Quotes about observation
page 24

“Sunrise and sunset are all the same from an observer's point of view. As life is the same at birth and at death. The true Self continues.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Life, Death, Birth

“The days fly by. I can smell the weekend already. The repetition of days is so boring to observe.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Flying

“Nature has no automatically transferable wisdom to serve as the basis of human morality. Passive observation and unquestioned reverence for nature are no substitute for ethical philosophy.”

Stephen Jay Gould book An Urchin in the Storm

Source: An Urchin in the Storm (1987) "Utopia, Limited", p. 225

Wisdom, Nature

“The King is no longer the same; the change of character and spirit observed in him for two or three years is accentuated and makes fear of a catastrophe, at a time when he had only to let it go to be a remarkable King, perhaps to become a large figure.”

Émile Banning (1836–1898) academic, civil servant

Source: All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), Emile Banning (1836-1898): The Don Quichotte of the ‘liberal civilization’ in Congo, A romantic associate of Leopold II. http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#_ftn194 WILLEQUET, J. Le baron Lambermont, 103.

Fear, Change, Time

“True scientific demonstration involves convincing an observer who is outside the process, particularly one not deeply and emotionally enmeshed in it.”

Robyn Dawes (1936–2010) American psychologist

Source: Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudo-Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (2001), Chapter 6, “Three Specific Irrationalities of Probabilistic Judgment” (p. 99)

“I kept on reading, observing and reflecting on China’s political and social problems. Then in that year I suddenly felt a strong need to express my ideas. Comics is what I am good at, so I began to create political comics.”

Rebel Pepper (1973) Chinese political cartoonist

"Rebel with a cause: An interview with China’s most famous political cartoonist" in SAGE Journals https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306422016657031a (29 June 2016)

Idea, Problem, Strong, Reading

“Every obstacle needs to be controlled by the defender through observation and fire. In the case of the challenge of tunneling, control by observation and fire means the IDF being able to disrupt digging activities and preventing the establishment of enabling infrastructure ahead of time.”

Brig. Gen. Eran Ortal (1971)

Source: Dado Center Journal vol. 15, March 2018, https://www.idf.il/media/37490/one-team-on-the-field-may-22-amended-2.pdf

Time

“We are partners in this country, and partners in the development process of the state. Christmas is observed as a national holiday.”

Bisher Al-Khasawneh (1969) Prime Minister of Jordan

Source: Bisher Al-Khasawneh (2021) cited in: " PM greets Christians on Christmas https://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/pm-greets-christians-christmas" in The Jordan Times, 26 December 2021.

Holiday, Christmas, Country

“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

Intelligence

“Where is a self-revelation of this sort achieved? In Life, as its essence, since Life is nothing other than that which reveals itself – not something that might have an added property of self-revealing, but the very fact of self-revealing, self-revelation as such. Everywhere that something like a self-revelation is produced there is Life. Everywhere there is Life, this self-revelation is produced. If, then, the Revelation of God is a self-revelation that owes nothing to the truth of the world, and if we ask where such a self-revelation is achieved, the answer is unequivocal: in Life and in Life alone. Therefore we are in the presence of the first fundamental equation of Christianity: God is Life – he is the essence of Life, or if one prefers, the essence of Life is God. Saying this we already know what God is, but we do not know it through the effect of some knowledge or learning – we do not know it through thought, against the background of the truth of the world. Rather we know it, and we can know it, only in and through Life itself. We can know the essence of God only in God. But this observation is premature.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Books on Religion and Christianity, I am the Truth. Toward a philosophy of Christianity (1996)
Source: Michel Henry, I am the Truth. Toward a Philosophy of Christianity, translated by Susan Emanuel, Stanford University Press, 2003, p. 27-28

Life, God, Truth, World

“Most physicists enjoy the outdoors. They are mushroom gatherers, bird watchers, hikers, amateur mountaineers whose idea of weekend relaxation is to climb a mountain. Several physics summer schools and research centers are located in or near mountainous areas. I have not seen such uniform recreational impulses in other professions, an observation which prompts speculation on the connection between the nature of inquiry in physics and mountain climbing.”

Heinz R. Pagels (1939–1988) American physicist

Source: The Cosmic Code (1982), p. 271

School, Mountain, Idea, Nature

“The observer who follows, from a distance, events in contemporary Germany experiences above all a feeling of disbelief.”

Otis Hamilton Lee (1902–1948) American philosopher

Source: [10.1086/intejethi.47.1.2989245, Culture in the Third Realm, The International Journal of Ethics, 47, 70–86, 1936, Lee, Otis]

Feeling

“"You must tell them that there must be a new union or there will be chaos," he [Shevardnadze] implored me. That evening, when I hosted republic leaders for dinner — a mixed group of presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers — I saw around the table and in the conversation a microcosm of the post-coup Soviet Union’s potential — and its problems. Whatever euphoria that they felt with their post-putsch independence declarations had given way to a marked degree of realism. "Independence sounds nice, but we have to live, and we have to be practical," observed the Prime Minister of Moldova, Valeriu Muravsky. That was the persistent theme that I heard from every one of the republic leaders, with the sole exception of the Georgian Prime Minister, Vissarion Gugushvili, though even he spoke of the need for economic cooperation once Georgian independence was recognized internationally.”

James Baker (1930) Former U.S. Secretary of State

The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace 1989-1992 (1995) by James Addison Baker, p. 531
1990s

Way, Problem

“China makes its observation and conclusion based independently- based on the merits of the matter itself.”

Qin Gang (1966) politician

"Transcript: Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang on Face the Nation" in CBS https://www.cbsnews.com/news/qin-gang-chinese-ambassador-face-the-nation-03-20-2022/ (20 March 2022)

“Faith I have, in myself, in humanity, in the worthwhileness of the pursuits in entertainment for the masses. But wide awake, not blind faith, moves me. My operations are based on experience, thoughtful observation and warm fellowship with my neighbors at home and around the world.”

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

As quoted in The Gospel According to Disney : Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust (2004) by Mark I. Pinsky, p. 20
Year unknown, published in 2004

World, Faith, Home

“We may say that religion, as distinguished from modern paganism, implies a life in conformity with nature. It may be observed that the natural life and the supernatural life have a conformity to each other which neither has with the mechanistic life.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Source: The Idea of a Christian Society (1939), Ch. IV, p. 61

Life, Religion, Nature

“Ye servants of the Lord,
Each in his office wait,
Observant of the heavenly word,
And watchful at his gate.”

Philip Doddridge (1702–1751) English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter

Published in 1755, Hymns: "Ye Servants of the Lord", Chambers Dictionary of Quotations, p. 278.

Waiting

“You will observe, I think, that repentance is seldom whole-hearted, and generally arises from such base and ignoble motives as feeling sorry for yourself in dire circumstances.”

Lin Carter book Kesrick

Source: Kesrick (1982), Chapter 23, “Gaglioffo Repents” (p. 147)

Feeling, Motivation, Thinking, Heart

“Time and time again, I have observed that the usual response among white women's groups when the "racism issue" comes up is to deny the difference. I have heard comments like, "Well, we're open to all women; why don't they (women of color) come? You can only do so much..."”

Cherríe Moraga (1952) American writer

But there is seldom any analysis of how the very nature and structure of the group itself may be founded on racist or classist assumptions. More important, so often the women seem to feel no loss, no lack, no absence when women of color are not involved; therefore, there is little desire to change the situation. This has hurt me deeply. I have come to believe that the only reason women of a privileged class will dare to look at how it is that they oppress, is when they've come to know the meaning of their own oppression. And understand that the oppression of others hurts them personally.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Fourth Edition (2015)

Women, Color, Time

“[U]gliness of the right sort is a kind of beauty. It has some of the best qualities of beauty—it attracts observation and fixes the memory.”

Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) British writer

Source: Off the Skelligs: A Novel (1872), Ch. 18, p. 278.

Beauty, Memory

“Nobody observes you and studies you as much as your enemy.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Nessuno ti osserva e ti studia tanto quanto il tuo nemico.
Source: prevale.net

Study

“More to the point, one cannot understand The Holocaust without understanding the intentions, ideology, and mechanisms that were put in place in 1933. The eugenics movement may have come to a catastrophic crescendo with the Hitler regime, but the political movement, the world-view, the ideology, and the science that aspired to breed humans like prized horses began almost 100 years earlier. More poignantly, the ideology and those legal and governmental mechanisms of a eugenic world-view inevitably lead back to the British and American counterparts that Hitler’s scientists collaborated with. Posterity must gain understanding of the players that made eugenics a respectable scientific and political movement, as Hitler’s regime was able to evade wholesale condemnation in those critical years between 1933 and 1943 precisely because eugenics had gained international acceptance. As this book will evidence, Hitler’s infamous 1933 laws mimicked those already in place in the United States, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Canada.
So what is this scientific and political movement that for 100 years aspired to breed humans like dogs or horses? Eugenics is quite literally, as defined by its principal proponents, an attempt at “directing evolution” by controlling any aspect of human existence that affects human heredity. From its onset, Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin and the man credited with the creation of the science of eugenics, knew that the cause of eugenics had to be observed with religious fervor and dedication. As the quote on the opening pages of this book illustrates, a eugenicist must “intrude, intrude, intrude.” A vigilant control over anything and everything that affects the gene pool is essential to eugenics. The policies could not allow for the individual to enjoy self-government or self-determination any more than a horse breeder can allow the animals to determine whom to breed with. One simply cannot breed humans like horses without imbuing the state with the level of control a farmer has over its livestock, not only controlling procreation, but also the diet, access to medical services, and living conditions.”

A.E. Samaan

Source: H.H. LAUGHLIN: American Scientist. American Progressive. Nazi Collaborator.

Books, World, Law, Dogs

“To understand the authenticity of a person, observe his or her behaviour after he or she no longer has any interest in you.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Per comprendere l'autenticità di una persona, osservate il suo comportamento dopo che non avrà più alcun interesse nei vostri confronti.
Source: prevale.net

Understanding, Personality

Quotes about observation page 24

Quotes about observation
page 24