W Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with W. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?”
Source: Churchill: The Power of Words
“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? How else can we put ourselves in harmonious relation with the great verities and consolations of the infinite and the eternal? And I avow my faith that we are marching towards better days. Humanity will not be cast down. We are going on swinging bravely forward along the grand high road and already behind the distant mountains is the promise of the sun.”
“What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes.”
Source: Churchill: The Power of Words
“What is the use of merely listening to lectures? The real thing is practice.”
“What is the use of physicians like myself trying to help parents to bring up children healthy and happy, to have them killed in such numbers for a cause that is ignoble?”
“What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?”
Source: Thoughts In Solitude
“What is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?”
Source: In Darkest England and the Way Out
“What is the use of religion in the modern world? In my mind, religion can be of no use for any intellectual in the sense what is directly written there. Whatever literally means in religion can independently be thought by the rational mind, of course, if there is any need to think over such mythology. Most of what rational mind can obtain in scientific way cannot even be discernible by religious thinking. There is no need to emphasize that the fundamental base of the modern world is out of the province of religious thinking. The language of religion itself is out of date. The whole description of afterdeath, for example, seems trivial nowadays. Imagine that afterdeath you go to pass the examination of ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’ before the Holy Spirit as it is shown in religion. He asks what you have done in so-and-so time and space, and you answer miraculously remembering every detail in your life, fully visualizing everything before your eyes. Nothing can be forgotten, nothing can be hidden. I don’t claim, whether it is true or false, at least here and now, I want to emphasize the fact that the language of such description is out of date. Considering that the history of religion and the Holy Scripture goes back long, long before the emergence of the modern world, it is explainable. Whatever is written there coincides with pre-modern world thinking. For instance, if a religion emerged nowadays, its Holy Scripture would contain concepts and ideas according to modern world thinking. There would be no need for questioning you by the Holy Spirit. In my eyes, there would be rather a description of the computer lab with ‘angels’ sitting at the computer and checking your memory-card in which is written all information about your life. The brain, which can pass the examination of ‘goodness’ would be connected to ‘heaven’ program system, which in turn would send to that brain positive signal as if your body is really experiencing sexual or other kind of pleasures as it is described in religion. Similarly, if you brain fails in that examination, it would be connected to ‘hell’ program system sending to your brain negative signals as if your body is really undergoing the punishment known by religion. So can modern religion be of the modern age. The human mind can never entirely grasp what would happen after death, so why should you poison your mind with mythology from ages past?”
“What is the use of straining after an amiable view of things, when a cynical view is most likely to be the true one?.”
Source: The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Lectures, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more
“What is the use of talking of one's mistakes to the world? They cannot thereby be undone. For what one has done one must suffer; one must try and do better. The world sympathizes only with the strong and the powerful.”
Source: Complete Works
“What is the use of the colon? What is a colon? Generally it opens onto an explanation, but it is always done with the help of an interruption. It can be said that the colon is not the period, it is the period of the period, the canceling of the period. It is a moment mute and marked; it is the most delicate tattoo of the text. It is also in place of, instead of, everything that would be causal. For example, when we read: "It's simply that: secret." "Secret," is a sentence, it is the shortest sentence perhaps. But it is a sentence in one word. It is a sentence that is secret and that at the same time says its name. One could invert and say: "Secret: it is simply that." This is secret, the secret is the secret of this, it is a word which makes infinite sense all by itself, it is a sentence which performs the secret itself [Clarice Lispector, The Stream of Life, trans Elizabeth Lowe & Earl Fitz, Foreword by Hélène Cixous trans Verena Conley, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989]”
“What is the use of theorizing as to wherein lies the charm that moves us?”
Source: Cinq Mars (Complete)
“What is the use of this fuss about morality when the issue only involves a horse? The first and most difficult teaching of civilisation concerns man's behaviour to his inferiors. Make humanity gentle or reasonable toward animals, and strife or injustice between human beings would speedily terminate.”
Source: The Illustrated Horse Management: Containing Descriptive Remarks Upon Anatomy, Medicine, Shoeing, Teeth, Food, Vices, Stables : Likewise a Plain Account of the Situation, Nature and Value of the Various Points : Together with Comments on Grooms, Dealers, Breeders, Breakers and Trainers : Also, on Carriages and Harness
“What is the use of voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction.”
Source: Woodrow Wilson: the essential political writings
“What is the use trying to describe the flowing of a river at any one moment, and then at the next moment, and then at the next, and the next, and the next? You wear out. You say: There is a great river, and it flows through this land, and we have named it History.”
Source: The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin
“What is the user problem that once we solve users can't live without?”
“What is the value of cultivating a bad reputation in the universe; if the death of the flesh is certain?”
“What is the value of having millions of people in Iraq not having a repressive regime? What is the value of having the Iraqi regime not shooting at UK and US aircraft almost every day? What is the value of the Iraqis having a free press? What is the value of the foreign minister of Iraq going to Paris, calling for an end of the Gadhafi regime and citing Iraq as a model, as an example, that in fact a freer political system can exist in that part of the world?”
“What is the value of interactions that contain no understanding of us and that contribute nothing to a shared store of human meaning?”
“What is the value of libraries? Through lifelong learning, libraries can and do change lives, a point that cannot be overstated.”
Source: Our Enduring Values: Librarianship in the 21st Century
“What is the value of light
when it no longer shines”
“What is the value of sensitives? Look around: we live in a ugly and stupid world which could have been prevented if sensitives had been present, and had the power to influence things.
That block-shaped, pressed concrete, ugly shopping mall? The princess would opine that no one could have any peace of mind with such hideous backgrounds, and demand something like a traditional building, with ornate spires and comfortable human spaces instead.
Grating, two-note music ranting about copulation and projected sexual desire? No princess would want this crass gibberish around her, nor would she recognize music which neglected the finer parts of composition, melody, harmony, rhythm, and narrative. She would hire Schubert instead.
Schools that treat students like livestock, jobs that are jails, marriages that are suicide pacts, and boring tract housing? Similarly, a princess would have no use for those, and perceive that these would be abusive to her so must be to others as well.
As children, we made fun of the sensitivity of the princess. A pea, under twenty mattresses, really? The point — in the visual-metaphorical language of fable, religion, literature, and conspiracy theory — tells us that sensitivity is in fact needed, and it needs power to save the rest of us from what we do not yet perceive.
In this story, the princess is simply a finer instrument. After twenty years, we might notice that we woke up tired in the mornings, and eventually investigate and find the pea, but she knew right away, intuitively and by the nature of her character. This is part of what makes an aristocrat.”
“What is the value of sticking a microphone in a man's face right after he has learned of his wife's death?”
Source: Anchorwoman
“What is the value of the Gnani’s [the enlightened one’s] feet? It is a value that is immeasurable. The Gnani’s feet is one & the only solvent to dissolve egoism.”
“What is the vanity of the vainest man compared with the vanity which the most modest possesses when, in the midst of nature and the world, he feels himself to be man!”
Source: Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
“What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? - I wish I knew... Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can.”
“What is the virtue and service of a book? Only to help me live less gingerly and shabbily.”
“What is the voice of song when the world lacks the ear of taste?”
Source: The Snow Image: The Devil World
“What is the way of the Buddha? It is to study the self. What is the study of the self? It is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to enlightened by everything in the world.”
“What is the weight of a tear? The single tear falls when the buckets have stopped, when dry eyes and a slightly raised chin sometimes let it slip, like a prayer. It carries the weight of a lifetime.”
Source: Facing Forward
“What is the whole world under the control of? Gnanis (enlightened ones) are under the control of the Gnan (absolute knowledge), and the world is under the control of kashayas, meaning anger-pride-deceit-greed. A greedy person is preoccupied in greed kashaya, a proud man in pride kashaya, a deceitful person in deceit kashaya.”
Source: Simple & Effective Science for Self Realization
“What is the why behind everything you do?”
“What is the Wii U, Gubben?" Farfar said, unable to keep the grin off his face as he balled the wrapping paper in his hands and stared at the box in his lap. "Don't we already have a Wii?" Then, more concerned, "How much did you spend on this?"
"Not too much," I said, grinning back. "It's refurbished."
"And old," Jorge added helpfully.
"And old. Nintendo's already moved on to newer systems. Plus," I said, tossing a second present onto Farfar's lap and picking up his blue Wii remote from the coffee table, strumming the rubber bands holding the battery cover in place with my thumb. "This system's backward compatible."
I watched Farfar peel back the paper one his unauthorized second present and nod to himself. He let out a sound like a deeply satisfied bear.
"Oh, god," Maggie said, laughing.
"Let's hook it up, Gubben."
"They released a deluxe edition for the newer system," I explained, leading to our lengthy, highly technical discussion of Mario Kart 8 for Wii U vs. 8 Deluxe for the Switch, while I hooked up the new system to the TV”
Source: Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love
“What is the will of God? On earth as it is in heaven. If it doesn’t exist there, it’s not supposed to exist here. If it does exist there, it’s supposed to exist here.”
“What is the wisest choice for a personal life goal? Should a person seek self-actualization or self-realization? Perhaps neither goal is a realistic objective, especially if human beings lack free will. What I do know is that there is dark pit so deep inside myself that I must fill it. I can pad this black hole with dread or pleasure, booze or drugs, religion or vice, action or indolence, love or hatred. Alternatively, I can fill bleakness and emptiness by increasing self-awareness and ascertain my role in the world. With limited energy resources and lack of mental acuity, I might never attain a plane of higher consciousness. I fear remaining forever blocked in a state of psychological deadlock, forevermore exhibiting prolonged mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and plagued by psychogenic abnormalities brought about from social rejection, grief, vocational lapses, and economic and marital setbacks. In a state of mental incapacity, I might lack the ability to blunt immediate personal destruction. I need to begin a journey that leads to a higher state of awareness, and personal survival depends upon how much progress I achieve purging my mind of falsities and other toxic impurities. While personal survival necessities moving forward in order to discover a mental state of silent stasis and reach the desired endpoint of emotional equanimity, perhaps I will never achieve a mirror-like purity of the mind that is capable of reflecting the world as it really is, without distortion by a corrupted mind.”
Source: Dead Toad Scrolls
“What is the work of a Master?" said a solemn-faced visitor. "To teach people to laugh ," said the Master gravely.”
“What is the work writers do? Not the writing, not the thing that lives on--the work, the inward conversation that must be had again and again before even a modicum of meaning arrives on the page.”
Source: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
“What is the world at its best but a little round field of the moving pictures with two walking together in it?”
Source: The Complete Works Of O. Henry
“What is the world but a boxing ring where fools and devils put up their fists?”
Source: Deathless
“What is the world
But a moldable place
To create with love
And heal with grace.”
“What is the world coming to, when you can't trust a whore named Snake?”
Source: Blue Blood by Conlon, Edward (2004) Paperback
“What is the world coming to when you get a red card and get fined two weeks' wages for calling a grown man a wanker?”
“What is the world coming to, when you can't even trust a rogue vicar and her demon lover?”
Source: Just Another Judgement Day
“What is the world coming to, with these modern women? A man can't tell them what to do.”
Source: Twice Tempted by a Rogue
“What is the world coming to?”
“What is the world, except that which we feel? Love, and hope, and delight, or sorrow and tears; these are our lives, our realities, to which we give the names of power, possession, misfortune, and death.”
Source: Valperga
“What is the world full of? It is full of things that arise, persist, and cease. Grasp and cling to them, and they produce suffering. Don't grasp and cling to them, and they do not produce suffering.”
“What is the world of the spirits? It is nothing I know about. I don't know what spirit is."
"Spirit is what matter does.”
Source: The Secret Commonwealth
“What is the world’s problem? The world is still believing the old childish stories! That is the problem! Grow up, world, grow up! Be a bit serious!”
“What is the world that is to be given up? It is here. I am carrying it all with me. My own body. It is all for this body that I put my hand voluntarily upon my fellow human beings, just to keep it nice and give it a little pleasure. It is all for the body that I injure others and make mistakes.”