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Existential Quotes

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Existential Quotes

“In humans (and humans alone), sexuality is embodied in desire--in the primordial desire for life-as-relation. That the sex drive serves the vital desire for relation--that on the level of the primordial process, the desire for life-in-itself clothes itself in the sex drive--belongs to the particularity of being human.”

DesireHumanitySexExistenceRelationshipHumanExistentialBeing HumanOntologyHuman LoveYannarasRelational OntologyLife As Relation
Book:Relational Ontology
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“What would the differences be between the world in which I existed (however briefly) and a different world where almost everything is exactly the same, except in this parallel universe I never existed? It is all those differences, however minuscule, that make up my existence.”

PhilosophyExistenceIdentityIndividualityMeaningExistentialSelf ReflectionIntrospectiveParallel WorldsCosmic Perspective
Book:If Cats Disappeared from the World
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“Is not every human being a mistake, a product of misunderstanding? No sooner is he born than he is thrust into a prison. Prison! Prison! Chains and walls everywhere! Through the barred windows of his individuality, a person hopelessly gazes at the ramparts of external circumstances until death calls him home to freedom... Individuality! Ah, what we are, what we can do and have, seems to us paltry, gray, insufficient, and dull; but what we are not, what we cannot do, what we do not have, we regard with envious longing that turns into love—if only out of fear that it will turn into hatred.”

IndividualityExistential
Book:Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family
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“And yet the appearance of death was just as awe-inspiring in this little man as it is in a great one: a man who so recently had been walking around, moving, playing whist, signing various documents, and frequently seen amongst the officials with his beetling eyebrows and twitching eye, was now laid out on a table, and the twitch was quite gone from his left eye, although one eyebrow was still raised in an interrogative arch. As to what the deceased was asking, whether he sought to know why he had died or why he had lived--that only God can say.”

LifeDeathDyingMortalityExistential
Book:Dead Souls
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“From personal experience, I know for sure that the number one thing that saddens the dead more than our grief — is not being conscious of their existence around us. They do want you to talk to them as if they were still in a physical body. They do want you to play their favorite music, keep their pictures out, and continue living as if they never went away. However, time and "corruption" have blurred the lines between the living and the dead, between man and Nature, and between the physical and the etheric. There was a time when man could communicate with animals, plants, the ether, and the dead. To do so requires one to access higher levels of consciousness, and this knowledge has been hidden from us. Why? Because then the plants would tell us how to cure ourselves. The animals would show us their feelings, and the dead would tell us that good acts do matter. In all, we would come to know that we are all one. And most importantly, we would be alerted of threats and opportunities, good and evil, truth vs. fiction. We would have eyes working for humanity from every angle, and this threatens "the corrupt". Secret societies exist to hide these truths, and to make sure lies are preserved from generation to generation.”

LifePhilosophyWisdomTruthSpiritualDeathEvilNatureGriefExistenceConsciousnessFictionMusicWiseAliveSadnessDyingHealthSadDiseaseLivingConsciousCorruptionGoodCuresSicknessAfterlifeAnimalsDeadExistentialGhostsPhilosopher QuotesCorruptPlantsPhysical BodyAncestorsSpiritsExistEtherealSecret SocietyDeceasedThreatsLoss Of FamilyThe DeadTransformationsSecret SocietiesEthericLoss Of Loved OnePlant WorldSpiritual BodySuzy Kassem Pictures
Book:Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
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“You ape, you're teasing me so as to get the better of me. Shut up, you can't understand anything. If there is no God, then l am God. You know, I never was able to understand this particular point of yours: why should you be God?' If God exists, then all will is his, and I can't escape his will. If he does not exist, then all will is mine, and I am obliged to proclaim self-will. 'Self-will? And why are you obliged?' 'Because all will has become mine. Can it really be that no one on this entire planet, once having put an end to God and having developed a belief in self-will, will dare to proclaim self-will, in the fullest possible sense? It's like a poor man who's received an inheritance and is frightened by it and doesn't dare come near the bag full of money, regarding himself as too feeble to possess it. I want to proclaim self-will. Even if I'm the only one, I'll do it.' 'So go ahead and do it.' I am obliged to shoot myself because my self-will in the fullest possible sense for me is to kill myself. "But look, you're not the only one to kill yourself; there are many suicides." "With good reason. But to do it without any reason, solely for self-will, I'm the only one.' 'You know what,' he observed irritably, "if I were in your place, to show self-will I would kill someone else, and not myself. You could become useful. I'll show you who, if you're not afraid. Then perhaps you won't have to shoot yourself today. We could reach an understanding." "To kill someone else would be the lowest point of my self-will, and that's where you reveal who you are completely. I'm not you: I want the highest point, and I'll kill myself." 'He's worked this out all by himself,' Pyotr Stepanovich muttered angrily. I am obliged to proclaim disbelief,' Kirillov was walking about the room. 'For me there is no higher idea than the non- existence of God. Human history is behind me. Man has done nothing but invent God in order to live without killing himself; that's the essence of world history to this point. I am the only one in world history who hasn't felt like inventing God for the allow first time. Let people find that out once and for all.”

PhilosophyAtheismIdentityDespairPsychologicalRebellionExistentialMetaphysicsIntrospectionSelf Will
Book:Demons
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“Kirillov remained silent. 'You know what, in my opinion, your belief is even stronger than a priest's.' In whom? In Him? Listen.' Kirillov stopped pacing, and stared straight before him with a fixed and ecstatic look. 'Listen to a great idea. There was a certain day on earth, and in the centre of the earth stood three crosses. One man on a cross believed to such an extent that he said to another: "Today you will be with me in paradise." The day ended, both died, they went and they found nothing - neither paradise nor resurrection. What had been said proved unjustified. Listen: this man was the highest on the entire earth, he comprised that which allowed it to live. The entire planet, with everything on it, is nothing but madness without that man. There has never been one like Him, either before or after, even by virtue of a miracle. The miracle is that there never has been nor will there be another such man, ever. And if that's so, if the laws of nature didn't spare even This One, didn't even spare his miracle, but compelled even Him to live amidst a lie and to die for a lie, then it follows that the entire planet is a lie and rests on a lie and on a stupid joke. It follows that the very laws of the planet are a lie and a farce put on by the Devil. What's there to live for, answer me, if you are a man?”

PhilosophyBeliefReligiousDespairMadnessRadicalHuman ConditionExistentialIntrospectionMetaphysical
Book:Demons
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“Now I did not say to you that I don't believe at all!' he finally shouted. 'I'm letting you know, purely and simply, that I'm an unhappy, boring book and nothing more, for the time being, for the time being. But let my name perish! You're what ... we're discussing, not me... I am a man without talent, and all I can do is spill my blood and nothing more, like any man without talent. Let my blood perish as well!”

PhilosophySufferingBeliefEmotionalDespairMortalityExistentialIntrospectionLiterarySelf Identity
Book:Demons
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“The Trenches of Comprehension by Stewart Stafford Drowning at quicksand's smothering pace, A lonely disappearance that leaves no trace. As I struggle to get out, the deeper I sink, Nothing bequeathed, just dusty ink. Old wives say hearing is the last to go, Second last wind as a bittersweet tango, In sunken lethargy shouting aphorisms, Spouting words fortifies alert mechanisms. Communication fading as it nourishes, From a dying man's lips, it flourishes, The Reaper's bone dice leave you cheated, Exhaustion cashing out the defeated. Chin sinks below for past life crime, Eyes and lungs fill in white light time, Saviour's hand grasps mine in the sludge, And from death's door, I slowly budge. © 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

DespairSurvivalTraumaPsychologicalNarrativeIsolationExistentialIntrospectiveQuicksandDark Poetry
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“There is a fire that doesn’t burn — it sanctifies. A subtle flame that dances through the veils of the soul, like a whisper of God in the language of heat. Because there is a kind of heat that doesn’t wound — it heals. That doesn’t destroy — it awakens. That doesn’t consume — it transmutes.”

SoulPoetryHealingTransformationSacredSelf DiscoveryExistentialMetaphysicalSpiritual AwakeningInner Fire
Book:Reliquary of the Soul
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“While the universe seems to hold its breath, my consciousness is thrust into an abyss, caught in the gravitational pull of unfolding chaos. It's as if the very fabric of existence has reached out, unleashing a cosmic tremor—the kind that reshapes galaxies and rewrites the laws of physics and fate on a whim—then leaned in and whispered, 'Bet you didn't see that coming.”

FateChaosAweCosmicExistentialMetaphysicalSurrealPsychological FictionSudden Change
Book:We Are Everyone
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“The worst part of saying you no longer believe in God is knowing that God is still there, listening to you. That's why the praying sneaks back in when shit goes south. That's why not believing is just standing on the opposite side of the same room you've always been in.”

BeliefPrayerHuman NatureExistentialIntrospectiveInner ConflictFaith And DoubtEmotional HonestyReligion And SpiritualityCrisis Of Faith
Book:The Devil Takes You Home
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