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Materialism Quotes

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Materialism Quotes

“There must be a connection between the lust for power and impotentia coeundi. I liked Marx, I was sure that he and his Jenny had made love merrily. You can feel it in the easy pace of his prose and in his humor. On the other hand, I remember remarking one day in the corridors of the university that if you screwed Krupskaya all the time, you'd end up writing a lousy book like Materialism and Empiriocriticism.”

IfsFeelsWritingMadeBookEndsHandsRememberEasyOne DayConnectionsUniversityLustProseMaterialismPaceCorridorsJennyLust For Power
Author:Umberto Eco
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“The Truth doesn't need your cooperation to exist. All forms of cult, all forms of hype, all forms of delusion do require your participation in order to exist. I've looked into marginal areas of human experience -historical and otherwise- with a rational mind, and what I've found is that doorways into the miraculous are far fewer than the publicists of the New Age would have us believe. On the other hand, they are not as rare as the proponents of radical reductionism and materialism would have us believe. There are doorways out of the mundane.”

NeedsMindBelieveHumansHandsAgeFormOrderFoundAreasHistoricalRationalRadicalDelusionMaterialismCooperationFewerParticipationCultNew AgeHuman ExperienceMiraculousMundaneHypeDoorwaysPublicistsReductionism
Author:Terence McKenna
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“I was lucky enough to have had great success early on in life; to have had all the things the material world can offer. And yet, I realized that what I had actually neglected was the more spiritual side of myself, which has always been there. But it's easy for us in our culture to become consumed in a sense by materialism. Now materialism is fine. We live in a material world. I'm not saying that beautiful things don't enhance our lives. But, in our culture, we're never happy.”

WorldEnoughBeautifulSpiritualCultureEasySidesOur LivesMaterialsFineOffersLuckyI RealizedMaterialismBeautiful ThingsConsumedNeglectedGreat SuccessMaterial World
Author:Tom Ford
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“Even if matter could do every outward thing that God does, the idea of it would not work as satisfactorily, because the chief callfor a God on modern men's part is for a being who will inwardly recognize them and judge them sympathetically. Matter disappoints this craving of our ego, so God remains for most men the truer hypothesis, and indeed remains so for definite pragmatic reasons.”

IfsMenDoeIdeasMatterReasonModernJudgingEgoRemainsChiefsMaterialismDefiniteHypothesisCravingDisappointPragmaticModern ManTheism
Book:The Meaning of Truth: Human Understanding
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“We are not compelled in naturalism, or even in materialism, to ignore immaterial things; the point is that any immaterial things which are recognized shall be regarded as names, aspects, functions, or concomitant products of those physical things among which action goes on.”

ActionNamesProductsGoes OnAspectFunctionMaterialismCompelledNaturalismMaterial ThingsPhysical Things
Book:The Works of George Santayana: Character and opinion in the United States. The genteel tradition at bay. Dewey's naturalistic metaphysics. Philosophical heresy
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“Successful socialism depends on the perfectibility of man. Unless all, or nearly all, men are high-minded and clear-sighted, it isbound to be a rotten failure in any but a physical sense. Even through it is altruism, socialism means materialism. You can guarantee the things of the body to every one, but you cannot guarantee the things of the spirit to every one; you can guarantee only that the opportunity to seek them shall not be denied to any one who chooses to seek them.”

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Author:Katharine Fullerton Gerould
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“The line that I am urging as today's conventional wisdom is not a denial of consciousness. It is often called, with more reason, arepudiation of mind. It is indeed a repudiation of mind as a second substance, over and above body. It can be described less harshly as an identification of mind with some of the faculties, states, and activities of the body. Mental states and events are a special subclass of the states and events of the human or animal body.”

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Author:Willard Van Orman Quine
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“The Marxist combination of materialism and determinism is fatally anti-humanistic. It denies a consciousness, a mind, that is independent of material conditions and class relations. It denies a will and volition that are capable of shaping the course of history. It denies an individuality that is not reducible to class. It denies both the idea and the reality of freedom, a freedom that is something more than the "bourgeois" freedom to buy and sell. It denies a morality that transcends class interests. And it denies the spirituality of man.”

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Book:On Looking Into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society
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“‎In today's materialistic world there is a risk of people becoming slaves to money, as though they were simply cogs in a huge money-making machine. This does nothing for human dignity, freedom, and genuine well-being. Wealth should serve humanity, and not the other way around.”

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Author:Dalai Lama
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“The most important thing about the gentleman was that he was an idealist. ... He was bred up to a code of self-restraint which taught resistance to pragmatic temptation. He was definitely a man of sentiment, who refused to put matters on a basis of materialism and self-aggrandizement.”

MenImportantSelfMatterTaughtBasesImportant ThingsResistanceTemptationCodeGentlemanMaterialismSentimentsRestraintPragmaticIdealistSelf Restraint
Book:Ideas Have Consequences: Expanded Edition
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“Now, science cannot completely exclude the possibility of supernatural explanation. It is possible though very unlikely that our whole world is controlled by elves. But supernatural explanations like these are simply never needed; we manage to understand the natural world just fine using reason and materialism.”

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Book:Why Evolution Is True
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“Let us be bold enough to ask ourselves as Christians whether the Church of the Lord Jesus in the United States has anything to say to our nation and its ideologies of materialism, possessiveness, and the worship of financial security. Are we courageous enough to be a sign of contradiction to consumerism through our living faith in Jesus Christ? Are we committed enough to his gospel to become a countercurrent to the drift?”

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Book:The Signature of Jesus
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“Democracy encourages a taste for physical gratification; this taste, if it becomes excessive, soon disposes men to believe that all is matter only; and materialism, in its turn, hurries them on with mad impatience to these same delights; such is the fatal circle within which democratic nations are driven round. It were well that they should see the danger and hold back.”

IfsMenShouldBelieveWellsMatterTurnsNationsDemocracyDangerTasteMadDemocraticRoundsDelightDrivenCirclesMaterialismConsumerismGratificationImpatienceOverconsumption
Book:Democracy in America - Vol. I. and II.
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“The danger, then, is that materialism is not only shaping how we live but the way we think as well. It influences our consumer tastes and our preference for high-paying jobs, but it also alters our capacity to pray, the nature of our prayers, and the ways in which religious tutelage instructs our values.”

ThinkingWayWellsJobsValuesReligiousPrayerInfluenceDangerPrayingTasteCapacityConsumersMaterialismConsumerismPreferenceOur PrayersOverconsumptionTutelage
Author:Robert Wuthnow
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“By the same token, frozen dinners, a microwave oven, a dishwasher, and an illegal immigrant hired to clean the house and take one's cat to the vet would have seemed like the epitome of materialism in another time, but now provide the only means available for two-career couples to work hard enough at their jobs to earn the salaries they need to pay for those labor-saving amenities.”

NeedsMeanTwoHardEnoughJobsHousePayCareersHard WorkCoupleLaborCatCleanAvailableDinnerSavingImmigrantsMaterialismIllegalConsumerismFrozenSalaryOverconsumptionTokensOvensIllegal ImmigrantsAnother TimeEpitomeVetsMicrowavesDishwashersAmenities
Author:Robert Wuthnow
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“Quite a different thing is, if a seeker, dissatisfied by materialism and doctrines, and longing for spiritual support, will ask advice and information of an adept. In such a case the adept is obliged to supply the seeker with spiritual light and insight, according to his mental powers. Then the magician should spare neither time nor pains to communicate his spiritual treasures and lead the seeker to the light.”

IfsShouldDifferentLightPainSpiritualAsksCasesSupportMagicAdviceInformationLongingCommunicateInsightTreasureDoctrineDifferent ThingsMaterialismMysticismSparesMagicianObligedSeekersDissatisfiedAdeptMental PowerSpiritual Light
Author:Franz Bardon
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“The Drama Years is filled with heart-stirring stories, just-been-there advice from recent teens and practical, actionable tips for parents. It's full of real girls talking about everything from stress and body image to love and materialism. Reading this book, I cringed in recognition of my own drama years, just wishing this book had been around back then and so grateful I'll have it as a guide for my own daughter.”

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Author:Melissa Walker
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“Men are tending to materialism. Houses, lands, and worldly goods attract their attention, and as a mirage lure them on to death. Christianity, on the other hand leads only the natural body to death, and for the spirit, it points out a house not built with hands, eternal in the heavens... Let me urge you to follow Him, not as the Nazarene, the Man of Galilee, the carpenter's son, but as the ever living spiritual person, full of love and compassion, who will stand by you in life and death and eternity.”

MenPersonsBodyHandsSpiritualSpiritHouseHeavenNaturalAttentionCompassionChristianityLandHe ManSonEternalBuiltLet MeEternityLife And DeathUrgesMaterialismGoodsWorldlyLureLove And CompassionCarpenterMiragesNazarene
Author:James A. Garfield
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“Materialism is not fundamentally an economic problem, but a cultural one... a spiritual issue. It runs to the depths of our souls, and, for this reason, needs to be understood less in terms of budgets or fiscal cycles and more in terms of where we locate the sacred, of where we search for meaning and transcendence, and of how we think about justice, equality, and the future of our world.”

ThinkingWorldNeedsSoulReasonProblemRunningSpiritualTermJusticeIssuesEconomicUnderstoodSacredDepthBudgetsCyclesMaterialismOur WorldTranscendenceSearch For MeaningEconomic ProblemsJustice Equality
Author:Robert Wuthnow
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