Quotessence
Home / Topics / Existence Quotes

Existence Quotes

Browse 6829 quotes about Existence.

Related topics

IfsHumansMenWorldPeopleThinkingWayKnowsHuman ExistenceDoeLifeMindBelieveMomentsUniverseFactsShouldMayStatesWholeReasonSelfNeedsMeanFeelsRealityWantRealGivingFirstsHas BeensPurposeFormArtIndividualScienceHeartSoulPersonsSeemsLife IsExistence Of GodIdeasKindYearsConditionsMadeBodyEndsLongWellsConsciousnessLawSpiritualTryingChildrenEarthMatterAtheismLooksHuman BeingsStillsOrderDifferentWould BeLittlesSpaceProblemGivenFeelingsSufferingBeliefForceNaturalDenyTwoImportantMysteryAnimalCertainProveDiesValuesCoursesUnderstandingInspirationalHelpingJoySpiritAbleEvilLyingMereCausesDreamEssenceUseWritingLightSocialmore

Existence Quotes

“To most humans, a universe consisting of particles banging about and doing what they have to do seems cold, barren, and without meaning. Meaning, however, is not something that floats in space, permeating the universe like a nebulous, mystical cloud. ... Meaning arises out of the working of the human mind, and therefore exists only in the human mind. The meaning of existence is whatever you want to make of it.”

WantMindHumansSeemsUniverseSpaceExistenceColdCloudsAriseHuman MindMysticalFloatsParticlesBarrenBanging
Author:Milton A. Rothman
Create image

“Modern man lives isolated in his artificial environment, not because the artificial is evil as such, but because of his lack of comprehension of the forces which make it work- of the principles which relate his gadgets to the forces of nature, to the universal order. It is not central heating which makes his existence 'unnatural,' but his refusal to take an interest in the principles behind it. By being entirely dependent on science, yet closing his mind to it, he leads the life of an urban barbarian.”

MenMindOrderEvilForceInterestBehindsExistencePrinciplesEnvironmentSocietyModernUniversalRelateDependentArtificialIsolatedUrbanClosingRefusalComprehensionUnnaturalBarbariansGadgetsModern ManForces Of NatureHeating
Book:The Act of Creation
Create image

“As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.”

MenMindI CanMatterWholeTogetherScienceForceResultsBehindsExistenceVirtueStudyClearMinutesResearchConsciousIntelligentAssumingWhole LifeAtomsDevotedParticlesVibrationsSolar System
Author:Max Planck
Create image

“The idea that a good God would send people to a burning hell is utterly damnable to me. I don't want to have anything to do with such a God. But while I cannot conceive of such a God, I do recognize the existence of a great universal power - a power which we cannot even begin to comprehend and might as well not attempt to. It may be a conscious mind, or it may not. I don't know. As a scientist I should like to know, but as a man, I am not so vitally concerned.”

PeopleKnowsMenWantShouldMindWellsMayIdeasMightFearExistenceHellAtheismConsciousConcernedScientistUniversalRageBurningGood GodConscious Mind
Author:Luther Burbank
Create image

“What shall I compare it to, this fantastic thing I call my Mind? To a waste-paper basket, to a sieve choked with sediment, or to a barrel full of floating froth and refuse? No, what it is really most like is a spider's web, insecurely hung on leaves and twigs, quivering in every wind, and sprinkled with dewdrops and dead flies. And at its centre, pondering forever the Problem of Existence, sits motionless the spider-like and uncanny Soul.”

MindSoulProblemExistenceForeverWindWastePaperRefuseFantasticCompareHungCentreFloatingSpidersPonderingBasketsBarrelsUncannyTwigs
Book:An Anthology
Create image

“I am a strange compound of weakness and resolution! However, if I must suffer, I will endeavour to suffer in silence. There is certainly a great defect in my mind my wayward heart creates its own misery Why I am made thus I cannot tell; and, till I can form some idea of the whole of my existence, I must be content to weep and dance like a child long for a toy, and be tired of it as soon as I get it.”

IfsMindHeartChildrenLongMadeI CanIdeasWholeFormSufferingExistenceSilenceStrangeWeaknessTiredMiseryResolutionToysDefectsCompoundsEndeavour
Author:Mary Wollstonecraft
Create image

“"There is one basis of science," says Descartes, "one test and rule of truth, namely, that whatever is clearly and distinctly conceived is true." A profound psychological mistake. It is true only of formal logic, wherein the mind never quits the sphere of its first assumptions to pass out into the sphere of real existences; no sooner does the mind pass from the internal order to the external order, than the necessity of verifying the strict correspondence between the two becomes absolute. The Ideal Test must be supplemented by the Real Test, to suit the new conditions of the problem.”

MindFirstsDoeTwoRealProblemOrderExistenceMistakeConditionsIdealsTestsLogicBasesAbsolutesProfoundQuittingPsychologicalSuitsAssumptionInternalsSpheresFormalStrictNever QuitCorrespondence
Author:George Henry Lewes
Create image

“When a rainbow appears vividly in the sky, you can see its beautiful colors, yet you could not wear as clothing or put it on as an ornament. It arises through the conjunction of various factors, but there is nothing about it that can be grasped. Likewise, thoughts that arise in the mind have no tangible existence or intrinsic solidity. There is no logical reason why thoughts, which have no substance, should have so much power over you, nor is there any reason why you should become their slave.”

ShouldMindReasonBeautifulExistenceSkyColorShould HaveSlaveVariousAriseFactorsSubstanceReason WhyLogicalOver YouClothingsRainbowTangibleOrnamentsConjunctionsSolidityBeautiful Colors
Author:Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Create image

“As we educate a child -- removing out of its path those obstacles over which we ourselves, in early days, have stumbled, and strengthening its mind with the aid of our own matured experience -- we, as it were, construct a new and better replica of ourselves, and thus enable the race to move slowly, but surely, forward towards the ultimate goal of existence -- towards perfection.”

MindChildrenMovingGoalRaceExistencePathPerfectionUltimateObstaclesAidsEducateConstructsStrengtheningUltimate GoalMaturedMoving OutReplicaSlowly But Surely
Author:Leonid Andreyev
Create image

“The first step in the direction of a world rule of law is the recognition that peace no longer is an unobtainable ideal but a necessary condition of continued human existence. But to take even this step we must return to a calm and responsible frame of mind in which we can face the long patient tasks ahead.”

WorldMindFirstsHumansLongFacesLawExistenceStepsConditionsReturnIdealsTasksResponsiblePatientCalmRecognitionFirst StepsRule Of LawHuman ExistenceFrame Of Mind
Author:Margaret Mead
Create image

“Although I have no objection to accepting the existence of relatively constant psychic contents that survive personal ego, it must always be born in mind that we have no way of knowing what these contents are actually like "as such." All we can observe is their effect on other living people, whose spiritual level and whose personal unconscious crucially influence the way these contents actually manifest themselves.”

PeopleWayMindSpiritualBornLevelsExistenceAcceptingKnowingInfluenceEffectsEgoConstantUnconsciousManifestPsychicsObjections
Author:Wolfgang Pauli
Create image

“All civilization in a sense exists only in the mind. Gunpowder, textile arts, machinery, laws, telephones are not themselves transmitted from man to man or from generation to generation, at least not permanently. It is the perception, the knowledge and understanding of them, their ideas in the Platonic sense, that are passed along. Everything social can have existence only through mentality.”

MenMindArtIdeasLawSocialUnderstandingExistenceGenerationsCivilizationPerceptionMentalityTelephonesMachineryPlatonicGunpowderTextilesKnowledge And Understanding
Author:Alfred L. Kroeber
Create image

“In our constant search for meaning in this baffling and temporary existence, trapped as we are within our three pounds of neurons, it is sometimes hard to tell what is real. We often invent what isn't there. Or ignore what is. We try to impose order, both in our minds and in our conceptions of external reality. We try to connect. We try to find truth. We dream and we hope. And underneath all of these strivings, we are haunted by the suspicion that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the whole.”

WorldTryingMindRealSometimesHardWholeDreamRealityOrderThreeExistencePiecesConstantStriveTinyPoundsTemporaryConceptionTrappedSuspicionSearch For MeaningNeurons
Book:The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew
Create image

“If we can keep our minds calm on the subject of the "Eternity of God," if reason does not totter on her seat at the contemplation of underived existence, it will be strange if any other mystery relating to God should disturb us. He who can bring his reason to bow reverently at the idea of a Being who had no beginning, is well prepared to receive any communication of His will.”

IfsShouldMindWellsDoeIdeasReasonGodExistenceMysterySubjectsStrangeCommunicationEternityPreparedCalmContemplationSeatsBows
Author:Nehemiah Adams
Create image

“They had rejected the soul-body dichotomy, with its two corollaries: the impotence of man's mind and the damnation of this earth; they had rejected the doctrine of suffering as man's metaphysical fate, they proclaimed man's right to the pursuit of happiness and were determined to establish on earth the conditions required for man's proper existence, by the "unaided" power of their intellect.”

MenMindTwoSoulBodyEarthSufferingExistenceFateAtheismConditionsIntellectDeterminedPursuitDoctrineRejectedMetaphysicalPursuit Of HappinessDamnationImpotenceDichotomy
Author:Ayn Rand
Create image

“If we have dwelled on Godel's work at some length, is it because we see it in the mathematical analogy of what we would call the the ultimate paradox of man's existence. Man is ultimately subject and object of his quest. While the question whether the mind can be considered to be anything like a formalized system, as defined in the preceding paragraph, is probably unanswerable, his quest for an understanding of the meaning of his existence is an attempt at formalization.”

IfsMenMindUnderstandingExistenceAtheismSubjectsObjectsUltimatePositive AtheismDefinedMathematicalLengthParadoxQuestsAnalogiesParagraph
Author:Paul Watzlawick
Create image

“In certain favorable moods, memories -- what one has forgotten -- come to the top. Now if this is so, is it not possible -- I often wonder -- that things we have felt with great intensity have an existence independent of our minds; are in fact still in existence? And if so, will it not be possible, in time, that some device will be invented by which we can tap them?”

IfsMindStillsFactsCertainFeltMemoriesExistenceWonderIndependentForgottenMoodDevicesIntensity
Author:Virginia Woolf
Create image

“Secretly in my heart, I believe food is a doorway to almost every dimension of our existence. ... Food never was just food. From the time a cave person first came out from under a rock, food has been a little bit of everything: who we are spiritually as well as what keeps us alive. It's a gathering place, and in the best of all worlds it's possible that when people of one country sit down to eat another culture's food it will open their minds to the culture itself. Food is a doorway to understanding, and it can be as profound or as facile as you would like it to be.”

PeopleWorldMindFirstsBelieveWellsHeartLittlesPersonsHas BeensCountryCultureI BelieveBitsUnderstandingExistenceAliveRocksFoodMy HeartLittle BitProfoundWho We AreDimensionsCavesGatheringDoorwaysGathering Places
Author:Lynne Rossetto Kasper
Create image

“Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence.”

MindLooksRealSoulReasonEyePurposeOrderNatureExistenceMeditationObjectsMastersBuddhismDisciplineOrdinaryFundamentalsInsightOpeningZen BuddhismDhyana
Book:An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
Create image

“We are now trusting to those who are against us in position and principle, to fashion to their own form the minds and affections of our youth... This canker is eating on the vitals of our existence, and if not arrested at once, will be beyond remedy.”

IfsMindFormExistencePrinciplesFashionPositionYouthEatingAffectionRemedyArrested
Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
Create image

“Life on the road is very different from a normal, day to day life, and sometimes that surrealistic existence can have an effect on you, you tend to forget that's not really how things are supposed to be. But there comes a point where you have to pace yourself and find a place in your mind where you can be real.”

MindDifferentRealSometimesForgetExistenceEffectsNormalSupposed To BePaceBeing RealDay To DayDay LifeDay To Day LifePace Yourself
Author:Joe Nichols
Create image

“Myth was regarded as primary; it was concerned with what was thought to be timeless and constant in our existence. Myth looked back to the origins of life, to the foundations of culture, and to the deepest levels of the human mind. Myth was not concerned with practical matters, but with meaning. Unless we find some significance in our lives, we mortal men and women fall very easily into despair. The mythos of a society provided people with a context that made sense of their day-to-day lives; it directed their attention to the eternal and the universal.”

PeopleMenMindHumansMadeMatterFallCultureLevelsExistenceAttentionOur LivesAtheismDespairEternalMen And WomenConcernedUniversalFoundationConstantPositive AtheismMythPracticalsMortalsPrimariesSignificanceHuman MindTimelessDay To DayDay LifeOrigin Of LifeDay To Day Life
Book:The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism
Create image

“I have hitherto followed the lines marked out by the Theist in his attempt to prove that there exists a mind behind natural phenomena, and that the universe as we have it is, at least generally, an evidence of a plan designed by this mind. I have also pointed out that the only datum for such a conclusion is the universe we know. We must take that as a starting point. We can get neither behind it nor beyond it. We cannot start with God and deduce the universe from his existence; we must start with the world as we know it, and deduce God from the world.”

KnowsWorldMindUniverseNaturalLinesBehindsExistencePlansAtheismProveEvidenceStartingPositive AtheismConclusionDataStarting PointTheistNatural Phenomena
Author:Chapman Cohen
Create image

“To stroll is a science, it is the gastronomy of the eye. To walk is to vegetate, to stroll is to live.... To stroll is to enjoy, it is to assume a mind-set, it is to admire the sublime pictures of unhappiness, of love, of joy, of graceful or grotesque portraits; it is to plunge one's vision to the depths of a thousand existences: young, it is to desire everything; old, it is to live the life of the young, to marry their passions.”

MindEyeYoungJoyDesirePassionEnjoyWalksExistenceVisionWalkingThousandBehaviorAssumingDepthAdmireLive LifeUnhappinessLeisurePortraitsSublimePlungeGrotesqueMind Set
Author:Honore de Balzac
Create image

“Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.”

IfsKnowsMindDoeSaidPlayEyeFormPurposeProcessNaturalExistenceVisionRolesPlansEvolutionSightBlindSelfishExplanationUnconsciousSelectionNatural SelectionForesightSelfish GeneEvolution Of Life
Author:Richard Dawkins
Create image

“We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.”

MindRealDesirePurposeExistenceLaborShiningVanityPreservesHypocrisyNeglectEndeavorImaginaryDesire To LiveImaginary Life
Book:Thoughts, Letters, and Minor Works
Create image

“Perhaps that's what I feel, an outside and an inside and me in the middle, perhaps that's what I am, the thing that divides the world in two, on the one side the outside, on the other the inside, that can be as thin as foil, I'm neither one side nor the other, I'm in the middle, I'm the partition, I've two surfaces and no thickness, perhaps that's what I feel, myself vibrating, I'm the tympanum, on the one hand the mind, on the other the world, I don't belong to either.”

WorldFeelsMindTwoSelfHandsSidesExistenceMiddleSurfaceDividesPartitionFoilsThickness
Book:The collected works of Samuel Beckett
Create image

“This perceiving, active being is what I call mind, spirit, soul, or myself. By which words I do not denote any one of my ideas, but a thing entirely distinct from them, wherein they exist, or, which is the same thing, whereby they are perceived; for the existence of an idea consists in being perceived.”

MindIdeasSoulSpiritExistencePerceptionActive
Book:Principles of Human Knowledge: Human Understanding
Create image

“Did men but consider that the sun, moon, and stars, and every other object of the senses, are only so many sensations in their minds, which have no other existence but barely being perceived, doubtless they would never fall down and worship their own ideas; but rather address their homage to that eternal invisible Mind which produces and sustains all things.”

MenMindIdeasGodFallStarsExistenceSunObjectsProduceMoonEternalWorshipAll ThingsDown AndSensesInvisibleAddressesSensationsIdealismFalling DownHomageMoon And StarsSun MoonSun Moon And Stars
Book:Principles of Human Knowledge: Human Understanding
Create image

“I love moving water, I love ships, I love the sharp definition, the concentrated humanity, the sublime solitude of life at sea. The dangers of it only make present to us the peril inherent in all existence, which the stupid, ignorant, un-travelled land-worm never discovers; and the art of it, so mathematical, so exact, so rewarding to intelligence, appeals to courage and clears the mind of superstition, while filling it with humility and true religion.”

MindArtMovingHumanityWaterExistenceSeaLandStupidDangerHumilitySolitudeDefinitionsIgnorantShipsMathematicalAppealsSuperstitionsInherentSublimeWormsFillingPerilTrue ReligionMoving Water
Author:George Santayana
Create image