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Nihilism Quotes

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Nihilism Quotes

“Immoral: Inexpedient. Whatever in the long run and with regard to the greater number of instances men find to be generally inexpedient comes to be considered wrong, wicked, immoral. If mans notions of right and wrong have any other basis than this of expediency; if they originated, or could have originated, in any other way; if actions have in themselves a moral character apart from and nowise dependent on, their consequences-then all philosophy is a lie and reason a disorder of the mind.”

IfsMenWayMindLongReasonPhilosophyCharacterRunningActionLyingNumbersMoralGreaterConsequenceBasesRegardNotionInstanceWickedDependentDisorderLong RunsImmoralNihilismExpediencyMoral Character
Book:The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
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“Which other major religion is based on the Godhead incarnate being whipped, tacked to a cross, stabbed? Only the Marquis de Sade could have made up a sicker religion. It's no wonder that those brought up in such a culture hate life and enjoy inflicting pain. All societies are sick but some are sicker than others. Christian societies are certainly the sickest.”

MadeChristianPainHateCultureEnjoyWonderMajorsCrossesSickNihilismHate LifeInflicting Pain
Author:Gore Vidal
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“He who experiments must, while doing so, divest himself of every preconception. It is clear then that if we wish to make use of a method of experimental psychology, the first thing necessary is to renounce all former creeds and to proceed by means of the method in the search for truth.”

IfsFirstsMeanUseWishClearPsychologyMethodExperimentsFormerCreedsNihilismRenouncePreconceptionsSearch For TruthExperimental Psychology
Book:The Montessori Method
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“I am against nationalism, and I am against patriotism. They are both the dark side. It is time not simply to redefine a kinder-and-gentler patriotism, but to sweep away the notion and acknowledge it as morally, politically, and intellectually bankrupt. It is time to scrap patriotism.”

SidesDarkNotionAcknowledgeNationalismNihilismDark SideScrapKinder
Book:Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity
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“Suffering is a byproduct of evolution by natural selection, an inevitable consequence that may worry us in our more sympathetic moments but cannot be expected to worry a tiger - even if a tiger can be said to worry about anything at all - and certainly cannot be expected to worry its genes.”

IfsMaySaidMomentsSufferingNaturalWorryEvolutionConsequenceExpectedInevitableGenesTigersSelectionSympatheticNihilismNatural Selection
Book:The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
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“The great soul of power extends far beyond states, to every domain of life, from families to international affairs. And throughout, every form of authority and domination bears a severe burden of proof. It is not self-legitimizing. And when it cannot bear the burden, as is commonly the case, it should be dismantled.”

ShouldSoulSelfStatesFormCasesBearsAuthorityAffairInternationalBurdenProofSevereDominationDomainNihilismGreat SoulsInternational AffairsBurden Of Proof
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock. To acknowledge human nature, many think, is to endorse racism, sexism, war, greed, genocide, nihilism, reactionary politics, and neglect of children and the disadvantaged. Any claim that the mind has an innate organization strikes people not as a hypothesis that might be incorrect but as a thought it is immoral to think.”

PeopleThinkingMindHumansChildrenStillsWarPlayMightRolesHuman NaturePossibilityBehaviorRacismOrganizationClaimsGreedStrikesAcknowledgeShockNeglectSexismGenocideHypothesisImmoralInnateExplainingNihilismReactionariesHuman ThoughtHeredityDisadvantaged
Book:The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
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“...What is at stake is civilization and humanity, nothing less. The idea that everything is permitted, as Nietzsche put it, rests on the premise of nihilism and has nihilistic implications. I will not pretend that the case against nihilism and for civilization is an easy one to make. We are here confronting the most fundamental of philosophical questions, on the deepest levels. In short, the matter of pornography and obscenity is not a trivial one, and only superficial minds can take a bland and untroubled view of it.”

MindIdeasMatterHumanityEasyLevelsViewsCasesCivilizationPhilosophicalFundamentalsLibraryStakesSuperficialPornographyLibrarianPremisesImplicationsNihilismConfrontingBlandObscenityPhilosophical Questions
Author:Irving Kristol
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“Though nihilism has been relentlessly criticized for overemphasizing the dark side of human experience, it might be equally true that this overemphasis represents a needed counterbalance to shallow optimism and arrogant confidence in human power. Nihilism reminds us that we are not gods, and that despite all of the accomplishments and wonders of civilization, humans cannot alter the fact that they possess only a finite amount of mastery and control over their own destinies.”

HumansHas BeensFactsMightSidesDarkWonderDestinyAmountNeededCivilizationOptimismDespiteAccomplishmentMasteryArrogantShallowFiniteHuman ExperienceNihilismDark SideHuman Power
Author:John Marmysz
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“For indeed Christianity was complicit in the death of antiquity, and in the birth of modernity, not because it was an accomplice of the latter, but because it, alone in the history of the West, constituted a rejection of and alternative to nihilism's despair, violence, and idolatry of power; as such, Christianity shattered the imposing and enchanting facade behind which nihilism once hid, and thereby, inadvertently, called it forth into the open.”

BehindsChristianityViolenceBirthDespairWestAlternativesRejectionLatterModernityNihilismShatteredIdolatryAntiquityImposingFacadeEnchantingAccomplices
Author:David Bentley Hart
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