“The demands of our reality function require that we adapt to reality, that we constitute ourselves as a reality and that we manufacture works which are realities. But doesn't reverie, by its very essence, liberate us from the reality function? From the moment it is considered in all its simplicity, it is perfectly evident that reverie bears witness to a normal useful irreality function which keeps the human psyche on the fringe of all the brutality of a hostile and foreign non-self.” HumansSelfMomentsRealityBearsDemandNormalEssenceFunctionSimplicityWitnessEvidentHostileFringeBrutalityReverieHuman Psyche Author:Gaston Bachelard
“The human mind has claimed for water one of its highest values-the value of purity.” MindHumansValuesWaterHighestPurityHuman Mind Author:Gaston Bachelard
“It is not a question of observation which propels mankind forward as if toward a looking glass of great magnitude; it is an instance of aggrandized reflection that insinuates the human psyche to the inhuman.” IfsHumansMankindReflectionGlassesInstanceObservationMagnitudeInhumanHuman Psyche Author:Gaston Bachelard
“A man is a man to the extent that he is a superman. A man should be defined by the sum of those tendencies which impel him to surpass the human condition.” MenShouldHumansGrowthConditionsIntegrityTendenciesDefinedHuman Condition Author:Gaston Bachelard
“The human being taken in his profound reality as well as in his great tension of becoming is a divided being, a being which divides again, having permitted himself the illusion of unity for barely an instant. He divides and then reunites.” HumansWellsRealityHuman BeingsTakenBecomingIllusionUnityProfoundInstantTensionDividedDivides Author:Gaston Bachelard
“Childhood knows unhappiness through men. In solitude, it can relax its aches. When the human world leaves him in peace, the child feels like the son of the cosmos.” KnowsMenWorldFeelsHumansChildrenPeaceChildhoodSonSolitudeRelaxCosmosUnhappinessAche Author:Gaston Bachelard
“A book is a human fact; a great book like Seraphita gathers together numerous psychological elements. These elements become coherent through a sort of psychological beauty. It does the reader a service.” HumansDoeBookFactsTogetherBeautyReaderElementsPsychologicalGreat Book Author:Gaston Bachelard
“In our view any awareness is an increment to consciousness, an added light, a reinforcement of psychic coherence. Its swiftness or instantaneity can hide this growth from us. But there is a growth of being in every instance of awareness. Consciousness is in itself an act, the human act.” HumansLightGrowthViewsConsciousnessAwarenessInstancePsychicsCoherenceReinforcementSwiftness Author:Gaston Bachelard
“Of course, a psychologist would find it more direct to study the inspired poet. He would make concrete studies of inspiration in individual geniuses. But for all that, would he experience the phenomena of inspiration? His human documentation gathered from inspired poets could hardly be related, except from the exterior, in an ideal of objective observations. Comparison of inspired poets would soon make us lose sight of inspiration.” HumansInspirationCoursesIndividualLosesStudyPoetGeniusIdealsDirectSightInspiredObjectivesObservationRelatedComparisonConcretePsychologistExteriorDocumentation Author:Gaston Bachelard
