Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Ted Chiang

Quote by Ted Chiang

“Free will is a kind of miracle; when we make a genuine choice, we bring about a result that cannot be reduced to the workings of physical law. Every act of volition is, like the creation of the universe, a first cause.”

Quote by Ted Chiang

Book:Omphalos
Create image

Work

Omphalos

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang

Ted Chiang, born in 1967, is an outstanding science fiction writer. His works are renowned for their profound philosophical thinking and exquisite narrative structure, earning him high praise from readers and critics alike. more

You May Also Like

“Oscar Wilde suggested that every portrait painted with feeling is of the artist not the sitter. The artist reveals himself through the coloured canvas. The self-portrait is therefore a consultation of what the artist wishes to say about their art, a physical rendering that aims to included a psychoanalytical evaluation. It may offer and insight into the essence of their creative unconscious, their ambitions and desires. Yet the act of painting a self portrait is also implicitly about death.”

ArtSelf Portrait
Book:How to Read Paintings
Create image

“Please, help me. Young werewolves in love. I turned to walk into the house, moving carefully. I had never much believed in God. Well, that's not quite true. I believed that there was a God, or something close enough to it to warrant the name if there were demons, there had to be angels, right? If there was a Devil, somewhere, there had to be a God. But He & I had never really seen things in quite the same terms. All the same. I flashed a look up at the ceiling. I didn't say or think any words, but if God was listening, I hoped he got the message nonetheless. I didn't want of these children getting themselves killed.”

FoolMoonFilesDresdenButcherJimFool Moon
Book:Fool Moon
Create image

“Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently powerful to employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and faggot too; and Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same spirit that Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant (if the story be true) he would cut off his head, and the head of his master, had he been able. Besides this, Christianity grounds itself originally upon the [Hebrew] Bible, and the Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that in the worst use of it — not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made no converts: they butchered all. The Bible is the sire of the [New] Testament, and both are called the word of God. The Christians read both books; the ministers preach from both books; and this thing called Christianity is made up of both. It is then false to say that Christianity was not established by the sword.”

ChristianityPowerBooksIslamMinistersWord Of GodPeterConvertTestamentMuhammadHebrewChristiansSwordJewsMuslimsPreachButcherTerrifyHigh PriestStakeExtirpateMahomet
Book:The age of reason
Create image

“Violence takes on many forms, sadly violence is such an everyday part of our lives that we have mostly become oblivious to it. It goes on behind closed doors, far away from our vision. Screams that go unheard by the masses. Yet the butchered remains of miserable lives land with a sizzle on our dinner plates, and are rarely fully recognised for what they really are.”

ViolenceVeganAnimal RightsVeganismClosed DoorsButcherVegan QuoteSizzle
Book:The Eden Fruitarian Guidebook
Create image