Quotes about wisdom and truth
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"A Plea For Intolerance" (1931)
Article "The Worst Man in the World" in The Sunday Dispatch (2 July 1933); quoted in The Magical Revival (1972) by Kenneth Grant.
Context: Black magic is not a myth. It is a totally unscientific and emotional form of magic, but it does get results — of an extremely temporary nature. The recoil upon those who practice it is terrific.
It is like looking for an escape of gas with a lighted candle. As far as the search goes, there is little fear of failure!
To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency, and intelligence. You must be obsessed with an insane idea of the importance of the petty object of your wretched and selfish desires.
I have been accused of being a "black magician." No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it.
Variant: To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
Source: 1800s, Auguries of Innocence (1803), Line 1
“The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”
“Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.”
Preface
The Importance of Living (1937)
Context: This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience of thought and life. It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal truths. In fact I rather despise claims to objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing. I should have liked to call it "A Lyrical Philosophy," using the word "lyrical" in the sense of being a highly personal and individual outlook...
As A Man Thinketh (1902), Serenity
Context: The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.
Frag. B 2.2-6, quoted by Proclus, Commentary on the Timaeus I, 345
“Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.”
Source: Heliogabalus
“Reason not with him, that will deny the principal truths!”
The Sayings of the Wise (1555)
“The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.”
“This mania of the mothers of the period, to be constantly in pursuit of a son-in-law.”
Cette manie des mères de ce siècle, d'être constamment à la chasse au mari.
Source: Armance (1827), Ch. 5
