Quotes about meaning page 7
Stephen R. Lawhead book Arthur
Source: Arthur
“Just because you can explain it doesn't mean it's not still a miracle.”
Terry Pratchett book Small Gods
Small Gods
Variant: Just because you're an angel doesn't mean you have to be a fool.
“History cannot be erased or altered. Because that would mean killing yourself.”
Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist
Source: 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年
“They realize at last that change does not mean reform, that change does not mean improvement.”
Frantz Fanon book The Wretched of the Earth
Source: The Wretched of the Earth
“to love means to realize there is a time to let the beloved one go”
Tony Parsons book Man and Boy
Source: Man and Boy
“Reality' is a word with many meanings.”
Peter Brook (1925) English theatre and film director and innovator
Source: The Empty Space: A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate
Steven Kotler (1967) American journalist
Source: A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life
Ben Carson book Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Source: Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Source: Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (1990), p. 232
“I am not given to exaggeration, and when I say a thing I mean it.”
Mark Twain book Roughing It
Source: Roughing It
“I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.”
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Gena Showalter (1975) American writer
Source: Oh My Goth
“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Pain means you're alive. Pain is good. Pain is life.”
Barry Lyga (1971) American writer
Source: Blood of My Blood
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
A poem about his match with George Foreman, known as the Rumble in the Jungle (1974)
Context: Last night I had a dream, When I got to Africa,
I had one hell of a rumble.
I had to beat Tarzan’s behind first,
For claiming to be King of the Jungle.
For this fight, I’ve wrestled with alligators,
I’ve tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning
And throw thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad.
just last week, I murdered a rock,
Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick.
I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.
I’m so fast, man,
I can run through a hurricane and don't get wet.
When George Foreman meets me,
He’ll pay his debt.
I can drown the drink of water, and kill a dead tree.
Wait till you see Muhammad Ali.
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) Soviet and Russian film-maker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director
“Progress just means bad things happen faster.”
Terry Pratchett book Witches Abroad
Source: Witches Abroad
“Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher
Source: Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals/On a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns
Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: All modes of government are failures. Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things. Oligarchies are unjust to the many, and ochlocracies are unjust to the few. High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
“Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of our language.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations
Die Philosophie ist ein Kampf gegen die Verhexung unsres Verstandes durch die Mittel unserer Sprache.
§ 109
Source: Philosophical Investigations (1953)
“Never cross a woman with a star on a stick, young lady. They've got a mean streak.”
Terry Pratchett book The Wee Free Men
Source: The Wee Free Men
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
"Keep Moving from this Mountain" http://www5.spelman.edu/about_us/news/pdf/70622_messenger.pdf – Founders Day Address at the Sisters Chapel, Spelman College (11 April 1960) <br class="br">1960s
“I mean, we're all trying to find out who the hell we are, aren't we?”
Robert Ludlum book The Bourne Identity
Source: The Bourne Identity
Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese writer
As quoted in Hard-to-Solve Cryptograms (2001) by Derrick Niederman, p. 96
“A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified”
Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Marxist revolutionary from Russia
Source: Their Morals and Ours (1938)
Context: A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified, From the Marxist point of view, which expresses the historical interests of the proletariat, the end is justified if it leads to increasing the power of man over nature and to the abolition of the power of man over man.
Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist
Psychedelic Society (1984)
Context: What blinds us, or what makes historical progress very difficult, is our lack of awareness of our ignorance. And [I think] that beliefs should be put aside, and that a psychedelic society would abandon belief systems [in favor of] direct experience and this is, I think much, of the problem of the modern dilemma, is that direct experience has been discounted and in its place all kind of belief systems have been erected... If you believe something, you're automatically precluded from believing in the opposite, which means that a degree of your human freedom has been forfeited in the act of this belief.
“Trouble is, just because things are obvious doesn't mean they're true.”
Terry Pratchett book Wyrd Sisters
Source: Wyrd Sisters
“Belief means not wanting to know what is true.”
Friedrich Nietzsche book The Antichrist
Sec. 52
The Antichrist (1888)
Variant: Faith: not wanting to know what the truth is.
Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) German actor
Source: Kinski Uncut : The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (1996), p. 72-73
Context: At a performance everything works out on its own. I've solved the mystery: You have to submit silently. Open up, let go. Let anything penetrate you, even the most painful things. Endure. Bear up. That's the magic key! The text comes by itself, and its meaning shakes the soul. Everything else is taken care of by the life one has to live without sparing oneself. You mustn't let scar tissue form on your wounds; you have to keep ripping them open in order to turn your insides into a marvelous instrument that is capable of anything. All this has its price. I become so sensitive that I can't live under normal conditions. That's why the hours between performances are worst.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
Tom Stoppard book Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Source: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Patricia Briggs (1965) American writer
Source: Masques
“Divination is a means of telling ourselves what we already know.”
Joanne Harris book Chocolat
Source: Chocolat
“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
As quoted in The Subconscious Diet : It's Not What You Put in Your Mouth; It Is What You Put in Your Mind (2005) by Hugh B. Sanders, p. 104 <!-- also quoted in The First Step : A Peek at the Real World (2006) by Gudmundur O. Sigurdarson, p. 41 -->
Context: Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting — in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard — reaching for the highest that is in us — becoming all that we can be. If we do our best, we are a success. Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.
“Neurosis is the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning.”
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”
Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
Miss Prism, Act II
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary
Source: These Strange Ashes