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Existentialism Quotes

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Existentialism Quotes

“Poor feeling hijacks thinking for self-deception: to hide harsh truths, avoid action, evade responsibility, and, as the existentialists might put it, flee from freedom. Thus, poor feeling is a kind of moral failing, indeed, the deepest kind, and virtue principally consists in correcting and refining our emotions and the values that they reflect. To feel the right thing is to do the right thing, without any particular need for conscious thought or effort.”

ReasonPhilosophyEmotionsEthicsExistentialismEmotional IntelligencePsychoanalysisSelf DeceptionCognition
Book:Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions
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“Sometimes, I used to sit under the sky, on a clear night, and gaze at the stars, saying, in my croaky voice: “Lord, if you’re up there somewhere, and you aren’t too busy, come and say a few words to me, because I’m very lonely and it would make me so happy.” Nothing happened. So I reckon that humanity— which I wonder whether I belong to —really had a very vivid imagination.”

GodExistentialism
Book:I Who Have Never Known Men
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“Living in the present moment is the recurring baptism of the soul, forever purifying every new day with a new you.”

LoveInspirationalWisdomSpiritualJoyPeaceGrowthHealingConsciousnessPsychologyMeditationSelf LoveMindfulnessOptimismTransformationBreatheInner PeaceZenPurityExistentialismCosmosDaily LifePresent MomentCosmicMind Body SpiritNew AgeSoul SearchingDualityMindfulBaptismNew EarthVibrationAuraPurity Of HeartGalactic
Book:Living Peace: Essential Teachings For Enriching Life
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“Correct," she said, "but I don't think he even realizes it. You probably encounter people like him all the time. High-functioning sleepwalkers, essentially. What was it in this statement that made Clark want to weep? He was nodding, taking down as much as he could. "Do you think he'd describe himself as unhappy in his work?" "No," Dahlia said, "because I think people like him think work is supposed to be drudgery punctuated by very occasional moments of happiness, but when I say happiness, I mostly mean distraction. You know what I mean?" "No, please elaborate.» "Okay, say you go into the break room," she said, "and a couple people you like are there, say someone's telling a funny story, you laugh a little, you feel included, everyone's so funny, you go back to your desk with a sort of, I don't know, I guess afterglow would be the word? You go back to your desk with an afterglow, but then by four or five o'clock the day's just turned into yet another day, and you go on like that, looking forward to five o'clock and then the weekend and then your two or three annual weeks of paid vacation time, day in day out, and that's what happens to your life." "Right," Clark said. He was filled in that moment with an inexpressible longing.”

LifeWorkDepressionCapitalismMeaningExistentialismCorporate Life
Book:Station Eleven
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“It broke her heart that the boy she loved was taken so tragically and so unexpectedly. She never got to say goodbye. She wished she could sit with him, talk to him, and hear his voice one last time. She would sacrifice anything to hug him and kiss him once more. The moment she lost Robert in that fateful accident, it was as if she had lost her reason for living, and she felt her life begin to race tragically towards its inevitable end.”

GodLife QuotesExistentialismDestiny QuotesFate QuotesReligious QuotesLife Is UnfairTragedy QuotesLife Is Not FairDie Quotes
Book:أنجلينا فتاة من النمسا
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“Have you ever heard of the madman who on a bright morning lighted a lantern and ran to the market-place calling out unceasingly: "I seek God! I seek God!"—As there were many people standing about who did not believe in God, he caused a great deal of amusement. Why! is he lost? said one. Has he strayed away like a child? said another. Or does he keep himself hidden? Is he afraid of us? Has he taken a sea-voyage? Has he emigrated?—the people cried out laughingly, all in a hubbub. The insane man jumped into their midst and transfixed them with his glances. "Where is God gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him,—you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun? Whither does it now move? Whither do we move? Away from all suns? Do we not dash on unceasingly? Back-wards, sideways, forewards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Do we not stray, as through infinite nothingness? Does not empty space breathe upon us? Has it not become colder? Does not night come on continually, darker and darker? Shall we not have to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying God? Do we not smell the divine putrefaction?—for even Gods putrefy! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife,—who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What lustrums, what sacred games shall we have to devise? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us? Shall we not ourselves have to become Gods, merely to seem worthy of it? There never was a greater event,—and on account of it, all who are born after us belong to a higher history than any history hitherto!"—Here the madman was silent and looked again at his hearers; they also were silent and looked at him in surprise. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, so that it broke in pieces and was extinguished. "I come too early," he then said, "I am not yet at the right time. This prodigious event is still on its way, and is travelling,—it has not yet reached men's ears. Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard. This deed is as yet further from them than the furthest star,—and yet they have done it!"—It is further stated that the madman made his way into different churches on the same day, and there intoned his Requiem æternam deo. When led out and called to account, he always gave the reply: "What are these churches now, if they are not the tombs and monuments of God?”

GodReligionValuesBeliefExistentialismNihilismGod Is DeadDeath Of God
Book:The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
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“All religions are man-made; God has not yet revealed himself beyond doubt to anybody.”

LifeGodReligionFaithSpiritualityBeliefHeavenReligiousExistenceDoubtAtheismMoralityRespectEthicsAtheistBelieverDebateFaith QuotesFaithfulParadiseMeaning Of LifeRevelationsSelf RespectExistentialismHeavenlyMaterialismAfterlifeGoddessFaith In GodSpirituality QuotesAgnosticGodsFaithfulnessReligious FaithBelief QuotesHeavenly FatherHeaven And HellThere Is No GodAgnosticismHeaven QuotesDoubtfulUnbeliefAtheisticNaturalismReligion And PhiloshophyBelief In GodReligion SpiritualityFaith In YourselfHeaven On EarthUnbelieversThe Great Pearl Of WisdomBelievingSpirituality Vs ReligionDoubtersDoubtsBangambikiFalse GodsAtheistsBelief SystemAtheist QuotesHeavensAtheism QuotesParadise QuotesBeliefs QuotesFear Of GodDoubting MindFaith ReasonHeavenly RewardsDoubtingAtheist ArgumentRevelation QuotesReligion Vs ScienceDoubts QuotesFaith Vs ReasonMan MadeAgnosticsHabyarimana BangambikiParadisesSupernaturalismUnbelieverDoubtfulnessSecular EthicsAtheism DefinedDoubtful ThoughtsFalse GodAtheist ArgumentsAtheistic PhilosophyAgnostic QuotesAgnostic AtheismAgnostic QuoteAtheist PhilosophersAtheistic ReligionAgnostic PrayerAtheist ClaimsAtheist ClubUnbelieve Quotes
Book:Pearls Of Eternity
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“Some critic called me the Nothingness Himself and that didn't help my sense of existence any. Then I realized that existence itself is nothing and I felt better. But I'm still obsessed with the mirror and seeing no-one, nothing. When I look at things, I always see the space they occupy. I always want the space to reappear, to make a comeback, because it's lost space when there's something in it. If I see a chair in a beautiful space, no matter how beautiful the chair is, it can never be as beautiful to me as the plain space.”

BeautyZenExistentialismNothingness
Book:The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
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“Each mind conceives god in its own way. There may be as many variation of the god figure as there are people in the world”

LifeGodReligionFaithSpiritualityHopeBeliefHeavenReligiousExistenceDoubtAtheismHonestyMoralityIntegrityRespectEthicsAtheistBelieverDebateFaith QuotesFaithfulParadiseMeaning Of LifeSelf RespectExistentialismHopefulHeavenlyMaterialismHopelessSincerityAfterlifeGoddessFaith In GodSpirituality QuotesAgnosticGodsHopelessnessHope QuotesFaithfulnessReligious FaithBelief QuotesHeavenly FatherHeaven And HellThere Is No GodAgnosticismHeaven QuotesDoubtfulUnbeliefAtheisticNaturalismReligion And PhiloshophyBelief In GodReligion SpiritualityFaith In YourselfHopesHopeful And EncouragingHeaven On EarthUnbelieversThe Great Pearl Of WisdomBelievingHope And DespairHonesty QuotesSpirituality Vs ReligionDoubtersHonesty IntegrityDoubtsBangambikiHope For Each DayFalse GodsIntegrity QuotesAtheistsHopeful QuotesBelief SystemAtheist QuotesHeavensAtheism QuotesParadise QuotesBeliefs QuotesHopingFear Of GodDespair HopeDoubting MindFaith ReasonHeavenly RewardsDoubtingAtheist ArgumentDespair QuotesReligion Vs ScienceDoubts QuotesFaith Vs ReasonAgnosticsHonesty Integrity RelationshipHabyarimana BangambikiParadisesDespair And AttitudeSupernaturalismUnbelieverDoubtfulnessSecular EthicsAtheism DefinedDoubtful ThoughtsFalse GodAtheist ArgumentsAtheistic PhilosophyHonesty Friendship TruthAgnostic QuotesAgnostic AtheismAgnostic QuoteAtheist PhilosophersAtheistic ReligionDespairingAgnostic PrayerAtheist ClaimsAtheist ClubHonesty Integrity WordsUnbelieve QuotesHonesty From WithinIntegrity Of A SalesmanLose Hope
Book:Pearls Of Eternity
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“I am yet to find a happy computer, despite being the epitome of rationality. Likewise, I am yet to find a civilized animal, despite being the epitome of sentimentality. What this means is that, only with the right balance between rationality and sentimentality there can exist a magical creature called human, brimming with infinite potential - but mess up the balance, and you are stuck with either a cold mechanical world run by rationality or a red-hot uncivilized world run by brutality - both equally unfit for preserving civilized life.”

EmotionalEmotionsLogicHumanismExistentialismRationalityEmotional IntelligenceRational ThinkingLogical ThinkingEmpiricism
Book:Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect
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“To work and create “for nothing,” to sculpture in clay, to know that one’s creation has no future, to see one’s work destroyed in a day while being aware that fundamentally this has no more importance than building for centuries—this is the difficult wisdom that absurd thought sanctions. Performing these two tasks simultaneously, negating on the one hand and magnifying on the other, is the way open to the absurd creator. He must give the void its colors.”

ArtExistentialismAbsurdism
Book:The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
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“Ambiguity is your ally: an interpretive dance with universal truths, not an observation post. An artist enlightens; the interpreter chooses to bathe in that light. Or, fearing being 'wrong' or lacking critical thinking, they await spoon-feeding. Being Irving The Explainer is not the artist's job. You don't go to an art gallery to ask a painter what their painting means (they have wisely left the scene of the crime!). You either get it or you don't, and it should wash over you and be appreciated either way. Impose the tyranny of explanation upon it, and you may kill any meaning, if there is any to unearth. Artists may not even know their intentions when putting something out into the cosmos. Ambiguity, then, is the fertile hinterland between The Emperor's New Clothes and the Highlands of Pretentiousness.”

ArtCreativityMysteryExistentialismInterpretationAmbiguitySubjectivityMeaning Of ArtPhilosophy Of ArtArtistic Critique
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.”

PhilosophyHappinessJoyQuotesLiteratureNatureBooksExistentialismInto The Wild
Author:Chris McCandless
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“Ebb and Flow by Stewart Stafford Happiness, briefest harbour in a squall; Tempests funnel us to splintered docks, High-seas missions to a last port of call, Fading feast taste of a haven of stasis. Weather springs with raging misprision, All things far beyond fingertip calculation, If we go off course with Fool's Gold vision, The reefs of avarice shall starkly claim us. We set sail or are torn from fragile sanctuary, All these stays, noted in the strangers' ledger, The Fate Morgana's captain - marine actuary, Virtual kin crew with fish and fowl companions. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

FateExistentialismMortalityImpermanenceNauticalDark PoetryGothic PoetryMaritime StoriesSea PoetryOcean Poetry
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“CheckFate by Stewart Stafford Now hear this about Fate! Its coils squeezing around you, Directing your every move, It is your second skin glue. Scream unilateral lockdown, As in Covid fever dream years, Fate is your silent partner, Lifer cellmate chained to all your fears. As you hide in a shack in the Andes, Fate's squatter gatecrashes to stay, Tracked by a big cat in the Pampas, Jaguar-spotted stalker in your DNA. Fate deals its stacked tarot cards, Catch-22's lotto winners - broke and few, A drill sergeant drones' whipped parade In lockstep as one of Fate's crew. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

DestinyFateAnxietyExistentialismHuman ConditionDark HumorFatalismContemporary PoetryDark PoetryLack Of Agency
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“If I am seen to be strong it is because I shall be the first to fall. What courage you sample in my visage is only determinable in defiance for which my ambitions differ entirely. What right have I to speak for those whose suffering exceeds my past, whose fates were obliterated and will ape no more? Shall I expect to inherit this latent expansion for the sort we safely cannot conceive who do not yet suffer emptily? Late morning in a general practice waiting room, do they sleep only of exhaustion?”

SufferingFateSolitudeExistentialismPessimism
Book:The Tedium Lies
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“Fate is usually not kind to most of us here on this little planet.” Says Alan to me. “Indeed… but remember suffering is a prerequisite of living life. Whether you are miserable about the fact that you suffer is your own choice.” “It’s an easy way out isn’t it? Being miserable about your own suffering.” “It’s also ignorant about the fact that everyone suffers too. We all pay a price for our consciousness.”

KindSufferingConsciousnessFateMiserableExistentialismLiving LifePrerequisite
Book:2017: Our Summer of Reunions: Braai Seasons with Howl Gang (Howl Gang Legend)
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“For one freakin’ moment, let us be nothing, let us have nothing, let us need nothing, instead let us just be - no name, sect, heritage or tradition - just being a being with infinite possibilities, instead of defining ourselves based on the habits and heritage of our dead ancestors.”

HumanityExistenceLabelsExistentialismHumanistNondualityBeing HumanAdvaitaNonsectarianismNondualism
Book:Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race
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