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Activity Quotes

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Activity Quotes

“For all his understanding of worldly concerns, when it came to fathoming the deeper meaning of his own furious activity, Sir Bob displayed the sort of laziness for which he himself had no patience in others. He appeared to have only a passing interest in the overall purpose of his financial accumulation.”

PurposeUnderstandingInterestActivityConcernFinancialDeeperPassingPassingsBobLazinessWorldlyAccumulationFuriousNo PatienceDeeper Meaning
Author:Alain de Botton
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“Plato defined a slave as one who accepts from another the purposes which control his conduct. This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. It is found wherever men are engaged in activity which is socially serviceable, but whose service they do not understand and have no personal interest in.”

MenPurposeFoundInterestAcceptingConditionsActivitySlaverySlaveDefinedEngagedPlatoPersonal Interest
Book:Democracy And Education
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“The ultimate aim of politics is not politics, but the activities which can be practised within the political framework of the State. Therefore an effective statement of these activities - e.g. science, art, religion - is in itself a declaration of ultimate aims around which the political means will crystallise... a society with no values outside of politics is a machine carrying its human cargo, with no purpose in its institutions reflecting their care, eternal aspirations, loneliness, need for love.”

NeedsHumansMeanArtStatesCarePoliticalPurposeValuesLonelinessActivityEternalMachinesUltimateAimInstitutionsStatementsAspirationDeclarationFrameworkReflectingCargo
Author:Stephen Spender
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“The purpose prong of the Lemon test requires that a government activity have a secular purpose. That requirement is not satisfied, however, by the mere existence of some secular purpose, however dominated by religious purposes... The proper inquiry under the purpose prong of Lemon, I submit, is whether the government intends to convey a message of endorsement or disapproval of religion.”

GovernmentPurposeReligiousExistenceAtheismActivityMessagesTestsMereSatisfiedSubmitSecularRequirementsInquiryLemonsEndorsementsDisapproval
Author:Sandra Day O'Connor
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“The perfectly natural thing to do with an unreadable book is to give it away; and the publication, for more than a quarter of a century, of volumes which fulfilled this one purpose and no other is a pleasant proof, if proof were needed, of the business principles which underlay the enlightened activity of publishers.”

IfsGivingBookPurposeNaturalPrinciplesCenturyNeededActivityProofThings To DoPleasantEnlightenedQuartersVolumeFulfilledPublishersPublicationNatural ThingsPerfectly NaturalQuarter Of A Century
Book:A Happy Half-century: And Other Essays
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“What moments of despair that life would ever be made precious to me by the consciousness that I lived to some good purpose! It was that sort of despair that sucked away the sap of half the hours which might have been filled by energetic youthful activity: and the same demon tries to get hold of me again whenever an old work is dismissed and a new one is being meditated.”

TryingHas BeensMadeMomentsMightPurposeHoursHalfConsciousnessActivityDespairFilledDemonMight Have BeenEnergeticBeing MeSap
Book:George Eliot's Life, Complete: Top Novelist Focus
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“So long as the spectator has to figure out the meaning of this or that person, or the presuppositions of this or that conflict of inclinations and purposes, he cannot become completely absorbed in the activities and sufferings of the chief characters or feel breathless pity and fear.”

FeelsPersonsLongCharacterPurposeSufferingFiguresActivityConflictPityChiefsInclinationSpectatorsBreathless
Book:Basic Writings of Nietzsche
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“A very good career choice would be to gravitate toward those activities and to embrace those desires that harmonize with your core intentions, which are freedom and growth - and joy. Make a 'career' of living a happy life rather than trying to find work that will produce enough income that you can do things with your money that will then make you happy. When feeling happy is of paramount importance to you - and what you do 'for a living' makes you happy - you have found the best of all combinations.”

TryingEnoughFeelingsWould BeJoyDesirePurposeChoicesFoundGrowthCan DoCareersProduceActivityImportanceEmbraceIntentionVery GoodHappyCoreIncomeCombinationPurpose Of LifeHappy LifeBeing HappyTrue HappinessMake You HappyParamountFeeling HappyLive Life HappyCareers ChoicesJob Satisfaction
Book:Money, and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Wealth, Health, and Happiness: Easyread Large Edition
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“The purpose of ritual is to change the mind of the human being. It's a sacred drama in which you are the audience as well as the participant, and the purpose of it is to activate the parts of the mind that are not activated by everyday activity ... 'Magic' becomes the development of techniques that allow communication with hidden portions of the self, and with hidden portions of all other islands in this 'psychic sea.'”

MindHumansWellsSelfPurposeHuman BeingsAudienceMagicSeaCommunicationDevelopmentDramaActivitySacredEverydayTechniqueIslandsRitualPortionsPsychicsPaganismParticipantsActivate
Author:Margot Adler
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“So-called "natural language" is wonderful for the purposes it was created for, such as to be rude in, to tell jokes in, to cheat or to make love in (and Theorists of Literary Criticism can even be content-free in it), but it is hopelessly inadequate when we have to deal unambiguously with situations of great intricacy, situations which unavoidably arise in such activities as legislation, arbitration, mathematics or programming.”

PurposeLanguageNaturalDealsSituationWonderfulActivityJokesCriticismMathematicsAriseProgrammingCheatMaking LoveRudeLegislationInadequateTheoristsLiterary CriticismIntricacyArbitration
Author:Edsger Dijkstra
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“We must move from ... the primacy of technology toward considerations of social justice and equity, from the dictates of organizational convenience toward the aspirations ofself realization and learning, from authoritarianism and dogmatism toward more participation, from uniformity and centralization toward diversity and pluralism, from the concept of work as hard and unavoidable, from life as nasty, brutish, and short toward work as purpose and self~fulfillment, a recognition of leisure as a valid activity in itself.”

HardMovingPurposeSocialJusticeTechnologyActivityDiversityConceptsSocial JusticeSelf RealizationRealizationRecognitionFulfillmentAspirationConsiderationLeisureNastyParticipationEquityConvenienceAuthoritarianismUniformityOrganizationalDogmatismPluralismPrimacyCentralizationSelf Fulfillment
Author:Warren G. Bennis
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“I have more self-doubt than any writer I've ever known.... The positive aspect of self-doubt - if you can channel it into useful activity instead of being paralyzed by it - is that by the time you reach the end of a novel, you know precisely why you made every decision in the narrative, the multiple purposes of every metaphor and image.”

IfsKnowsMadeEndsSelfPurposeDecisionKnownNovelDoubtActivityAspectMetaphorNarrativeMultipleParalyzedSelf-doubt
Author:Dean Koontz
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“The stupidity of the average man will permit the oligarch, whether economic or political, to hide his real purposes from the scrutiny of his fellows and to withdraw his activities from effective control. Since it is impossible to count on enough moral goodwill among those who possess irresponsible power to sacrifice it for the good of the whole, it must be destroyed by coercive methods and these will always run the peril of introducing new forms of injustice in place of those abolished.”

MenRealEnoughWholeRunningFormPoliticalPurposeMoralImpossibleSacrificeEconomicActivityMethodFellowsInjusticeAverageStupidityDestroyedPermitIntroducingPerilIrresponsibleGoodwillScrutinyAverage ManIntroducing New
Book:Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics
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“We see that God has implanted in all things a natural desire to exist with the fullest measure of existence that is compatible with their particular nature. To this end they are endowed with suitable faculties and activities; and by means of these there is in them a discernment that is natural and in keeping with the purpose of their knowledge, which ensures their natural inclination serving its purpose and being able to reach its fulfilment in that object towards which it is attracted by the weight of its own nature.”

MeanEndsAbleDesirePurposeNaturalExistenceObjectsParticularActivityAll ThingsWeightServingFacultyInclinationDiscernmentSuitableCompatibleFulfilment
Author:Nicholas of Cusa
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“An effective goal focuses primarily on results rather than activity. It identifies where you want to be, and, in the process, helps you determine where you are. It gives you important information on how to get there, and it tells you when you have arrived. It unifies your efforts and energy. It gives meaning and purpose to all you do.”

WantGivingImportantHelpingPurposeEnergyProcessGoalResultsEffortInformationActivityDetermineWhere You Are
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done ... Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.”

EndsDonePoliticalPurposeEasySourceActivityTasksRemainsAffairCorruptionCorporateCorporationsPrincipalPublic ServiceExpendituresEasy Tasks
Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
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“The parts of a machine work with a maximum of cooperativeness for a common result, but they do not form a community. If, however, they were all cognizant of the common end and all interested in it so that they regulated their specific activity in view of it, then they would form a community. But this would involve communication. Each would have to know what the other was about and would have to have some way of keeping the other informed as to his own purpose and progress.”

IfsKnowsWayEndsFormPurposeCommunityResultsViewsCommonProgressCommunicationActivityMachinesMaximumCognizant
Book:The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899-1924, Volume 9: 1916, Democracy and Education
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“By doing his share in the associated activity, the individual appropriates the purpose which actuates it, becomes familiar with its methods and subject matters, acquires needed skill, and is saturated with its emotional spirit.”

MatterSpiritPurposeIndividualShareSubjectsEmotionalNeededActivitySkillsMethodFamiliarAcquireSubject MatterSaturated
Book:Democracy and Education - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education
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“Surely by now there can be few here who still believe the purpose of government is to protect us from the destructive activities of corporations. At last most of us must understand that the opposite is true: that the primary purpose of government is to protect those who run the economy from the outrage of injured citizens.”

BelieveStillsGovernmentRunningLastsPurposeEconomyCitizensActivityProtectOppositesPrimariesCorporationsDestructiveInjuredOutragePurpose Of Government
Author:Derrick Jensen
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“The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity.”

ThinkingMadeWisdomPurposeSidesMistakeMovementActivityJudgmentImportanceEndureObservationBehalf
Book:Experience and Education, 60th Anniversary Edition
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“Action is the activity of the rational soul, which abhors irrationality and must combat it or be corrupted by it. When it sees the irrationality of others, it must seek to correct it, and can do this either by teaching or engaging in public affairs itself, correcting through its practice. And the purpose of action is to enable philosophy to continue, for if men are reduced to the material alone, they become no more than beasts.”

IfsMenSoulPhilosophyActionPurposeCan DoPracticeTeachingMaterialsActivityAffairRationalBeastCombatEngagingCorrectingIrrationalityPublic Affairs
Book:Dream of Scipio
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“There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world -- its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles. The more you understand, the more you look, the greater is your enjoyment of life and your sense of peace. That's all there is to it. Everything else is fun and games. If an activity is not grounded in "to love" or "to learn" it does not have value.”

IfsWorldLooksDoePurposeValuesGamesFunBeautyGreaterMysteryBearsActivityWitnessEnjoymentComplexityGroundedRiddle
Author:Anne Rice
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“It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self. As a matter of experience, we find that true happiness comes in seeking other things, in the manifold activities of life, in the healthful outgoing of all human powers.”

WayShouldFirstsHumansSelfMatterHappinessPurposePleasureConditionsMissingActivitySeekingParadoxLastingTrue HappinessManifoldOutgoingHuman PowerLasting Happiness
Book:Culture and Restraint
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