Quotes about possibility
page 63

“It is possible for a person to change, this change however must occur willingly, and should never be forced.”

Isaac Mashman (2000) businessman, speaker

“We simply don’t do optimism or pessimism, we do logistics. That is our calling and duty, neither to stir up false hope nor dash incipient possibility. To work with what we have to achieve what we can, neither over nor understating it. So stating it straight, I don’t know what the outcome of the election will be with the single exception I guess that we will not be talking of a National Government after it. There is still the enormous extent to which the Irish people “trust” the devil they know, and there are as yet insurmountable difficulties for a new party to make revolutionary progress through a corrupted structure.”

Justin Barrett (1971) Irish activist

New Year Message 2020 https://nationalparty.ie/new-year-message-2020/ (January 1, 2020)

People, Making love, Hope, Optimism

“There are two possible ways to solving a dilemma, in justice or elsewhere; begin with the facts, and follow out their logic where it leads one, or begin with the desired outcome, and reason backward to the necessary steps to achieve it.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012), Chapter 24 (p. 527)

Justice, Way

“The summit of evil, the crime most natural to the devil, pride, was born of knowledge. But if this is so, how can it be possible that all the passions result from ignorance? Does knowledge purify the psyche? Paul says: Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”

Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) Monk and archbishop

1 Corinthians 8:1
Source: Holy Hesychia: The Stillness that Knows God, p. 33

Love, Making love, Nature, Knowledge

“A strong, positive self – image is the best possible preparation for success”

Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) Joyce Brothers

Strong, Success, Self-confidence, Success

“I think it is possible to get the carbon dioxide emissions down and to get the temperature increase slowed down. It just requires everybody to work together to do it.”

Joanna Haigh (1954) British physicist

"Climate champion Jo Haigh retires after 35 years at Imperial" https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/191071/climate-champion-jo-haigh-retires-after/, Imperial College London, written by Hayley Dunning (May 3, 2019)

Thinking

“The truth is, no study is possible on the battle-field; one does there simply what one can in order to apply what one knows.”

Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) French soldier and military theorist

Therefore, in order to do even a little, one has already to know a great deal and to know it well.
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 175

Truth, Study

“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

Art, Sincerity

“As children, we learned that if no one hits first, no fight is possible. Therefore, refraining from ‘first-strike’ force, theft, or fraud, is the first step in creating peace.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Healing Our World: The Compassion of Libertarianism, (2015), p. 21

Children, Peace, Fraud, Learning

“‘Mandatory’ means forced—at gunpoint, if necessary. When we force people to do things, for their own good or the good of others, we violate their right of self-determination. Libertarians respect the rights of others to choose their own path—that’s what liberty is all about. If community service is such a good deal, we should have no trouble persuading people to do it voluntarily. If we can’t convince others that our way is best, maybe we should humbly consider the possibility that it isn’t.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked, (2012), p. 199

People, Way, Communication, Self-confidence

“Every age before this one has performed or permitted acts that to us are morally stupefying. So unless we have any reason to think we are more reasonable, morally better or wiser than at any time in the past, it is reasonable to assume there will be some things we are presently doing – possibly while flushed with moral virtue – that our descendants will whistle through their teeth at, and say ‘What the hell were they thinking?’”

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

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

Age, Hell, Thinking, Time

“Meaning can be found in all sorts of places. For most individuals it is found in the love of the people and places around them: in friends, family and loved ones, in culture, place and wonder. A sense of purpose is found in working out what is meaningful in our lives and then orientating ourselves over time as closely as possible to those centres of meaning. Using ourselves up on identity politics, social justice (in this manifestation) and intersectionality is a waste of a life.”

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

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

Love, Life, People, Making love

“We have found that it's a good idea to read as many authors and as many different genres as possible. That way, we can learn more about writing and it gives us ideas to try different things.”

Marcia Jones (writer) (1958) American author

Marcia Thornton Jones Interview https://web.archive.org/web/20121024121117/http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/marcia-thornton-jones-interview-transcript (1997)

Way, Idea, Learning, Reading

“To those who are longing for a higher life, who deeply feel the need of religious satisfactions, we suggest that there is a way in which the demands of the head and the heart may be reconciled. Religion is not necessarily allied with dogma, a new kind of faith is possible, based not upon legend and tradition, not upon the authority of any book, but upon the moral nature of man.”

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

Life and Destiny (1913)

Life, Books, Faith, Religion

“Every physician knows the numerous sources of error which may lead an able advocate to wrong conclusions. The difficult art of statistics, which is no simple arrangement of numbers, but often requires very elaborate calculations, may lend itself to error; the neglect of some facts, or the undue prominence of others, the comparison of dissimilar conditions, or observations made on too short a scale or for too short a period—all these various conditions must be considered as sources of possible error.”

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

p. 754 https://books.google.com/books?id=85o2AAAAMAAJ&pg=754 Medicine and Morality (1881)

Art, Error

“We don't set out to deliberately scare with our creatures, we try to make them as awe-inspiring as possible.”

Ray Harryhausen (1920–2013) American animator

Harryhausen on Horror

Making love

“Before embarking on war or agreement, it is wise to consider all possibilities. Consider them thoroughly. Consider the consequences of your actions. Thus, you are prepared for the worst case.”

Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire

Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/

War

“My nightmares are almost always about war - wandering the streets, searching for something that's lost forever. But it's possible for me to will myself to have pleasant dreams. For me, the most wonder fragrance in the world is new film. You open the canister for the first time and breathe deeply. That night, the same wonderful fragrance fills your dreams. It's grand.”

Ishirō Honda (1911–1993) Japanese film director

Honda, interviewed by James Bailey, Tokyo Journal, April 1991

War, World, Dreams, Search

“Lord yes, in a certain sense it was a preventive war, [motivated by] the constant threat of attack, the greater likelihood of its inevitability in the future, and by the military's claim: today war is still possible without defeat, but not in two years! Yes, the generals. It could only have been avoided by a rapprochement with England, that is still my conviction. But after we had decided for a [common] policy with Austria, we could not desert her in such danger.”

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

Remarks to Conrad Haussmann (24 February 1918), quoted in Konrad H. Jarauschl, ‘The Illusion of Limited War: Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg's Calculated Risk, July 1914’, Central European History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), p. 48

War, Motivation, Sense, Future

“The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

“Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible.”

Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American journalist

Imagination, Understanding

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

Motivational, Funny, Happy

“One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible. Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought, a rivalry of aim.”

Brooks Adams (1848–1927) American political writer

Life, Friendship, Communication

“Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible.”

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) Jewish-American political theorist

Way, Future

“Although there may be tragedy in your life, there's always a possibility to triumph. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Life

“The most complicated achievements of thought are possible without the assistance of consciousness.”

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis

“Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible.”

William Sloane Coffin (1924–2006) American activist

Hope, Passion, Hope

“Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable.”

Joseph Wood Krutch (1893–1970) American writer, critic, and naturalist

“It ought to be possible to restore to the word "philosophy" its original meaning: philosophy − the "love of wisdom" − is the science of all the fundamental principles; this science operates with intuition, which "perceives," and not with reason alone, which "concludes."”

Frithjof Schuon book The Transfiguration of Man

Subjectively speaking, the essence of philosophy is certitude; for the moderns, on the contrary, the essence of philosophy is doubt: the philosopher is supposed to reason without any premise (voraussetzungsloses Denken), as if this condition were not itself a preconceived idea; this is the classical contradiction of all relativism. Everything is doubted except for doubt. The solution to the problem of knowledge − if there is a problem − could not possibly be this intellectual suicide that is the promotion of doubt; on the contrary, it lies in having recourse to a source of certitude that transcends the mental mechanism, and this source − the only one there is − is the pure Intellect, or Intelligence as such.
[2005, The Transfiguration of Man, World Wisdom, 3, 978-0-94153219-8]
Miscellaneous, Philosophy

Love, Wisdom, Science

“I don’t want revolutions. Categorically, because innocent heads will fly into the revolution and into all these wars. I think this is wrong. No revolutions. Do everything that is possible, but to prevent this from happening. At both sides. I would choose North Korea. I don't want sacrifices. It means that some tactics, some experience, some wisdom are lacking for people who are against this regime. That's all.”

Chulpan Khamatova (1975) Russian actress

On why she supports Vladimir Putin in Чулпан Хаматова: «Я очень много чего боюсь» (7 June 2012) https://tvrain.ru/teleshow/sobchak_zhivem/chulpan_khamatova_ya_by_vybrala_severnuyu_koreyu_a_ne_revolyutsiyu-286479/

Wisdom, War, People, Thinking

“Religion translates metaphysical or universal truths into dogmatic language; now though dogma is not accessible to all men in its intrinsic truth, which can only be directly attained by the Intellect, it is nonetheless accessible through faith, which is, for the great majority, the only possible mode of participation in the Divine Truths. As for intellectual knowledge, which proceeds neither from belief nor from a process of reasoning, it goes beyond dogma in the sense that, without ever contradicting the latter, it penetrates its internal dimension, that is, the infinite Truth that dominates all forms.”

Frithjof Schuon book The Transcendent Unity of Religions

[1993, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Quest Books, xxxi, 978-0-8356-0587-8]
Miscellaneous, Religion

Men, Truth, Faith, Religion

“Let us specify that the possible gaps in the human mind are due, not to fortuitous causes, but to the very conditions of the "dark age", the kali-yuga, which has as an effect − among other modes of decadence − a progressive weakening of pure intellection and of the ascending tendencies of soul; whence the necessity of the religious revelations, and whence also the problematical phenomenon of gratuitous and divergent philosophies.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[1995, Norms and Paradoxes in Spiritual Alchemy, Sophia: The Journal of Traditional Studies, 1, 1, 8]
Miscellaneous, Revelation

Age, Soul

“The fact that I can tell stories not only by writing them but also by living them through a character and therefore giving the public emotions (possibly positive), which is the ultimate goal of entertainment.”

Isabelle Adriani (1972) Italian actress, journalist, singer, and writer

Italians in the World. Isabelle Adriani, perfect balance between life and fairy tale. https://www.tesoriditaliamagazine.it/italians-in-the-world-isabelle-adriani-perfect-balance-between-life-and-fairy-tale (5 June 2020)

“We stand for the maintenance of private property... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Quoted in Der Fuehrer, Hitler's Rise to Power https://www.google.it/books/edition/Der_Fuehrer/_lUTAQAAMAAJ?hl=it&gbpv=1&bsq=%22We+stand+for+the+maintenance+of+private+property...+We+shall+protect+free+enterprise+as+the+most+expedient,+or+rather+the+sole+possible+economic+order.%22&dq=%22We+stand+for+the+maintenance+of+private+property...+We+shall+protect+free+enterprise+as+the+most+expedient,+or+rather+the+sole+possible+economic+order.%22&printsec=frontcover, by Konrad Heiden. Statement of the 1920. 1920s

“Peace and prosperity were possible only if people stopped asking new questions and accepted the available answers.”

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Source: Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005), Ch. 2

People, Peace, Question

“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

“It is not possible for one tribe to dominate another based on the way God has structured the country.”

Yemi Osinbajo (1957) 14th Vice President of Nigeria

[Buhari will do everything to make Nigeria great - Osinbajo, https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/09/buhari-will-everything-make-nigeria-great-osinbajo/, vanguardngr.com, 29 September 2016]

God, Way, Country

“Greatness happens when we commit to excellence and make the impossible possible.”

Vladimer Botsvadze

“I think music is like my only talent, unfortunately. I just utilized it as much as possible.”

Alessia Cara (1996) Canadian singer

Interview with Universal Music Korea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI68Ue0sPfo (October 2018)

Music, Thinking

“I carefully follow your creativity expressed by your soul, trying to capture every possible emotion or sensation of yours. Your essence is pure art given as a gift to the whole world.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Seguo con attenzione la tua creatività espressa dalla tua anima, cercando di catturarne ogni tua possibile emozione o sensazione. La tua essenza, è pura arte resa in dono al mondo intero.
Source: prevale.net

World, Art, Soul

“One of the greatest errors in the reconstruction of another era lies in our tendency to think of them as being like ourselves in feeling and attitudes. Actually, without considerable study on the part of a present-day man — if he were confronted by a fifteenth-century man — there would be no possible communication. I think it is possible through knowledge and discipline for a modern man to understand, and, to a certain extent, live into a fifteenth-century mind, but the reverse would be completely impossible.”

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

Appendix, letter to Elizabeth Otis and Chase Horton (14 March 1958)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

Error, Feeling, Communication, Understanding

“Resilience isn't predicting the correct future and preparing for it; resilience is acting in ways that make sense across the widest range of possible futures.”

Shaun Chamberlin

Chamberlin's @DarkOptimism account (2021) https://twitter.com/DarkOptimism/status/1435951949258661898

Way, Sense, Future

“A genuine era of happiness is only possible when we aren’t clouded by the uncertainties of aging and when bearing and raising children is truly considered a blessing. No citizen should be left to fear that he or she might not be able to meet the basic requirements of life.”

Park Geun-hye (1952) eleventh President of South Korea

Excerpts from inaugural address (February 25, 2013)

Life, Happiness, Children, Age

“To the limits of my capabilities, I have tried to find a possibility of evolution as an answer to all life. But, it simply will not work without intelligent intervention.”

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

WotansVolk
Focus Fourteen

Life, Intelligence

“Why do I continue getting daily pliability? Because I want to play football for as long as possible. I love my sport. I love my teammates. I love what i do... to me, sustained peak performance means doing what i want to do, and what I love to do, for as long as I can.”

Tom Brady (1977) American football quarterback

The TB12 Method (2017) p. 73

Love, Sport, Football

“I try to have as much fun as possible, because I am sure that if I have fun, if I let it happen naturally, it flows.”

Rayssa Leal (2008) Youngest Brazilian skateboarder and athlete to win a medal at the Olympics

Rayssa Leal. Mateus Baeta: Conto de fadas à brasileira: Rayssa Leal é prata no skate street http://rededoesporte.gov.br/pt-br/noticias/conto-de-fadas-a-brasileira-rayssa-leal-conquista-prata-no-skate-street, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Brazil https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/br/deed.en.

Nature

“Over the ages, if we had had a more open attitude to knowledge, to change of consciousness, to change of perception of the possibilities of life and the nature of the reality in which we live, people like Galileo or Copernicus would have had altogether easier lives.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

The Great Approach (2001)

Life, People, Age, Nature

“Suicidal people have tunnel vision - no other choice seems possible. A counselor’s job is to put windows and doors in that tunnel.”

Diane Ackerman (1948) Author, poet, naturalist

People, Suicide

“With Puritanism as the constant check upon American life, neither truth nor sincerity is possible. Nothing but gloom and mediocrity to dictate human conduct, curtail natural expression, and stifle our best impulses.”

Emma Goldman book Anarchism and Other Essays

Anarchism and Other Essays (1910), The Hypocrisy of Puritanism

Life, Truth, Nature, Sincerity

“The losers on the battlefield were not the soldier and his spirit, but the decision-making officials who were supposed to be ready for a possible war, properly organize and wage it.”

Armen Sarkissian (1953) 4th President of Armenia, Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, one of the directors of Eurasia House, phy…

"In an interview with CivilNet" https://www.president.am/en/interviews-and-press-conferences/item/2020/12/11/President-Armen-Sarkissians-interview-with-CivilNet/ (11 December 2020)

War, Decision

“The most important thing is that we would like people to reach some kind of mutual understanding, so that these huge mixed nationalities, religions, social order, finally understand each other, if possible ... And then everything would fall into place, and there are no more desires would not be.”

Viktor Tsoi (1962–1990) Soviet rock musician (1962-1990)

"Appendix I. Viktor Tsoi: interview diary" https://ik-ptz.ru/en/istoriya/prilozhenie-i-viktor-coi-dnevnik-intervyu-fragmenty-iz-odnoimennoi.html

People, Religion, Understanding

“If life is a mixture of drained rivers / which carry to the sea echoes of water, / we are nothing but shadows – / reflected lights of dead bodies without no possible outlet or shore.”

Menotti Lerro (1980) Italian poet

From The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, p. 37

Life, Light, Water, Sea

“Impossible's possible
I know 'cause I lost it all
I know the price of my ego
It's lethal
I still got the hots for you”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Blood from a Stone" (song) ("Blood from a Stone" on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBrHsrecN4 Studio albums, The Evolution of Man (2012)

“Everything seems possible during childhood, but things start to change as we age and face the realities of the universe.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Age, Reality, Universe, Change

“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that says it's not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

As quoted by William Rees-Mogg in The Times [London] (4 April 2005) {not found}. Gandhi here makes reference to a statement of Jesus: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13); also partly quoted in Christianity in the Crosshairs: Real Life Solutions Discovered in the Line of Fire (2004, p. 74 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=I7_5OM2VWuMC&pg=PA74) by Bill Wilson. A variation is found in Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Research Foundation's website mkgandhi.org http://www.mkgandhi.org/africaneedsgandhi/gandhi's_message_to_christians.htm. Christian missionary E. Stanley Jones, who spent much time with Gandhi in India, is said to have askedː “Mr Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?". To this, Gandhi is said to have repliedː “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ”. Jones would write a book called " Mahatma Gandhi: An Interpretation https://archive.org/details/mahatmagandhiani000019mbp" (1948), where he included excerpts of his personal correspondance with Gandhi, but he did not include this conversation. No further sources for Gandhi have been yet found; but a similar quote is attributed to Bara Dadaː "Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians -- you are not like him." Source - Jones, E. Stanley. The Christ of the Indian Road, New York: The Abingdon Press,1925. (Page 114) Disputed

God, Appearance, Time, Christ

“History supplies us with examples of almost every possible modification of government.”

William Smith O'Brien (1803–1864) Irish nationalist politician (1803-1864)

p. 16 https://books.google.com/books?id=4VUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA16 Principles of Government: Or Meditations in Exile (1856), Chapter II. On Centralized and Local Administration

History

“If you really put your mind to it, anything is possible.”

Mirai Nagasu (1993) American figure skater

As quoted in Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on Asian American Stereotypes, Her Reputation, and Breaking U.S. Olympic Records https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a17806677/mirai-nagasu-interview-olympics-2018/ in Cosmopolitan (February 16, 2018)

“It’s possible that having a strong competitor would encourage us to compete better.”

Ren Zhengfei (1944) Chinese businessman

Interview with CNBC (October 4, 2019)

Strong

“A universe of worlds, a dimensional macrocosm of worlds—and in all of them one thing that was always the same; one unifying force that was undeniably good, even if it now happened to be imprisoned in an evil place; the Talisman, axle of all possible worlds.”

Stephen King book The Talisman

The Talisman (1984)

World, Universe, Evil

“If faith is a mystery, it is because its nature is inexpressible in the measure that it is profound, for it is not possible to convey fully by words this vision which is still blind, and this blindness which already sees.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 97, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual life, Faith

Faith, Nature

“Without fear of God as a basis, nothing is possible spiritually, for the absence of fear is a lack of self-knowledge.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 30, 978-1-93659700-0]
God, Reverential fear and love

God, Fear, Knowledge

“No. I have run away from a lot of publicity. I have tried my best to come back to my desk again. I needed a peaceful corner of my own for my next work. But it took time. Now I am adjusting myself to these new circumstances. I will try to write my next book as soon as possible.”

Han Kang (1970) South Korean writer

On the issue of her publicity in "Korea's Kafka? Man Booker winner Han Kang on why she turns a woman into a plant" in Deutsche Welle (September 12, 2016) https://www.dw.com/en/koreas-kafka-man-booker-winner-han-kang-on-why-she-turns-a-woman-into-a-plant/a-19543017

Books, Peace, Time

“There’s a certain step-by-step logic, inherent in human nature and the peculiarities of human psychology, which ensures that Man will always organize into the largest possible group. Civilization is inevitable, if you want a pat phrase.”

Algis Budrys (1931–2008) American writer

Source: Some Will Not Die (1961), Chapter 5 (p. 82)

Nature

“Never have I had the impression of such a moral and civic downfall. In no country, not even the last of the last, what is happening here would be possible.”

Auguste, Baron Lambermont (1819–1905) Belgian politician

All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 6. Baron Auguste Lambermont (1819-1905), The Anti-Slavery Conference and the Relaxing Relationship with Leopold II http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#_ftn194 Lambermont in a 1895 letter to Henri Alexis Brialmont after the failed attempt to annex the Congo State by Belgium. WILLEQUET, J. Le baron Lambermont, 113-114.

Country

“We live in a self-defeating culture that pays lip service to heroic action in times of crisis, yet brutally punishes the very kind of snap judgments and instant security profiling that make such heroism possible in the first place.”

Michelle Malkin (1970) American political commentator

America’s Empty Slogan: “See Something, Say Something” http://michellemalkin.com/2013/04/17/americas-empty-slogan-see-something-say-something/ (April 17, 2013)

Time

“The church does not encourage clashes but harmony, based on a principle that must guide the world going forward, as there is no other possible way. This principle is that of solidarity.”

Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo (1954) Catholic bishop

Brazil’s top bishop: Without solidarity, Brazil could become new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/05/18/brazils-top-bishop-without-solidarity-brazil-could-become-new-epicenter (May 18, 2020)

World, Way

“I am convinced that it is possible for us to be united by our ideals, instead of divided by our differences.”

Sheyene Gerardi Venezuelan actor and model

Sheyene Gerardi (Sheyene Institute Founder´s letter, published 2020-07-09)

“My dream participation would be to make as much money as humanly possible for doing nothing whatsoever.”

Fred Dekker (1959) American film director and writer

‘The Monster Squad’ Was Released 25 Years Ago Today: Fred Dekker Talks About the Film’s Reception and Anniversary https://www.slashfilm.com/the-monster-squad-was-released-25-years-ago-fred-dekker-talks/2/ (August 14, 2012)

Money, Dreams

“We almost have an unlimited variety of phones, especially in the world of cell phones. ...It is not possible to buy a cell phone that doesn't do too much.”

Barry Schwartz (1946) American psychologist

The paradox of choice (2007)

World

“What channels the energy of our total being to produce anything that might be within the boundaries of possibility is known as will.”

Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) Peruvian-American author

Source: The Eagle's Gift, (1981)

“When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "Tales of Power" (Chapter 10)

Learning

“The only possible course that a warrior has is to act consistently and without reservations. At a certain moment, he knows enough of the warriors' way to act accordingly, but his old habits and routines may stand in his way.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "Tales of Power" (Chapter 10)

Way

“The most important thing is that we show determination to continue the dialogue and that we will always try to solve everything by talking. I want to believe that it is possible.”

Aleksandar Vučić (1970) President of Serbia

Source: "Excerpts of Address" https://www.predsednik.rs/en/press-center/news/address-by-the-president-of-the-republic-of-serbia-on-16th-june-2021 (16 June 2021)

“When National Socialism has ruled long enough, it will no longer be possible to conceive of a form of life different from ours.
In the long run, National Socialism and religion will no longer be able to exist together.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Source: 11-12 July 1941, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944

Life, Religion

“We unwittingly focus on fear and distrust, as if those were the only possible options available to us, while all along we have the alternative of deliberately centering our attention on the opposite, the mystery, the wonder of what is happening to us.”

Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) Peruvian-American author

Source: The Eagle's Gift, (1981)

Fear

“I believed then that if you had a good encounter with a person, it was best not to see them again for as long as possible.”

Curtis Sittenfeld book Prep

Source: Prep (2005), p. 159 cited in: The New Yorker (2004). Vol. 80, Nr. 38-45. p.87

Personality

“There were so many possible logical holes in that statement that Irene could have used it as a tea-strainer.”

Genevieve Cogman (1972) novelist and game designer

Source: The Burning Page (2016), Chapter 6 (pp. 64-65)

Tea

“We are living in a time of transition, when everything is going to be so different that the experts are possibly more handicapped by their traditional time-worn knowledge than are we, untrained and with minds empty of red tape and orthodoxy.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

Knowledge, Time

“Let us lay down as the first foundation stone of our work the determination to seek for a World Design which is strictly in accordance with the highest spiritual principles which have been given to man down the ages, irrespective of whether we think the result possible or not.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

Age, World, Thinking

“In making our blue-print of the coming new world, it will be advisable for us to proceed without the slightest regard... for what is apparently possible or for existing conditions, so that present habits of thought and inhibiting fears do not hamper our vision in any way.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

World, Fear, Way

“For me, success is not only defined by what others deem you as, but also who you consider yourself to be. I don’t think I received a perfect score on any exam yet, and it’s also possible that I’ll never achieve that, but I’ll still feel satisfied at the end.”

Liu Wen (model) (1988) Chinese model

Source: "Liu Wen opens up about fame, responsibility and finding meaning in her career" in Vogue https://vogue.sg/liu-wen-cover-vogue-singapore-leslie-zhang/ (1 March 2021)

Feeling, Thinking, Success, Perfection

“Perhaps things will become worse and then better. Perhaps there’s a small god up in heaven readying herself for us. Another world is not only possible, she’s on her way. Maybe many of us won’t be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Source: Articles, Come September (29 Sep 2002)

God, World, Way

“Above all practice the presence of God in prayer. Divine Mind has given us all potentialities, in prayer we recognize it as the source of these, and with a right understanding of our relation to it our soul grows great with infinite capacity, all potentiality. "With God all things are possible."”

Charles Fillmore (1854–1948) American mystic

"All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine."
Source: Teach Us to Pray with Cora Fillmore (1941)

God, Soul, Understanding

“Whatever possibilities and potentialities are latent today, the fact remains that the last word and the final decision will rest with us — the people.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter I, Secrets Behind History

People, Decision

“There are those who can prove that plans and ideals for a united world and a well organized Brotherhood of Men have existed for hundreds of years and have come to nothing. These are the ones who say “Human nature cannot change!” There are others who declare that we are living through a momentous epoch in history which is ushering in stupendous changes and the possibility for real world unity and a new and better civilization.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter I, Secrets Behind History

Men, World, History, Nature

“We can still avoid the worst consequences, we can still turn this around. But not if we continue like today. You have the resources and possibilities to change the story overnight.”

Greta Thunberg (2003) Swedish climate change activist

Source: 2021, An Open Letter to the Global Media by Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate (October 2021)

Change

“To-day we can only ennumerate some of the new methods of healing, in order to indicate the possibilities ahead and suggest avenues of exploration.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XXXV The Opportunity Today
Context: This will be the science of the future.

“When a situation gets so bad that no solution seems possible there is left only murder or suicide. Or both. These failing, one becomes a buffoon.”

Henry Miller book Nexus

Source: The Rosy Crucifixion III: Nexus (1960), Ch. 3, p. 36

Suicide

“Marriage -The scope and plan of this work will allow of but the briefest possible consideration of this subject upon which volumes have been written, much to no purpose other than the multiplication of books.”

John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943) American physician

Source: Plain Facts For Old and Young, p.124

Marriage, Books

“[C]ollaboration between... divergent systems is possible... only as long as both are stable. ...International security is ...based upon the internal political and social security of each of the Great Powers.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Source: 1930s- 1950s, An Economist Looks At the Peace (1945)

“Thou mayest foresee... the things which will be. For they will certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should deviate from the order of things now: accordingly to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book VII, 49

Life

“I’m down for any type of movie. I never want to limit myself as an actor to the possibilities that are out there. I am down for anything. If anything that I do, I do the best of my ability.”

Uriah Shelton (1997) American actor and singer

Source: Interview with Uriah Shelton https://www.scifiandscary.com/interview-with-uriah-shelton/ (28 May 2017)

“In my experience, it is perfectly possible to have opinions and also produce valuable, fact-based information for the world.”

Katherine Maher (1983) chief executive officer and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/1353456809424547840, (24 January 2021)

World

“This law will be strictly enforced to prevent the type of nuisance and violence that happened in the past...It's not possible to have it all—happiness, equality, democracy—without giving us the tools.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Law curbing public assembly takes effect in Thailand (13 August 2015)
Source: [Law curbing public assembly takes effect in Thailand, https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/law-curbing-public-assembly-takes-effect-in-thailand/, 14 August 2015, The Seattle Times, Associated Press, 13 August 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20201128115005/https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/law-curbing-public-assembly-takes-effect-in-thailand/, 28 November 2020, live]

Happiness, Law, Democracy, Past

“When we include and listen to diverse ways of thinking, we make the impossible, possible.”

Bob Swan (1960) American business executive

citation needed

Way, Thinking

“Because these earthquakes strike in the strong, unfractured rock of plate interiors, their tremors travel faster than those of border quakes before petering out. ...The possibility of such a mid-plate quake thus carries a much higher risk than one on a plate boundary.”

Shawna Vogel science writer

Naked Earth: the New Geophysics (1995)

Travel, Strong

“We must search for ways ... so that Crimea may have the maximum degree of independence possible ... but be part of Ukraine.”

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

Source: "AP Interview: Yanukovych admits mistakes on Crimea" in Associated Press https://apnews.com/article/8b795952e78a47a3beff026800eb508a (2 April 2014)

Way, Search, Parting

“When possible, children should be comfortable and free when they are playing or studying, and it is the way in a civilized country to make them more comfortable by not being too strict and giving grace and love at the same time.”

Syngman Rhee (1875–1965) first president of South Korea (1875-1965)

Source: Speech at the first anniversary of the founding of Seoul Board of Education (2 October 1957)

Love, Children, Way, Study

“These kind never change. The machine does something to a man. It brutalizes him. It serves as a buffer between himself and his environment and he is the worst for it. It arouses an opportunistic instinct and makes possible a greed that makes a man inhuman.”

Clifford D. Simak book A Choice of Gods

Source: A Choice of Gods (1972), Chapter 28 (p. 152)

Change

“I am going to tell it to you straight because Omicron is so contagious, we could be entering the worst phase of the pandemic. We must do whatever we can to reduce the total number of infections. We want as a few as those infections to cause serious illness as possible.”

Philip Davis (1951) Bahamian politician

Source: Philip Davis (2021) cited in: " NEW RULES: PM urges caution as omicron variant likely in country https://ewnews.com/new-rules-pm-urges-caution-as-omicron-variant-likely-in-country" in Eyewitness News, 24 December 2021.

Quotes about possibility page 63

Quotes about possibility
page 63