Quotessence
Home / Topics / Existence Quotes

Existence Quotes

Browse 6829 quotes about Existence.

Related topics

IfsHumansMenWorldPeopleThinkingWayKnowsHuman ExistenceDoeLifeMindBelieveMomentsUniverseFactsShouldMayStatesWholeReasonSelfNeedsMeanFeelsRealityWantRealGivingFirstsHas BeensPurposeFormArtIndividualScienceHeartSoulPersonsSeemsLife IsExistence Of GodIdeasKindYearsConditionsMadeBodyEndsLongWellsConsciousnessLawSpiritualTryingChildrenEarthMatterAtheismLooksHuman BeingsStillsOrderDifferentWould BeLittlesSpaceProblemGivenFeelingsSufferingBeliefForceNaturalDenyTwoImportantMysteryAnimalCertainProveDiesValuesCoursesUnderstandingInspirationalHelpingJoySpiritAbleEvilLyingMereCausesDreamEssenceUseWritingLightSocialmore

Existence Quotes

“Absurd, irreducible; nothing — not even a profound and secret delirium of nature — could explain it. Obviously I did not know everything, I had not seen the seeds sprout, or the tree grow. But faced with this great wrinkled paw, neither ignorance nor knowledge was important: the world of explanations and reasons is not the world of existence. A circle is not absurd, it is clearly explained by the rotation of a straight segment around one of its extremities. But neither does a circle exist. This root, on the other hand, existed in such a way that I could not explain it.”

KnowsWorldWayDoeImportantReasonHandsGrowsSecretExistenceTreeIgnoranceRootsProfoundSeedsCirclesAbsurdExplanationPawsDeliriumSproutsExtremityNauseaRotation
Author:Jean-Paul Sartre
Create image

“If God were to exist for the entire humanity, he would be profoundly vile, as he allows the existence of unfathomable sin, stupidity, madness, and misery for no reason than his own despicable enjoyment. God exists though, not for all humanity, but for a one chosen man - a philosopher - who is bound to answer the greatest philosophical question, the question about the nature of the questioner's existence, which progressively quenches the divine vanity.”

IfsMenReasonGodWould BePainHumanitySinAnswersExistenceDivineMadnessPhilosophicalMiseryBoundsPhilosopherStupidityChosenVanityEnjoymentNo ReasonGod ExistsDespicableUnfathomableQuenchPhilosophical Questions
Author:Kedar Joshi
Create image

“In a world where God does not exist, any reasonable person must see that the propensity toward selfishness should be the most venerated of all human traits. From this it stands to reason that any man, knowing the total expanse of his existence to be finite, who does not devote every moment of his life to acts of pure selfishness, must be seen as nothing more than a fool.”

MenWorldLifeShouldHumansPersonsDoeReasonMomentsExistenceKnowingFoolPureSelfishnessReasonableTraitsFinitePropensityExpanse
Author:Derek R. Audette
Create image

“Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement ... Manners, by which not only the freedom, but the very existence of the republics, are greatly affected, depend much upon the public institutions of religion and the good education of youth; in both these instances our fathers laid wise foundations, for which their posterity have had reason to bless their memory.”

StatesReasonChristianOrderFatherMemoriesExistenceSupportVirtueWiseYouthDependsImportanceEncouragementInstitutionsFoundationInstanceMannersAffectedBlessRepublicSensiblePosterityOur FatherPietyGood EducationSupport And Encouragement
Author:John Hancock
Create image

“Perhaps the chief requirement of [the conductor] is that he be humble before the composer; that he never interpose himself between the music and the audience; that all his efforts, however strenuous or glamorous, be made in the service of the composer's meaning - the music itself, which, after all, is the whole reason for the conductor's existence.”

MadeReasonWholeEffortExistenceAudienceHumbleChiefsComposerRequirementsGlamorousBe HumbleConductor
Author:Leonard Bernstein
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

“The unknown ... became for our primitive forefathers a terrible and omnipotent source of boons and calamities visited upon mankind for cryptic and wholly extra-terrestrial reasons, and thus clearly belonging to spheres of existence whereof we know nothing and wherein we have no part.”

KnowsReasonExistenceMankindSourceTerribleExtrasBelongingSpheresPrimitiveCalamityForefathersOmnipotentBoonCryptic
Book:The Classic Horror Stories
Create image

“I am interested in the creativity of the criminal attitude because I recognize in it the existence of a special condition of crazy creativity. A creativity without morals fired only by the energy of freedom and the rejection of all codes and laws. For freedom rejects the dictated roles of the law and of the imposed order and for this reason is isolated.”

ReasonLawOrderEnergyExistenceAttitudeMoralRolesCreativityCrazySpecialConditionsCriminalsCodeRejectionRejectsIsolated
Author:Joseph Beuys
Create image

“In a word, the Holy Scripture is the highest and best of books, abounding in comfort under all afflictions and trials. It teaches us to see, to feel, to grasp, and to comprehend faith, hope, and charity, far otherwise than mere human reason can; and while evil oppresses us, it teaches how these virtues throw light upon the darkness, and how, after this poor, miserable existence of ours on earth, there is another and an eternal life.”

FeelsHumansBookReasonLightEarthEvilPoorExistenceTeachDarknessVirtueHolyComfortEternalHighestMereCharityScriptureTrialsMiserableAfflictionEternal LifeHoly ScripturesHuman ReasonFaith HopeFaith Hope And Charity
Book:The Table Talk Or Familiar Discourse of Martin Luther
Create image

“Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of reasoning, but the immediate consequence of perception. When philosophers have wearied themselves and their readers with their speculations upon this subject, they can neither strengthen this belief, nor weaken it; nor can they shew how it is produced. It puts the philosopher and the peasant upon a level; and neither of them can give any other reason for believing his senses, than that he finds it impossible for him to do otherwise.”

MenGivingFeelsBelieveReasonBeliefLevelsExistenceImpossibleSubjectsEffectsReaderPerceptionConsequencePhilosopherEvery ManSensesPerceiveReasoningSpeculationPeasantsInvincible
Book:The Works of Thomas Reid, D. D.: Now Fully Collected, with Selections from His Unpublished Letters
Create image

“It is the profoundest of cosmic ironies. The divine power, our true spiritual essence, does not achieve perfection until it hits the 'rock' bottom of the cosmos - the dense and crude earth. It remains imperfect until the moment of entombment for the simple reason that until that dark nadir is reached the experiential adventure of existence remains incomplete, and Self is not yet endowed with the entire spectrum of the light of consciousness - from spirit to matter - from the highest high to the lowest low.”

DoeSelfMatterReasonMomentsLightEarthSpiritualSpiritDarkSimpleExistenceConsciousnessAchieveRocksDivineAdventureHighestLowsPerfectionEssenceRemainsBottomIronyCosmosCosmicImperfectLowestSpectrumIncompleteCrudeDenseDivine PowerNadir
Book:The New Hermetics: 21st Century Magick for Illumination and Power
Create image

“One reason for the primacy of the market in shaping the modern world is that it forces a reorganization of society in order to make the market work properly . When a market comes into existence, as Marx fully appreciated, it becomes a potent force driving social change.”

WorldReasonOrderForceSocialExistenceModernDrivingSocial ChangeAppreciatedModern WorldPrimacyReorganization
Book:The Political Economy of International Relations
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

“With reason, then, the common opinion of mankind, little affected by the few dissentients who have contended for the opposite view, has found in the careful study of nature, and in the laws of nature, the foundations of the division of property, and the practice of all ages has consecrated the principle of private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity with human nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable manner to the peace and tranquility of human existence.”

HumansLittlesReasonWisdomAgeLawFoundPoliticsViewsCommonExistenceOpinionPrinciplesPracticeEconomyStudyMankindHuman NatureOppositesFoundationPropertyCarefulLiberalismAffectedDivisionConformityOwnershipTranquilityLaws Of NatureHuman ExistencePeace And Tranquility
Author:Pope Leo XIII
Create image

“What can be accomplished by a few principles is not effected by many. But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be reduced to one principle, which is nature, and all voluntary things can be reduced to one principle, which is human reason, or will. Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence.”

WorldNeedsHumansReasonSeemsNaturalExistencePrinciplesAtheismPositive AtheismAccomplishedNatural ThingsSupposingHuman Reason
Author:Thomas Aquinas
Create image

“Our imagination so magnifies this present existence, by the power of continual reflection on it, and so attenuates eternity, by not thinking of it at all, that we reduce an eternity to nothingness, and expand a mere nothing to an eternity; and this habit is so inveterately rooted in us that all the force of reason cannot induce us to lay it aside.”

ThinkingReasonForceImaginationExistenceHabitReflectionEternityLaysMereRootedNothingness
Book:Thoughts on Religion and Other Subjects
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

“Since the Greeks, Western man has believed that Being, all Being, is intelligible, that there is a reason for everythingand that the cosmos is, finally, intelligible. The Oriental, on the other hand, has accepted his existence within a universe that would appear to be meaningless, to the rational Western mind, and has lived with this meaninglessness. Hence the artistic form that seems natural to the Oriental is one that is just as formless or formal, as irrational, as life itself.”

MenMindReasonHandsSeemsFormUniverseNaturalExistenceWesternAcceptedRationalArtisticGreekCosmosMeaninglessIrrationalFormalMeaninglessness
Author:William Barrett
Create image

“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God”

ReasonFactsReligionReligiousExistenceOpinionAtheismAtheistSeatsAgnosticBoldnessChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateOur Founding FathersReligious BeliefHomageFreethinkerFounding Fathers ChristianGod ExistsUs Founding FathersFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateExistence Of GodReligion GodFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers AtheistDeismChristianity From Founding FathersChristian AtheistReligion ChristianReligion And GovernmentAnti ChristianTribunalsGod DelusionFaith ReligionBlindfoldedFunny AtheistGreatest AtheistQuestioning BeliefsBlindfoldsOpinions And Beliefs
Book:The Essential Jefferson
Create image

“Rabbits are a foolish people. They do not fight except with their own kind, nor use their paws except for feet, and appear to have no reason for existence but to furnish meals for meat-eaters. In flight they seem to rebound from the earth of their own elasticity, but keep a sober pace going to the spring. It is the young watercress that tempts them and the pleasures of society, for they seldom drink.”

PeopleKindReasonUseSeemsEarthYoungFightingPleasureExistenceFeetDrinkSpringFoolishFlightMeatMealsNo ReasonPaceSoberRabbitsPawsReboundElasticity
Book:Stories from the Country of Lost Borders
Create image

“Now, as there is an infinity of possible universes in the Ideas of God, and as only one of them can exist, there must be a sufficient reason for God's choice, which determines him toward one rather than another. And this reason can be found only in the fitness, or the degrees of perfection, that these worlds contain, since each possible thing has the right to claim existence in proportion to the perfection it involves.”

WorldIdeasReasonChoicesUniverseFoundExistenceDegreesPerfectionClaimsDetermineSufficientProportionInfinity
Author:Gottfried Leibniz
Create image

“I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus' thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe.”

ThinkingShouldFirstsReasonHateUniverseEvilJesusExistenceEnemyPeace And Justice
Book:A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr., for Students
Create image

“In western civilization, the period ruled by mysticism is known as the 'Dark Ages' and the 'Middle Ages'. I will assume that you know the nature of that period and the state of human existence in those ages. The Renaissance broke the rules of the mystics. "Renaissance" means the "rebirth". Few people today will care to remind you that it was a rebirth of reason - of man's mind.”

PeopleKnowsMenMindHumansMeanStatesReasonCareAgeTodayDarkExistenceKnownHistoryMiddlePeriodsCivilizationAssumingWesternBrokeMysticismRebirthMiddle AgesDark AgesRenaissanceHuman ExistenceWestern Civilization
Author:Ayn Rand
Create image

“God is great"). Conversations about the practical impossibility of God's existence and the science-based irrationality of an afterlife slid seamlessly into xenophobia over Muslim immigration or the practice of veiling. The New Atheists became the new Islamophobes, their invectives against Muslims resembling the rowdy, uneducated ramblings of backwoods racists rather than appraisals based on intellect, rationality and reason. "Islam, more than any other religion human beings have devised, has all the makings of a thoroughgoing cult of death.”

HumansReasonHuman BeingsExistencePracticeConversationIslamAtheistIntellectPracticalsImmigrationRacistAfterlifeCultRationalityImpossibilityXenophobiaUneducatedIrrationalityAppraisalRamblingGod Is GreatRowdyBackwoods
Author:Sam Harris
Create image