“And this is a table ma'am. What in essence it consists of is a horizontal rectilinear plane surface maintained by four vertical columnar supports, which we call legs. The tables in this laboratory, ma'am, are as advanced in design as one will find anywhere in the world.” WorldSupportFourDesignHumorousEssenceTablesLegsSurfacePlanesLaboratoryVerticalHorizontal Author:Michael Frayn
“Huge lemons, cut in slices, would sink like setting suns into the dusky sea, softly illuminating it with their radiating membranes, and its clear, smooth surface aquiver from the rising bitter essence.” SunClearCuttingSeaFoodHugeEssenceCookingSurfaceSettingBitterSettingsRisingCulinarySmoothLemonsIlluminatingMembranes Author:Rainer Maria Rilke
“The essence of religion is the knowledge of God which is eternal life. That and nothing less than that is religion. Everything else is on the surface, is superfluous save for the needs of men.” MenNeedsEternalEssenceSurfaceEternal LifeSuperfluousKnowledge Of God Book:THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE Source: THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE
“A river is nearly the ultimate symbol for the very essence of change itself. It flows unceasingly from one point of being to another, yet continuously occupies the same bed or pathway, and accommodates life's endings with the same musical grace with which it accommodates life's beginnings, along with all the muted and explosive moments that surface between the two extremes.” LifeTwoMomentsChangeGraceBedFlowRiversEssenceUltimateMusicalExtremesSurfaceSymbolsLife ChangingPathwaysAccommodateExplosivesTwo Extremes Book:The River of Winged Dreams Source: The River of Winged Dreams
“Art is a process of concentration. It is both the distilled essence and the commentary upon otherwise mundane activities and reflections. Musical notes must be charged, must gather more than one and the surface meaning, must reveal audible and "inaudible" connections to other notes, patterns, and meaning, either by way of affinity or contrast.” WayArtProcessActivityReflectionArt IsConnectionsEssenceNotesMusicalPatternsSurfaceConcentrationContrastMundaneCommentaryAffinityMusical Notes Author:Russell Sherman
“What is real is not the external form, but the essence of things... it is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface.” ArtRealFormImpossibleEssenceSurfaceExteriorImitatingTranscendentalism Author:Constantin Brancusi
“The context of the general teachings is one of talking to a sentient being who is experiencing uninterrupted bewilderment one thought or emotion after another like the surface of the ocean in turmoil, without any recognition of mind essence. This confusion is continuous, without almost any break, life after life.” MindEmotionTalkingBreakTeachingOceanEssenceSurfaceConfusionRecognitionTurmoilSentient BeingsBewilderment Book:As It Is Source: As It Is
“If therefore my work is negative, irreligious, atheistic, let it be remembered that atheism — at least in the sense of this work — is the secret of religion itself; that religion itself, not indeed on the surface, but fundamentally, not in intention or according to its own supposition, but in its heart, in its essence, believes in nothing else than the truth and divinity of human nature.” IfsBelieveHumansHeartSecretAtheismHuman NatureNegativeEssenceIntentionPositive AtheismSurfaceRememberedDivinityAtheisticSupposition Book:The essence of Christianity Source: The essence of Christianity
“Every artist undresses his subject, whether human or still life. It is his business to find essences in surfaces, and what more attractive and challenging surface than the skin around a soul?” HumansStillsSoulArtistChallengesBeautySubjectsSkinsEssenceSurfaceAttractiveStill Life Author:Richard Corliss