Wisdom

“There was such a dearth of films like that…And the high-school teen movie is a genre that I love. Everything at that age is so heightened and dramatic, and high-school movies capture that so perfectly. But those films are all white, too; there’s no black teen movie genre that exists in the same way.”

Issa Rae (1985) American actress and writer

On how she didn’t see herself represented in the teen film genre in “Issa Rae: ‘I’ve not started writing season four of Insecure yet. We needed a break’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/13/issa-rae-interview-insecure-little in The Guardian (2019 Apr 13)

School, Age, Way, Love

“But let us now dismiss these poetical fictions; because with what is divine they have mingled much of human alloy; and let us now consider what the deity has declared concerning himself and the other gods.
The region surrounding the Earth has its existence in virtue of birth.”

Julian (emperor) (331–363) Roman Emperor, philosopher and writer

From whom then does it receive its eternity and imperishability, if not from him who holds all things together within defined limits, for it is impossible that the nature of bodies (material) should be without a limit, inasmuch as they cannot dispense with a Final Cause, nor exist through themselves.
Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

God, Birth

“If we want to have a predictable life... then we have to build in these... pockets of reducibility. If we were... existing in this irreducible world, we'd never be able to... know what's going to happen.”

Stephen Wolfram (1959) British-American computer scientist, mathematician, physicist, writer and businessman

Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe (Sep 15, 2020)

World, Life

“[W]e live... in the pockets of reducibility. ...I should have realized [that] very many years ago, but didn't... [I]t could very well be that everything about the world is computationally irreducible and completely unpredictable, but... in our experience of the world there is at least some amount of prediction we can make. ...[T]hat's because we have ...chosen a slice of ...how to think about the universe, in which we can... sample a certain amount of computational reducibility, and that's... where we exist. ...It may not be the whole story about how the universe is, but it is that part of the universe that we care about and ...operate in. ...In science, that's been ...a very special case ...science has chosen to talk a lot about places where there is this computational reducibility... The motion of the planets can be ...predicted. The... weather is much harder to predict. ...[S]cience has tended to concentrate itself on places where its methods have allowed successful prediction.”

Stephen Wolfram (1959) British-American computer scientist, mathematician, physicist, writer and businessman

Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe (Sep 15, 2020)

Success, Universe, Thinking, Weather

“But nature could not and cannot ever be constrained into self-improvement by sporadic or even endemic or epidemic cases of slow or swift suicide and slaughter, so long as the premature extinction of the whole human race was not and is not seriously threatened. Threaten this seriously, and she will forthwith become our most obedient humble servant. This is the forcible plan of "strikes" by labour against capital, applied in its utmost extension by man against nature; as you have already mere trades'-unions, organise a universal Man-union, and threaten, if all your demands are not immediately granted, to "strike" living, to "turn out" of human existence, and you will at once bring- the everlasting employer to reason.”

James Thomson (B.V.) (1834–1882) Scottish writer (1834-1882)

"The Speedy Extinction of Evil and Misery", part VII, p. 92
Essays and Phantasies (1881)

Universe, Self-confidence, Suicide, Nature

“In order to ensure absolute equality (which perchance cannot co-exist with essential distinctions) the new race may demand .either that sex be abolished, or that every human being be of both sexes. Perhaps the very perfecting process will either unsex or androgynise its subject, so that all alike shall be regenerated either neutral or epicene.”

James Thomson (B.V.) (1834–1882) Scottish writer (1834-1882)

"The Speedy Extinction of Evil and Misery", part VI, p. 85
Essays and Phantasies (1881)

Perfection, Sex

“While people are allowed to elect a Government or Corporation, they are deprived of any real power, as there exists a financial dictatorship that causes high rents, excessive prices and profits.”

Timothy Quill (1901–1960) Early Dáil member, cooperative organiser, agriculturalist

Irish Press (1940)
By Quill:, 1940s

People

“We cannot pretend that we do not see the armed policeman who marches up and down beneath our window to guarantee our security while we eat our luxurious dinner, or look at the new piece at the theater, or that we are unaware of the existence of the soldiers who will make their appearance with guns and cartridges directly our property is attacked.”

Leo Tolstoy The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Source: The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Chapter XII, Conclusion—Repent Ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

Appearance, Making love

“And this is the only explanation of the dreadful intensity with which men of modern times strive to stupefy themselves, with spirits, tobacco, opium, cards, reading newspapers, traveling, and all kinds of spectacles and amusements. These pursuits are followed up as an important, serious business. And indeed they are a serious business. If there were no external means of dulling their sensibilities, half of mankind would shoot themselves without delay, for to live in opposition to one's reason is the most intolerable condition. And that is the condition of all men of the present day. All men of the modern world exist in a state of continual and flagrant antagonism between their conscience and their way of life. This antagonism is apparent in economic as well as political life. But most striking of all is the contradiction between the Christian law of the brotherhood of men existing in the conscience and the necessity under which all men are placed by compulsory military service of being prepared for hatred and murder—of being at the same time a Christian and a gladiator.”

Leo Tolstoy The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Source: The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Chapter V, Contradiction Between our Life and our Christian Conscience

Time, Law, Reading, Business

“What! all of us, Christians, not only profess to love one another, but do actually live one common life; we whose social existence beats with one common pulse—we aid one another, learn from one another, draw ever closer to one another to our mutual happiness, and find in this closeness the whole meaning of life!—and to-morrow some crazy ruler will say some stupidity, and another will answer in the same spirit, and then I must go expose myself to being murdered, and murder men—who have done me no harm—and more than that, whom I love. And this is not a remote contingency, but the very thing we are all preparing for, which is not only probable, but an inevitable certainty.”

Leo Tolstoy The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Source: The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Chapter V, Contradiction Between our Life and our Christian Conscience

Drawing, Happiness, Learning, Stupidity

“I know—as we all do—very little of the practice and the spoken and written doctrine of former times on the subject of non-resistance to evil. I knew what had been said on the subject by the fathers of the Church—Origen, Tertullian, and others—I knew too of the existence of some so-called sects of Mennonites, Herrnhuters, and Quakers, who do not allow a Christian the use of weapons, and do not enter military service; but I knew little of what had been done by these so-called sects toward expounding the question.”

Leo Tolstoy The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Preface
The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894)

Time, Evil, Question

“It is now becoming recognised in all parts of the world that there can be no healthy Christian State, in any country, where poverty exists amongst the masses of the people.”

Timothy Quill (1901–1960) Early Dáil member, cooperative organiser, agriculturalist

The Kerryman (1937)
By Quill:, 1930s

World, People, Parting, Country

“No one ever has to believe! The universe is, it does not require belief. Do you think it will stop existing if you do not believe? Do you think far galaxies will harbor resentment against you if you do not believe? Do you resent the ant who does not look up and admire you? Never!”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: Singer from the Sea (1999), Chapter 24, “People from the Sea” (p. 382)

Universe, Thinking

“Do you see? There exists a kind of knowledge that is without love. It does not purify the psyche in any way, but kills it, as it lacks the love that is the head, the body, and very root of all virtue.”

Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) Monk and archbishop

Source: Holy Hesychia: The Stillness that Knows God, p. 33

Way, Love, Making love, Knowledge

“There is now before us one great issue by which all others are overshadowed. We have to determine whether the great Empire that we have inherited from our forefathers and which is the glory of us all (cheers) is to exist or to be destroyed.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech in Leeds against Irish Home Rule (18 June 1886), quoted in The Times (19 June 1886), p. 12
1880s

“The truth is that the connection of Ireland with England has been full of trouble, and I fear there is no remedy. ... It is a chronic disease, and even if it is not to be cured we have proved in the past that we can get on with it and yet carry on our Empire to a vast pitch of prosperity. What has been done in the past can be done in the future. ... [D]o not let us attempt to cure it by a measure which will put this island into a condition which never during 700 years of our history has existed—which will hand over those who have had the courage to defend us to the maltreatment of their worst enemies, and which will establish at our very doors a post—a hostile post—which will be at the pleasure of any foreign power which may sometimes be hostile to us.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech to a banquet of the Merchant Taylors' Company, London (10 May 1886), quoted in The Times (11 May 1886), p. 12
1880s

Courage, Hostility, History, Past

“Pride to me is a celebration of self. It is a celebration of being fully aware of and proud of your existence. And it's also historically a major monumental moment for the queer community. It was started by a black trans woman. And the movement is still around because we are still looking to feel empowered and still looking for visibility for all of our members.”

Lauren Jauregui (1996) Cuban-American singer and songwriter

[Lauren Jauregui Talks Coming Out in the Digital Age, Teases Debut Solo Album: 'I'm So Proud Of It', https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8517545/lauren-jauregui-teases-debut-solo-album-video, Billboard, June 27, 2019]

Self-confidence, Feeling, Communication

“Gerry had once said to her in the middle of an argument that he didn't believe in souls but if, just perchance, they did exist, hers would be like a razor. She had been made that way by the Catholic Church, he said. Inflexible, narrow, capable of doing terrible damage by her adherence to rules and systems. But she totally objected. She told him that if she was a good person at all, it had come from her religion. If she had any sense of justice and fairness, any concept of equality, then it had come from the Church.”

Bernard MacLaverty book Midwinter Break

Ch 11 - p.217
Novels, Midwinter Break (2017)

Soul, Religion, Justice, Personality

“Making social media liable would mean Twitter, Facebook, even Wkipedia and Yelp couldn't exist as we know them”

Scott Pelley (1957) American television journalist, news anchor

On 60-Minutes Why victims of internet lies want Section 230 repealed https://www.cbsnews.com/news/section-230-internet-60-minutes-2021-01-03/ broadcast January 3, 2020

Making love

“Never cease to be amazed that you exist.”

Alan Nursall Canadian journalist

20 Questions with Edmonton's Alan Nursall, President and CEO of the Telus World of Science https://edmontonsun.com/2014/01/23/20-questions-with-edmontons-alan-nursall-president-and-ceo-of-the-telus-world-of-science/wcm/d67f2f28-c376-424c-8254-dbb541f2eeb3 (January 23, 2014)

“German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie necessary in the struggle for its existence.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

Source: April 23, 1933. https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/nazi-olympics/historical-quotes

Sport, Fight, People

“If questioning something endangers its existence, extinction is probably in its future.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Future, Question

“For my own part I am deeply convinced that all excess in the public expenditure beyond the legitimate wants of the country is not only a pecuniary waste—for that is a comparatively trifling matter—but a great political and a great moral evil. It is a characteristic of the mischief which arise from financial prodigality, that they creep onwards with a noiseless and surreptitious step; that they are unseen and unfelt until they have reached a magnitude absolutely overwhelming, and then at length, we see them, as perhaps they now exist in the case of one at least among the great European nations, so fearful and menacing in their aspect that they seem to threaten the very foundations of national existence.”

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1861/apr/15/first-night#column_595 in the House of Commons (15 April 1861) 1860s

Parting, Fear, Evil, Country

“The Communists say that there are the only two means of establishing communism. The first is violence. Nothing short of it will suffice to break up the existing system. The other is dictatorship of the proletariat. Nothing short of it will suffice to continue the new system.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) Father of republic India, champion of human rights, father of India's Constitution, polymath, revolutionary…

On Communism, Thoughts of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar https://books.google.com/books?id=6nolAQAAIAAJ, p. 107

Communication

“One common strategy on which we should all be able to agree is to take steps to reduce the risk of human extinction when those steps are also highly effective in benefiting existing sentient beings. For example, eliminating or decreasing the consumption of animal products will benefit animals, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and lessen the chances of a pandemic resulting from a virus evolving among the animals crowded into today’s factory farms, which are an ideal breeding ground for viruses. That therefore looks like a high-priority strategy.”

Peter Singer book The Most Good You Can Do

Source: The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically (2015), Chapter 15: Preventing Human Extinction (p. 177)

Animals, Chance

“In art, immorality cannot exist. Art is always sacred even when it takes for a subject the worst excesses of desire; since it has in view only the sincerity of observation, it cannot debase itself. A true work of art is always noble, even when it translates the stirrings of the brute, for at that moment, the artist who has produced it had as his only objective, the most conscientious rendering possible of the impression he has felt.”

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor

Albert Edward Elsen (1985). The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin. p. 131
1930s and later

Sincerity, Art

“Wealth is created when we use existing resources in new ways. Since such creativity is virtually limitless, wealth is too.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Healing Our World: In An Age of Aggression, (2003), p. 17

Way, Wealth

“If somebody has the competency to do something, and the desire to do something, then nothing about their race, sex or sexual orientation should hold them back. But minimizing difference is not the same as pretending difference does not exist. To assume that sex, sexuality and skin colour mean nothing would be ridiculous. But to assume that they mean everything will be fatal.”

Douglas Murray (1979) British political commentator and far-right activist

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (2019)

Sex

“The fact is, as actors, everything we do, bad or good, is a contribution. To me, it is a positive thing to give people as wide a range of human behavior with some sense of understanding of that behavior or some clue to it. It may be a very small thing in terms of the problems that exist in the world, but it is a thing, and it's something I can do, and like to do—am thrilled to do actually.”

Grace Zabriskie (1941) American actress

Grace Zabriskie: Methodical Madness https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/grace-zabriskie-methodical-madness-42678/ (June 26, 2001)

Problem, Understanding, Sense, World

“Kisses and sex illuminate existence.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

From the Quotes http://www.prevale.net/quotes.html page of the official website of Prevale Original: (it) Baci e sesso illuminano l'esistenza. Source: prevale.net

Sex, Kiss

“I believe in the supreme excellence of righteousness; I believe that the law of righteousness will triumph in the universe over all evil; I believe that in the attempt to fulfil the law of righteousness, however imperfect it must remain, are to be found the inspiration, the consolation, and the sanctification of human existence.
We live in order to finish an, as yet, unfinished universe, unfinished so far as the human, that is, the highest part of it, is concerned. We live in order to develop the superior qualities of man which are, as yet, for the most part latent.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 9 : Ethical Outlook
Life and Destiny (1913)

Parting, Law, Evil, Universe

“The question what to believe is perhaps the most momentous that anyone can put to himself. Our beliefs are not to be classed among the luxuries, but among the necessaries of existence. They become particularly important in times of trouble. They are like the life-boats carried by ocean ships. As long as the sea is smooth and there is every appearance of a prosperous voyage, the passengers seldom take note of the boats or inquire into their sea-worthiness. But when the storm breaks and danger approaches, then the capacity of the boats and their soundness become matters of the first importance.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 9 : Ethical Outlook
Life and Destiny (1913)

Time, Appearance, Relation ships, Question

“By what sort of experience are we led to the conviction that spirit exists ? On the whole, by searching, painful experience. The rose Religion grows on a thorn-bush, and we must not be afraid to have our fingers lacerated by the thorns if we would pluck the rose.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 7 : Spiritual Progress
Life and Destiny (1913)

Pain, Religion, Search

“Of the origin of things we know nothing, and can know nothing. Perfection does not reveal itself to us as existent in the beginning; but as something that ought to be, something new which we are to help create. Somehow the secret of the universe is hidden in our breast. Somehow the destinies of the universe depend upon our exertions.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 2 : Religion
Life and Destiny (1913)

Perfection, Universe, Secret, Dependency

“The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system.”

Theodore Kaczynski book Industrial Society and Its Future

"Restriction on Freedom is Unavoidable in Industrial Society", paragraph 119
Industrial Society and Its Future (1995)

Behavior

“Happiness is the indication that man has found the answer to the problem of human existence: the productive realization of his potentialities and thus, simultaneously, being one with the world and preserving the integrity of his self. In spending his energy productively he increases his powers, he "burns without being consumed.“”

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst

Source: Man for Himself (1947), p.189

Problem, Self-confidence, World, Happiness

“A serious difficulty in understanding how to educate and regulate the relations of sex arises from the fact that it is the relation of two equal but distinct halves of the human race, and exists in the dual form—male and female. Unless the distinctive characteristics and requirements of each of these equal halves are fully understood, the relation between them cannot be satisfactory.”

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) England-born American physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist

p. 8 https://books.google.com/books?id=7VlHAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=regulate&f=false Essays in Medical Sociology (1899)

Education, Understanding, Sex, Relation ships

“The essence of all religions is the recognition of an Authority higher, more comprehensive, more permanent than the human being. The characteristic of Christian teaching, however, is the faith that this Supreme Authority is beneficent as well as powerful. The Christian believes that the Creative Force is a moral force, of more comprehensive morality than the human being that it creates. Under the symbol of a wise and loving parent—the most just, efficient, and attractive image that we know of—we are encouraged to regard this unseen Authority as being in direct relation with every atom of creation, and as desirous of drawing each atom into progressively higher forms of existence.”

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) England-born American physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist

[Elizabeth Blackwell, Essays in Medical Sociology, https://books.google.com/books?id=7VlHAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=religions&f=false, 1, 1899, Library Reprints, Incorporated, 978-0-7222-1823-5]
Essays in Medical Sociology (1899)

Drawing, Religion, Faith, Parent

“Sometimes in our activist and production-oriented American society and culture we succumb to pragmatism looking at the Christian life and our sharing in the apostolic mission of the Church as a matter being able to “do” things for Christ, the Church or others. In fact, the Christian life is a gift and a call to truth and love given to us by God. It is first a matter of "being," of simply existing as a person created by God and redeemed by him in Christ. We live out this truth and love in specific ways according to our age, talents, and unique vocation. At no point are the sacraments about what we have done or promise to do for God. They are God's free gift of grace to us. At the same time, these gifts of love entail an obligation to bear witness to God's love in word and deed by our collaboration in freedom with the grace given.”

Álvaro Corrada del Río (1942) Puerto Rican Catholic bishop

Pastoral Reflection on the Sacrament of Confirmation http://www.americancatholicpress.org/Bishop_Corrada_Pastoral_Reflecton%20_on_Confirmation.html (October 7, 2005)

God, Time, Freedom, Personality

“Sanskrit was a complete success and became the language of all cultured people in India and in countries under Indian influence. All scientific, philosophical, historical works were henceforth written in Sanskrit, and important texts existing in other languages were translated and adapted into Sanskrit. For this reason, very few ancient literary, religious, or philosophical documents exits in India in other languages. The sheer volume of Sanskrit literature is immense, and it remains largely unexplored.”

Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) French historian, musicologist, Indologist and expert on Shaivite Hinduism

Alain Danielou in: Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation: The Four Aims of Life in the Tradition of Ancient India https://books.google.co.in/books?id=IMSngEmfdS0C&pg=PA17, Inner Traditions / Bear & Co, 1 August 1993, p. 17.

Country, Literature, People, Success

“I was a cradle Anglican. The Anglican Church taught me the Christian faith and nurtured and sustained me through many joyful and difficult periods in my life. I firmly believed that the priests of the Anglican Church were Catholic priests, but when “developments” began to occur, such as the ordination of women, I realized that once this had occurred, the priesthood to which women aspired to belong, no longer existed. This “development” opened the way for the liberalization of the Church’s worship, doctrinal belief and the acceptance of a more secularist set of moral and ethical principles. I felt abandoned because it was as if my “mother” had died, but this grieving has been alleviated by the warmth of the welcome and the support I have encountered from members of the Catholic Church.”

Harry Entwistle (1940) Australian priest

Interview with Msgr. Harry Entwistle https://insidethevatican.com/magazine/people/interview/interview-with-msgr-harry-entwistle/

Faith, Way, Support, Life

“What I am able to say concerning the direction and aim of our terms, I have already said repeatedly. To put an end to the war with a durable peace that will compensate us for all the wrongs we have suffered and will safeguard the existence and future of a strong Germany—that is our aim.”

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856–1921) German chancellor during World War I

Speech to the Reichstag (27 February 1917), quoted in W. M. Knight-Patterson, Germany from Defeat to Conquest, 1913–1933 (1945), p. 91

Peace, War, Future, Strong

“To risk death willingly, to venture forth knowing that in so doing you may cease to exist is an unnatural act. To take the life of a fellow human being or to watch your closet comrades die exacts a profound emotional toll.”

James Mattis (1950) 26th and current United States Secretary of Defense; United States Marine Corps general

Source: Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead (2019), p. 31

Life, Death

“There is nothing sacred about the existing system. All economic and political institutions are contrivances that should serve the interests of the people. When they fail to do so, they should be replaced by something more responsive, more just, and more democratic. Marx said this, and so did Jefferson. It is a revolutionary doctrine, and very much an American one.”

Michael Parenti (1933) American academic

Source: Democracy for the Few (2010 [1974]), sixth edition, Chapter 17, p. 335

People

“By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist, we create it.”

Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek writer

Passion

“A man may fulfil the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice

Question

“Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.”

Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Ancient Rome

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Idea

“The ideal country does not exist, as progress would discontinue. A life without ideals would be individually miserable and politically useless.”

Egils Levits (1955) Latvian judge, jurist and politician

Source: Address given Assuming the Office / at the Saeima, https://www.president.lv/en/article/address-he-president-latvia-mr-egils-levits-assuming-office-saeima

Country, Life

“Unlike utilitarianism, republican theory does not take people's existing preferences, whatever they may be, and try to satisfy them. It seeks instead to cultivate in citizens the qualities of character necessary to the common good of self-government. Insofar as certain dispositions, attachments, and commitments are essential to the realization of self-government, republican politics regards moral character as a public, not merely private, concern. In this sense, it attends to the identity, not just the interests, of its citizens.”

Michael J. Sandel (1953) American political philosopher

Chap. 2. Rights and the Neutral States
Democracy's Discontent (1996)

Sense, People

“We can’t run this experiment a thousand times to see the range of different outcomes. We can only run it once. The human mind has trouble with situations like that. We see patterns where they don’t exist, we find meaning in randomness.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“YMIR” (pp. 423-424)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Time

“Hotness was a part of the human condition and it was pointless to pretend that it did not exist.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Day 700” (p. 276)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Parting

“If a demarcation criterion exists (we must not, I think, seek a sharp or decisive one), it may lie just in that part of science which Sir Karl ignores.”

Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) American historian, physicist and philosopher

"Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research?", Criticism and the growth of knowledge edited by Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave (1970)

Lie, Thinking, Decision, Science

“Although no credible evidence exists that the speed of light can be exceeded, writers are willing to embrace the possibility that light might be outpaced somehow.”

James Nicoll (1961) Canadian fiction reviewer

Never underestimate the persuasive power of somehow.
2010s

Light, Speed

“Suffering is admittedly one of the central problems of human existence; but this is because we have a suspicion that it is all for nothing.”

Colin Wilson (1931–2013) author

If we had a certainty about meaning, the suffering would be bearable. With no certainty of meaning, even comfort begins to feel futile.
Source: Frankenstein's Castle (1980), p. 89

Problem, Suffering

“Even an atheist has to believe that the concept, at least, of "God" does exist, whether or not that concept is true or useful or the best way to approach things.”

Guy Consolmagno (1952) American Jesuit, Catholic Priest, research astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory.

God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion, 7, 9780787994662, Consolmagno, Guy, 2008 https://books.google.com/books?id=s276jyAQ5hcC&pg=PA7,

God, Way

“In life, the smile gives harmony to existence.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Nella vita, il sorriso dona armonia all'esistenza.
Source: prevale.net

Smile, Life

“Nothing in reality exists, except God, the Absolute Being.”

Shah Badakhshi Indian poet

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 202

God, Reality

“Seeing our creation’s name in print made us feel like minor gods; we had summoned into existence a human being, or at least the illusion of one.”

Tim Wirkus American science fiction writer

Source: The Infinite Future (2018), Part 1: Translator’s Note to the Reader by Daniel Laszlo, Chapter 16 (p. 188)

God, Feeling

“From the Throne to the earth is the creation of God Most High; everything but his existence is his action. He brought them into existence from pure non-being.”

Ruzbihan Baqli (1128–1209) Persian poet, mystic, and Sufi

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2002), p.112

God

“Nothing in this world is useless in the eyes of God. Not a leaf from a tree falls, not a hair from your head, not even an insect dies because it was of no use. Everything has a reason to exist.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Uselessness

God, Tree, World

“To lose the satchel now would prove that God, if He existed, was a truly sadistic son of a bitch.”

Ian Tregillis (1973) American writer

Source: The Rising (2015), Chapter 22

God, Bitch

“And time will cease to exist, because in the land of pleasure-born-of-true-love, everything is infinite.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About sex

Time, Pleasure, Love

“How can such opposing states exist in harmony together? There is only one way: by surrendering yourself. Because the act of surrender means: ‘I trust you.’”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About sex

Way

“The economy as an instituted process of interaction serving the satisfaction of material wants forms a vital part of every human community. Without an economy in this sense, no society could exist for any length of time.”

Karl Polanyi (1886–1964) economist, philosopher and historian

Source: The Livelihood of Man (1977), Ch. 2 : The Two Meanings of Economic

Communication, Time, Parting, Sense

“Existence is made up of little things. Turn off the TV, turn on the music… and make love with life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) L'esistenza è fatta di piccole cose. Spegnete la TV, accendete la musica... e fate l'amore con la vita.
Source: prevale.net

Love, Music, Life, Making love

“Love exists. It's in the little things: simple, spontaneous and concrete. It's in a smile, in a job, in a song…. Love is all that is given without asking any question.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) L'amore esiste. È nelle piccole cose: semplici, spontanee e concrete. È in un sorriso, in un lavoro, in una canzone... . L'amore, è tutto ciò che si dona senza porsi alcuna domanda.
Source: prevale.net

Question, Smile, Love

“Attentions make exist.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Le attenzioni fanno esistere.
Source: prevale.net

“What makes the mind fall in love dominates your existence.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Ciò che innamora la mente domina la tua esistenza.
Source: prevale.net

Love

“Meritocracy is a concept that should exist in every workplace. Unfortunately, sometimes the inability of an executive reaches the point that it does not consider such an essential value for the development and the future of an entire generation of talents.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La meritocrazia è un concetto che dovrebbe esistere in ogni luogo di lavoro. Purtroppo, a volte l'incapacità di un dirigente arriva a tal punto da non considerare un valore così essenziale per lo sviluppo ed il futuro di un'intera generazione di talenti.
Source: prevale.net

Future

“Each ambition has its difficulties. In life, simple things do not exist.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Ogni ambizione ha le sue difficoltà. Nella vita le cose semplici non esistono.
Source: prevale.net

Life

“Some people there are who, being grown, forget the horrible task of learning to read. It is perhaps the greatest single effort that the human undertakes, and he must do it as a child. An adult is rarely successful in the undertaking — the reduction of experience to a set of symbols. For a thousand thousand years these humans have existed and they have only learned this trick — this magic — in the final ten thousand of the thousand thousand.”

John Steinbeck book The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

Introduction
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

People, Learning, Reading, Success

“The conscience exists, standing before us now asking not to be created or perfected but to be chosen and defended, in need of champions, not exiles. Any fiction which refuses that request is henceforth a collaborationist fiction.”

Carl Oglesby (1935–2011) American political activist

"The Deserters: The Contemporary Defeat of Fiction" (1972)

Perfection

“How would the man born blind not have the idea of light? Nature has refused them a soul; they have some right to doubt, not only the immortality of the soul, but its existence.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Last Speech to the National Convention (26 July 1794)

Soul, Light, Nature, Idea

“Man is born to be happy and free, and everywhere he is enslaved and unhappy! Society exists for the purpose of conserving his rights and perfecting his being, and everywhere society degrades and oppresses him! The time has come to remind him of his true destiny.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Quoting Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Misc Quotes

Happiness, Perfection, Time

“To be armed for personal defence is the right of every man, to be armed to defend freedom and the existence of the common fatherland is the right of every citizen.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

On the organisation of the National Guard (5 December 1790)
Misc Quotes

Freedom, Personality

“No tyranny can exist without police powers to enforce the ruler's "laws" and punish rebels or free thinkers. The enforcers are called soldiers when sent to other countries and police when operating inside a country. But their function is the same.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

Focus Fourteen

Law, Country

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that's all.”

Adam Silvera book They Both Die at the End

Oscar Wilde, p. 1
They Both Die at the End (2017)

World, People, Deep, Wise

“When I was young, the idea of “world cinema” didn’t exist. We would watch any films that we could find in the cinemas. Today, some of those films have become accessible again on streaming platforms. In a way, it doesn’t matter as much where they exist as long as people have access to them.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"5 Questions for Wong Kar Wai" in Notebook Feature (19 March 2021) https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/5-questions-for-wong-kar-wai

People, Way, World, Idea

“The existing paradigm about the brain has ceased to function adequately.”

Richard Bergland neuroscientist

The Fabric of Mind (1985)

“Come here, let's not care
Whatever's happening out there
Just feel me, reach all over
Let us blindly discover
What we never thought could exist
Make up for all the time we missed”

Zhiar Ali (1999) Kurdish human rights activist and artist

Euphoria https://genius.com/Zhiar-ali-euphoria-lyrics, 2018 Song lyrics

Time, Feeling

“To me "where the wild things are" is a place that exists in our minds; it's a place of liberty and shamelessness. It can take a split second or a lifetime to find it, but once you do, you'll be free.”

Alessia Cara (1996) Canadian singer

"Wild Things" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De30ET0dQpQ, Know-It-All (2015), New York: Def Jam Recordings

“There's a wild thing that exists in all of us. It lives in our passions, in the people we love, in our subconscious thoughts, our beliefs. It's even made a home in the darkest parts of us, but we can't be scared of it, we have to become it.”

Alessia Cara (1996) Canadian singer

"Wild Things" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De30ET0dQpQ, Know-It-All (2015), New York: Def Jam Recordings

Home, People, Passion, Love

“To me where the wild things are is a place that exists in our minds; it's a place of liberty and shamelessness. It can take a split second or a lifetime to find it, but once you do, you'll be free.”

Alessia Cara (1996) Canadian singer

"Wild Things" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De30ET0dQpQ, Know-It-All (2015), New York: Def Jam Recordings

“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is just opinion.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

“We have survived multiple ice ages, we have knocked down mammoths, we are carriers, we are heirs to the greatest civilization that ever existed.”

Thierry Baudet (1983) Dutch writer and jurist

Baudet's speech: 5 remarkable statements and what they mean. https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/politiek/artikel/4650251/de-speech-van-baudet-forum-voor-democratie-5-opmerkelijke

Age

“Ascending to heaven is the greatest trip in every good Muslim's existence. I don't believe that the Prophet meant this trip to be an exception. I think that a woman can get into Heaven, as long as she's accompanied by a man of her family.”

Salah Al Budair (1971) Imaam at Masjid al-Nabawi

Here is why Saudi Arabia is a pro at passing anti-women rulings https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/here-is-how-saudi-arabia-is-a-pro-at-passing-anti-women-rulings-318843-2016-04-19 (19th April 2016)

Family, Thinking