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Quote by Helen Potrebenko

“So everybody lives the way they're told to. The way they have to. Everybody most of the time. Not ever all the time. Hair style, clothing, manner of speech, ideas, cars, houses, and everything. Just like they have to. Even the way we walk. But not all the time. Comes a time when everybody breaks out. And that's the only characteristic of human nature I know of. Not greed, not obedience, not violence, nor any of those things the capitalists would have us believe are intrinsic. Only rebellion.”

Quote by Helen Potrebenko

Book:Taxi! : A novel
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Taxi! : A novel

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Helen Potrebenko

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“You look into it , the object flies off into air , your reasons evaporate , the criminal is not to be found , the wrong becomes not a wrong but a phantom , something like the toothache , for which no one is to blame , and consequently there is only the same outlet left again — that is , to beat the wall as hard as you can . So you give it up with a wave of the hand because you have not found a fundamental cause . And try letting yourself be carried away by your feelings , blindly , without reflection , without a primary cause , repelling consciousness at least for a time ; hate or love , if only not to sit with your hands folded . The day after tomorrow , at the latest , you will begin despising yourself for having knowingly deceived yourself . Result : a soap - bubble and inertia . Oh , gentlemen , do you know , perhaps I consider myself an intelligent man , only because all my life I have been able neither to begin nor to finish anything .”

Human Nature
Book:Notes from Underground
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“Original sin and conscious awareness of human fallibility is the perpetual agent of transformation in human affairs. Humankind’s behavior is pathological; it is an admixture of instinct and reason, kindness and cruelty, immorality and seeking redemption.”

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Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“There are instances, indeed, wherein men shew a vanity in resembling a great man in his countenance, shape, air, or other minute circumstances, that contribute not in any degree to his reputation; but it must be confess’d, that this extends not very far, nor is of any considerable moment in these affections. For this I assign the following reason. We can never have a vanity of resembling in trifles any person, unless he be possess’d of very shining qualities, which give us a respect and veneration for him. These qualities, then, are, properly speaking, the causes of our vanity, by means of their relation to ourselves. Now after what manner are they related to ourselves? They are parts of the person we value, and consequently connected with these trifles; which are also suppos’d to be parts of him. These trifles are connected with the resembling qualities in us; and these qualities in us, being parts, are connected with the whole; and by that means form a chain of several links betwixt ourselves and the shining qualities of the person we resemble. But besides that this multitude of relations must weaken the connexion; ’tis evident the mind, in passing from the shining qualities to the trivial ones, must by that contrast the better perceive the minuteness of the latter, and be in some measure asham’d of the comparison and resemblance.”

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Book:A Treatise of Human Nature
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“The two qualities courage and being blissful prepare the ground for God to descend in you. You have to be courageous, because God is the unknown. And whatsoever you have been taught about God is sheer nonsense. When you really come to know God, you will be utterly surprised. There is no way to describe the experience. God remains indefinable and inexpressible. The experience of God is so inexpressible that even those who have experienced God cannot express their experience to somebody else. The word "mystic" describes one who has come across such a truth that he can only say that it is an unexplainable mystery. One needs enough courage to explore the unknown. And one needs to be blissful enough for God to enter in your being. Unless you are blissful you are not ready for God. God cannot happen to people, who are sad and miserable. God is a song, a dance, a consciousness. Misery makes people shrink and become closed, and bliss makes people open and available - and God needs all the space. Then only can the ultimate sky enter you. You have to become spacious enough to become as vast as the sky.”

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Book:The Way of the Heart
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