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Human Will Quotes

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Human Will Quotes

“Honestly, I cannot understand what people mean when they talk about the freedom of the human will. I have a feeling, for instance, that I will something or other; but what relation this has with freedom I cannot understand at all. I feel that I will to light my pipe and I do it; but how can I connect this up with the idea of freedom? What is behind the act of willing to light the pipe? Another act of willing? Schopenhauer once said: Der Mensch kann was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will (Man can do what he will but he cannot will what he wills).”

FreedomFree WillHuman WillAlbert EinsteinSam Harris
Author:Albert Einstein
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“Mr. Thomas, did you know that in an experiment with a human observer, subatomic particles behave differently from the way they behave when the experiment is observed while in progress and the results are examined, instead, only after the fact?" "Sure. Everybody knows that." He raised one bushy eyebrow. "Everybody, you say. Well then you realize what this signifies." I said, "At least on an subatomic level, human will can in part shape reality.”

ScienceOdd ThomasObserveHuman WillRodion RomanovichSubatomic
Book:Brother Odd
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“In war the chief incalculable is the human will, which manifests itself in resistance, which in turn lies in the province of tactics. Strategy has not to overcome resistance, except from nature. Its purpose is to diminish the possibility of resistance, and it seeks to fulfil this purpose by exploiting the elements of movement and surprise.”

HumansWarLyingPurposeTurnsMilitaryMovementPossibilityElementsOvercomingStrategySurpriseResistanceChiefsDiminishTacticsProvincesHuman Will
Author:B. H. Liddell Hart
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“And binding nature fast in fate, Left free the human will.”

HumansLeftFateBindingHuman Will
Book:The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq., with Notes and Illustrations, by Himself and Others. To which are Added, a New Life of the Author, an Estimate of His Poetical Character and Writings, and Occasional Remarks by William Roscoe, Esq
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“Wherever we turn we find that the real obstacles to peace are human will and feeling, human convictions, prejudices, opinions. If we want to get rid of war we must get rid first of all of its psychological causes. Only when this has been done will the rulers of the nations even desire to get rid of the economic and political causes.”

IfsWantFirstsHumansHas BeensWarRealDoneFeelingsPoliticalDesireTurnsNationsCausesOpinionEconomicPrejudiceConvictionObstaclesPsychologicalRulersHuman Will
Book:Ends and Means: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideals
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“However and wherever war begins, it persists, it spreads, it propagates itself through time and across space with the terrifying tenacity of a beast attached to the neck of living prey. This is not an idly chosen figure of speech. War spreads and perpetuates itself through a dynamic that often seems independent of human will. It has, as we like to say of things we do not fully understand, 'a life of its own.”

HumansWarSeemsSpaceFiguresSpeechIndependentSpreadChosenBeastNecksPersistPreyTenacityRough TimesHuman WillFigures Of Speech
Author:Barbara Ehrenreich
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“Our dreams of bringing the whole of human history under the control of the human will are ironically refuted by the fact that no group of idealists can easily move the pattern of history toward the desired goal of peace and justice. The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning.”

HumansWholeFactsDreamMovingForceGoalJusticeGroupsDramaHistoricalPatternsPersistenceOur DreamsHuman HistoryIdealistPeace And JusticeReckoningHuman WillRecalcitrant
Book:Reinhold Niebuhr: Major Works on Religion and Politics: (Library of America #263)
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“So powerful, in fact, is simple string in taming the world to human will and ingenuity that I suspect it to be the unseen weapon that allowed the human race to conquer the earth, that enabled us to move out into every econiche on the globe during the Upper Palaeolithic. We could call it the String Revolution.”

WorldHumansFactsEarthMovingSimplePowerfulRaceRevolutionWeaponsInnovationConquerHuman RaceStringsSuspectsGlobesUnseenIngenuityHuman WillTaming
Author:E. J. W. Barber
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“Life is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage.”

MenHumansIdeasLife IsDifferencesAnimalCompassionDogAdvantageCatPhilosophicalCrueltyConceptionVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsVegetarianismVeganismAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyAnimal LoveHuman AnimalAnimal WorldHumans And AnimalsPet AnimalsAnimal LifeAnimal EthicsHuman WillAnimal TestingHuman CrueltyMight Is Right
Author:Sri Aurobindo
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“Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society.”

MenHumansWellsNaturalLibertyConstitutionWell BeingDependentSanctionsCivil LibertiesCivil SocietySecuredPrecariousCapriceHuman Will
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
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“If we clear the air of the fog of catchwords which surround the conduct of war, and grasp that in the human will lies the source and mainspring of all conflict, as of all other activities of man's life, it becomes clear that our object in war can only be attained by the subjugation of the opposing will. All acts, such as defeat in the field, propaganda, blockade, diplomacy, or attack on the centres of government and population, are seen to be but means to that end.”

IfsMenHumansMeanWarEndsGovernmentLyingClearAirFieldsObjectsSourceActivityConflictDefeatPopulationPropagandaSurroundCentreFogDiplomacyOpposingSubjugationHuman WillBlockades
Author:B. H. Liddell Hart
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“I infer that God's decrees, and the necessity of event flowing thence, neither destroy the true free-agency of men, nor render the commission of sin a jot less heinous. They neither force the human will, nor extenuate the evil of human actions. Predestination, foreknowledge, and providence, only secure the event, and render it certainly future, in a way and manner (incomprehensibly indeed by us; but) perfectly consistent with the nature of second causes.”

MenWayHumansActionEvilForceCausesSinEventsSecureAgencyConsistentProvidenceDecreePredestinationHuman ActionsHuman WillFree Agency
Author:Augustus Toplady
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“No waving of enchanted wands but heightened perception. No magic objects, but a transformed and enhanced reality. No spells or chants, but the raw power of the human will to enact supernatural change upon the universal fabric. This is the kind of "magic" that fills Lords of Rainbow - elemental, organic, humanistic - an extension of reality.”

HumansKindRealityLordMagicObjectsPerceptionUniversalSpellsTransformedRainbowFabricExtensionsEnchantedWandsElementalsHumanisticHuman Will
Author:Vera Nazarian
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“In the future, every human will have a digital model of their body stored in computers. When someone needs a new shoe or a new bra or a new prosthesis or a new brace, s/he'll just fabricate it from the digital model themselves and then the device or article will be delivered to the home without even having to go to a retail store. The shoe, the bra, the brace, it'll be the person's apparel, the person's device, no one else's. It'll be exquisitely comfortable and functional. So this whole notion today where we have sizing to fit across humans is just utterly absurd.”

NeedsHumansPersonsWholeHomeBodyTodayFitComfortableComputerModelsNotionShoesStoresAbsurdDigitalDevicesArticlesRetailBrasBracesApparelHuman WillFabricateNew Shoes
Author:Hugh Herr
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“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.”

HumansCharacterHatePeaceSinAnimalCompassionPowerVirtueWorstHonestyIntegrityCreaturesHatredEssenceFellowsCrueltyIndifferenceVegetarianVeganCompassionateAnimal RightsApathyIndifferentSoulmateFellow ManHumaneVegetarianismWildlifeAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyInhumanityKindness And CompassionHuman AnimalAnimal WorldSentient BeingsHumans And AnimalsPet AnimalsAnimal CompassionHuman WillHuman KindnessCruel WorldInspirational AnimalAnimals In NatureKindness To AnimalsNature And AnimalsHuman CompassionHuman CrueltyDifferent AnimalsWildlife AnimalsAnimal ConservationAnimals And SocietySmall CreaturesWildlife And NatureIndifference And ApathyHuman Beings And Animals
Author:George Bernard Shaw
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“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.”

PeopleMenWorldHumansMadeReasonBlackNatureWhiteAnimalCompassionRightsCreaturesMeaningfulCrueltyVegetarianVeganBlack PeopleAnimal RightsVeganismWildlifeAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyAnimal LoveLove And CompassionHuman AnimalAnimal WorldSentient BeingsHumans And AnimalsPet AnimalsAnimal CompassionEating AnimalsHuman WillAnimal TestingAnimals In NatureNature And AnimalsHuman CompassionWildlife AnimalsCompassion Towards AnimalsAnimal ConservationAnimals And SocietyWildlife And NatureHuman Beings And Animals
Author:Alice Walker
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“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.”

WayHumansWellsWholeNatureHuman BeingsAnimalCompassionRightsCreaturesHuman RightsFavorsMeaningfulVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsVegetarianismAnimal WelfareAnimal LoveLove And CompassionVegetarian HealthHuman AnimalAnimal WorldSentient BeingsHumans And AnimalsPet AnimalsAnimal CompassionAnimal EthicsVegan DietHuman WillVegan HealthVegetarian DietInspirational AnimalAnimals In NatureKindness To AnimalsAnimal LoverNature And AnimalsHuman CompassionHumans And DogsCompassion Towards AnimalsCompanion AnimalsHuman Beings And Animals
Author:Abraham Lincoln
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“I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't...The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.”

KnowsHumansPainAnimalResultsRaceProduceIndustryBasesHuman RaceSufficientPetVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsJustificationNot InterestedProfitableVegetarianismVeganismExperimentationAnimal LoveEnmityVegetarian HealthHuman AnimalAnimal WorldHumans And AnimalsAnimal LifeSlaughterhousesHuman WillVivisectionAnimal TestingKindness To AnimalsAnimals And SocietyAnimal ExperimentationInflicting Pain
Author:Mark Twain
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“And shall I pray Thee change Thy will, my Father, Until it be according unto mine? But, no, Lord, no, that never shall be, rather I pray Thee blend my human will with Thine. I pray Thee hush the hurrying, eager longing, I pray Thee soothe the pangs of keen desire— See in my quiet places, wishes thronging— Forbid them, Lord, purge, though it be with fire.”

HumansInspirationChristianDesireFatherWishLordFireMinesPrayingQuietLongingGods WillTheeI PrayHushHurryingHuman WillQuiet Place
Book:Mountain Breezes: The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael
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“However gross a man may be, the minute he expresses a strong and genuine affection, some inner secretion alters his features, animates his gestures, and colors his voice. The stupidest man will often, under the stress of passion, achieve heights of eloquence, in thought if not in language, and seem to move in some luminous sphere. Goriot's voice and gesture had at this moment the power of communication that characterizes the great actor. Are not our finer feelings the poems of the human will?”

IfsMenHumansMayMomentsFeelingsSeemsMovingPassionActorsLanguageStrongVoiceMinutesAchieveColorCommunicationStressAffectionGenuineFeaturesHeightSpheresGesturesGrossEloquenceLuminousGreat ActorsStupidestHuman Will
Author:Honore de Balzac
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“Honestly, I cannot understand what people mean when they talk about the freedom of the human will. I have a feeling, for instance, that I will something or other; but what relation this has with freedom I cannot understand at all. I feel that I will to light my pipe and I do it; but how can I connect this up with the idea of freedom? What is behind the act of willing to light the pipe ? Another act of willing?”

PeopleMenFeelsHumansMeanSaidIdeasFeelingsLightCan DoBehindsWillingRelationHonestlyInstancePipeHuman Will
Author:Albert Einstein
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“Determination is the wake-up call to the human will.”

HumansMotivationalActionDeterminationWake UpResolveSelf DeterminationWillpowerInsperationalPositive EnergyDetermination And SuccessWill And DeterminationDetermination MotivationalPerseverance And DeterminationDetermination And PersistenceWake Up CallHuman WillGreat DeterminationInspirational DeterminationPersistence InspirationalAwaken The Giant WithinMotivation And DeterminationLife DeterminationDrive And Determination
Book:Awaken The Giant Within
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