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Quote by Richard Powers

Work

The Overstory

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Author

Richard Powers
Richard Powers

Richard Powers is an American contemporary novelist, born on June 18, 1957. His works are known for their profound philosophical thinking, rich imagination, and unique narrative style. more

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“Instincts are older, but thoughts are recent, that's why instincts are more powerful than thoughts - that's why it takes great will power to express a thought through action, while instincts come so easily. However, if we continue practicing our thoughts long enough, eventually the instincts that hold power over us will turn powerless. And this my friend, ought to be the next step of our evolution, and that's why it's no longer merely a matter of natural selection, it's what I hereby dub "sapient selection", that is the process of determining the path of our evolution ourselves.”

EvolutionThoughtsPrejudiceBrainy QuotesSelf DeterminationNeuroscienceEvolutionary PsychologyNatural SelectionInstinctsSapient Selection
Book:Ain't Enough to Look Human
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“Wrecked and despondent at midlife, I need to undertake a strict personal evaluation that will lead to personal transformation. I must be willing to start afresh and attempt to make myself anew. In order to begin all over and not culminate in the same deadhead rut as before, I admit to harboring personal insecurities and boldly confront my greatest fears. In order to establish an altered foundation that will support a revised self, I commence by asking the pertinent questions. If I run fast enough and long enough, can I quash slavish personal demons and capture an elusive self? Can I exercise the self-discipline to eliminate the artificial screens that I hide behind in order to peer out at the formidable world? Do I possess the personal audacity to explore unfamiliar terrain and the internal grit to dual the primal flex of nature’s power while accepting on equal terms the thrall and tragic beauty of surviving in a violent habitat?”

TransformationMemoirSelf DeterminationBurnoutPersonal TransformationMidlifeMemoir Writing Self Appraisal
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“Do I live out the remainder of my life striving to increase a mental storehouse of intellectual knowledge or by expanding a state of conscious awareness? Should my ultimate goal be to decode all the paradoxes in life or nurture a state of cognitive awareness? Should I strive to develop internal peace, silence, and tranquility? Must I rely upon the intuitive self to reconnect innate root structure and link myself to the essential means of living life deeply? By courageously striving to conquer illicit personal desires, can I develop a state of mirror-like purity of consciousness that allows a person to serve as a gracious and unbiased witness to the surrounding world?”

ConsciousnessEnlightenmentConsciousTransformationSelf RealizationSelf DeterminationTranscendenceTransformSelf TransformationSelf Transcendence
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“The greatest gift that one generation bestows on its successors is striving valiantly to make every day of a person’s life count by working to enhance human knowledge and teaching what we learn to willing learners. Every generation of human beings owes a debt of immense gratitude to the forerunning generations who worked to solve problems that bedevil humanity and for exhibiting a profound reverence for all forms of life.”

GratitudeMemoirSelf RealizationReverenceSelf DeterminationSelf DevelopmentSelf TransformationReverence For LifeSelf Transcendence
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“What insistent questions must I ask and answer in order to uncover the essential truths for personal survival? Can I frame the crucial questions that self-revealing answers might stave off instant disintegration? Can I find a subject of intellectual investigation worthy of creating an enduring legacy? How do I eradicate from a secretive, brooding, and shut-in mind the insidious and incapacitating thoughts that turned me into an inert maumet or an empty-headed person? Must I accept the rheum of my timid meagerness? Alternatively, must I expunge all mucus remnants of my diseased former self? Can I shock myself awake from a zombie-like state of spiritual deadness? Can I create out of the phlegm of a frozen mind a new Adam that walks and talks for me? By destroying a former self, can I save myself and create a vessel of lifeworks that carries a stream of earnest thoughts into the minds of future readers?”

Self RealizationWritersSelf DeterminationWriters On WritingWriting LifeSelf DestructionMemoir WritingStory Of My LifeWriters On Thinking
Author:Kilroy J. Oldster
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