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Ambiguity Quotes

Browse 383 quotes about Ambiguity.

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Ambiguity Quotes

“A painting is an object which has an emphatic frontal surface. On such a surface, I paint a black band which does not recede, a color band which does not obtrude, a white square or rectangle which does not move back or forth, to or fro, or up or down; there is also a painted white exterior frame band which is edged round the edge to the black. Every part is painted and contiguous to its neighbor; no part is above or below any other part. There is no hierarchy. There is no ambiguity. There is no illusion. There is no space or interval (time).”

DoeMovingBlackSpaceWhiteObjectsColorPaintingBandIllusionPaintRoundsEdgesSurfaceNeighborSquaresHierarchyAmbiguityIntervalsExteriorRectangles
Author:Jo Baer
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“The notion of ambiguity must not be confused with that of absurdity. To declare that existence is absurd is to deny that it can ever be given a meaning; to say that it is ambiguous is to assert that its meaning is never fixed, that it must be constantly won. Absurdity challenges every ethics; but also the finished rationalization of the real would leave no room for ethics; it is because man's condition is ambiguous that he seeks, through failure and outrageousness, to save his existence.”

MenRealGivenChallengesRoomsExistenceConditionsEthicsNotionDenyFinishedAbsurdFixedConfusedExistentialAbsurdityAmbiguityAmbiguous
Book:The Philosophical Library Existentialism Collection: Essays in Metaphysics, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and The Philosophy of Existentialism
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“I think seriousness is a mask of self-importance and self-importance in turn is a mask for self-pity. So if you're really going to pursue a spiritual way of living in the world, you must be lighthearted and carefree, have humor, be able to tolerate ambiguity and embrace uncertainty, and be forgiving of yourself and everybody else.”

IfsThinkingWorldWaySelfAbleSpiritualTurnsImportanceEmbraceForgivingPityPursueUncertaintyMaskTolerateSeriousnessAmbiguitySelf PitySelf-importanceCarefree
Author:Deepak Chopra
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“Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.”

YearsHas BeensArtCountryStatesPurposeCultureLeftRoomsOpinionExpressionProductsArt IsMeaningfulChineseCharmEngagementViewersAmbiguityFreedom Of ExpressionArt And CultureChinese Art
Author:Ai Weiwei
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“In this world that God (or Mother Nature) created, it is always hazard and novelty-hazard and novelty-which assert themselves, thereby rendering notions of fixity absurd. Incongruously enough, however, when we allow ourselves to fully accept uncertainty, to embrace and cultivate it even, then we actually can begin to feel within ourselves the presence of an Absolute. The person who cannot welcome ambiguity cannot welcome God.”

WorldFeelsPersonsEnoughMotherAcceptingThis WorldAbsolutesEmbraceNotionAbsurdWelcomeUncertaintyNoveltyAmbiguityHazardsMother NatureRendering
Author:Tom Robbins
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“Just as God's love entered the world, thereby submitting to the misunderstanding and ambiguity that characterize everything worldly, so also Christian love does not exist anywhere but in the worldly, in an infinite variety of concrete worldly action, and subject to misunderstanding and condemnation. Every attempt to portray a Christianity of 'pure' love purged of worldly 'impurities' is a false purism and perfectionism that scorns God's becoming human and falls prey to the fate of all ideologies. God was not too pure to enter the world.”

WorldHumansDoeActionChristianFallChristianityFateSubjectsBecomingPureInfiniteIdeologyVarietyConcreteWorldlyMisunderstandingPreyScornAmbiguityGod's LovePerfectionismCondemnationPure LoveChristian LoveImpurity
Author:Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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“Being desirable means being comfortable with your own ambiguity. The most ambiguous reality is that we are flesh and spirit at the same time. Within everyone there is light and shadow, good and evil, love and hate. In order to be truthful, you must embrace your total being. A person who exhibits both positive and negative qualities, strengths and weaknesses is not flawed, but complete.”

MeanPersonsRealityLightSpiritHateOrderEvilQualityComfortableWeaknessShadowNegativeEmbraceFleshGood And EvilTruthfulDesirableFlawedAmbiguityExhibitsAmbiguousLove And HateBeing TruthfulStrength And WeaknessLight And ShadowEvil Love
Author:Rumi
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“It is the misanthrope who alone has clarity.By standing outside the huddles of man,he sees a lot,and what he often sees is the evidence that people are not as smart as dogs think they are.And he wants to see it time and again.In the fog of ambiguities and mysteries,he desperately searches for truths because truth usually shows humanity in a poor light”

PeopleThinkingMenWantShowsLightHumanityPoorMysteryDogTruth IsSmartEvidenceStandingClarityStanding OutFogAmbiguitySearch For TruthMisanthrope
Author:Manu Joseph
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“The denial of "self" challenges only the notion of a static self independent of body and mind-not the ordinary sense of ourself as a person distinct from everyone else. The notion of a static self is the primary obstruction to the realization of our unique potential as an individual being. By dissolving this fiction through a centered vision of the transiency, ambiguity, and contingency of experience, we are freed to create ourself anew.”

MindPersonsSelfBodyIndividualChallengesFictionVisionPracticeUniqueOrdinaryIndependentNotionRealizationPrimariesDenialMind And BodyAmbiguityStaticObstructionContingencyDissolving
Author:Stephen Batchelor
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“Our amended Constitution is the lodestar for our aspirations. Like every text worth reading, it is not crystalline. The phrasing is broad and the limitations of its provisions are not clearly marked. Its majestic generalities and ennobling pronouncements are both luminous and obscure. This ambiguity of course calls forth interpretation, the interaction of reader and text. The encounter with the Constitutional text has been, in many senses, my life's work.”

Has BeensLawCoursesReadingReaderConstitutionSensesLimitationAspirationEncountersInterpretationBroadsInteractionObscureProvisionAmbiguityLuminousMajesticGeneralitiesWorth Reading
Author:William J. Brennan
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“To say that one need art, or politics, that incorporate ambiguity and contradiction is not to say that one then stops recognizing and condemning things as evil. However, it might stop one being so utterly convinced of the certainty of one's own solutions. There needs to be a strong understanding of fallibility and how the very act of certainty or authoritativeness can bring disasters.”

NeedsArtMightEvilStrongUnderstandingSolutionsConvincedDisasterCertaintyContradictionRecognizingAmbiguityCondemningFallibility
Author:William Kentridge
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“. . I have written a couple of screenplays for studios, and each time has been less gratifying than the last. In my experience, they want no real representations of homosexuality, they want no complexity, they are terrified of ambiguity and unanswered questions - they don't know what they want, except that they want to make lots of money. The only freedom I've ever had as an artist has been in the theatre.”

KnowsWantHas BeensRealLastsArtistWrittenCoupleStudiosTheatreCraftsComplexityLots Of MoneyRepresentationTerrifiedHomosexualityAmbiguityScreenplaysUnanswered QuestionsUnanswered
Author:Craig Lucas
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“Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end.”

EndsStoriesClearMiddleStorytellingGoodbyeRhymeFarewellNew BeginningsAmbiguityGood StorySaying GoodbyeByeGood ByeEnd Of LifeHard WayRhymingSaying Good ByeBeginnings And EndingsBeginnings And EndsGoodbye FarewellEndings Being New BeginningsBeginning Middle And EndSaying FarewellGoodbye My LoveBeginning Of LifeFarewell FriendFarewell LoveGood GoodbyeSaying ByeGoodbye LoveGoodbye My FriendGood FarewellGoodbye FriendI'll Miss YouWe Will Miss YouWe'll Miss YouBye LoveGood Bye LoveBye FriendsGood Bye FriendGood Endings
Book:It's Always Something
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“The individual (no matter how well-meaning he might be, no matter how much strength he might have, if only he would use it) does not have the passion to rip himself away from either the coils of Reflection or the seductive ambiguities of Reflection; nor do the surroundings and times have any events or passions, but rather provide a negative setting of a habit of reflection, which plays with some illusory project only to betray him in the end with a way out: it shows him that the most clever thing to do is nothing at all.”

IfsWayWellsDoeEndsMatterPlayUseShowsMightPassionIndividualEventsHabitProjectsReflectionNegativeCleverSettingSettingsThings To DoBetraySurroundingsRipAmbiguitySeductiveIllusoryMost Clever
Author:Soren Kierkegaard
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