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Rational Quotes

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Rational Quotes

“The reader must come armed , in a serious state of intellectual readiness. This is not easy because he comes to the text alone. In reading, one's responses are isolated, one'sintellect thrown back on its own resourses. To be confronted by the cold abstractions of printed sentences is to look upon language bare, without the assistance of either beauty or community. Thus, reading is by its nature a serious business. It is also, of course, an essentially rational activity.”

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Author:Neil Postman
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“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.”

PeopleDoeEnoughHelpingSeemsReligionStrongPleasureRecordsAtheismBasesAtheistRationalSpend TimeStrong EnoughCrutchesTime And MoneyNot StrongNot Strong Enough
Book:Time Enough for Love
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“Let the labyrinth of wrinkles be furrowed in my brow with the red-hot iron of my own life, let my hair whiten and my step become vacillating, on condition that I can save the intelligence of my soul - let my unformed childhood soul, as it ages, assume the rational and esthetic forms of an architecture, let me learn just everything that others cannot teach me, what only life would be capable of marking deeply in my skin!”

I CanSoulWould BeAgeFormMy OwnStepsTeachChildhoodConditionsInspireHairCapableRedSkinsLet MeHotAssumingArchitectureRationalMy SoulIronMy Own LifeWrinklesBrowsLabyrinthRed Hot
Book:The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí
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“It was the kind of terrified look that reminds you that no matter how rational or grown up a person might seem, some part of him is absolutely sure - knows - that an evil other-world exists just outside of our regular, everyday world. And that although we don't expect that world to collide with our calm, predictable one...well, really, at any moment that is exactly what might happen.”

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Author:Ann M. Martin
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“Every fairy tale, it seems, concludes with the bland phrase "happily ever after." Yet every couple I have ever known would agree that nothing about marriage is forever happy. There are moments of bliss, to be sure, and lengthy spans of satisfied companionship. Yet these come at no small effort, and the girl who reads such fiction dreaming her troubles will end ere she departs the altar is well advised to seek at once a rational women to set her straight.”

WellsEndsMomentsDreamSeemsGirlEffortFictionKnownForeverTroubleCoupleAgreeSatisfiedTalesRationalBlissPhrasesFairyFairy TaleCompanionshipAltarsHappily Ever AfterEver AfterBlandLengthyLiving Happily Ever AfterHappy Ever AfterSmall Efforts
Book:Princess Ben
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“The idea, therefore, that religious faith is somehow a sacred human convention—distinguished, as it is, both by the extravagance of its claims and by the paucity of its evidence—is really too great a monstrosity to be appreciated in all its glory. Religious faith represents so uncompromising a misuse of the power of our minds that it forms a kind of perverse, cultural singularity—a vanishing point beyond which rational discourse proves impossible.”

MindHumansKindIdeasFormReligiousImpossibleProveGloryEvidenceClaimsSacredRationalConventionsDiscourseAppreciatedDistinguishedReligious FaithMisuseExtravaganceSingularityVanishingUncompromisingMonstrosityVanishing Point
Book:The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
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“Yes, what we are doing is probably mad, and probably it is good and necessary all the same. It is not a good thing when man overstrains his reason and tries to reduce to rational order matters that are susceptible of rational treatment. Then there arise ideals such as those of the Americans or of the Bolsheviks. Both are extraordinarily rational, and both lead to a frightful oppression and impoverishment of life, because they simplify it so crudely. The likeness of man, once a high ideal, is in process of becoming a machine-made article. It is for madmen like us, perhaps, to ennoble it again.”

MenTryingMadeMatterReasonOrderProcessBecomingIdealsMachinesMadGood ThingsAriseRationalOppressionTreatmentArticlesSimplifyMadmenSusceptibleBolsheviks
Author:Hermann Hesse
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“Manic-depression distorts moods and thoughts, incites dreadful behaviors, destroys the basis of rational thought, and too often erodes the desire and will to live. It is an illness that is biological in its origins, yet one that feels psychological in the experience of it, an illness that is unique in conferring advantage and pleasure, yet one that brings in its wake almost unendurable suffering and, not infrequently, suicide.”

FeelsDesireSufferingPleasureBehaviorUniqueAdvantageBasesSuicideIllnessMoodRationalPsychologicalBipolarManicErodeWill To LiveRational ThoughtUnendurableManic Depression
Book:An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
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“Eiffel saw his Tower in the form of a serious object, rational, useful; men return it to him in the form of a great baroque dream which quite naturally touches on the borders of the irrational ... architecture is always dream and function, expression of a utopia and instrument of a convenience.”

MenDreamFormSawsObjectsSeriousExpressionReturnFunctionInstrumentsArchitectureRationalBordersTowersIrrationalConvenienceUtopiaBaroqueEiffel
Book:The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies
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“"So, why do I have so much fear in my life?" "Because you don't believe. You don't know that we love you. The person who lives by his fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe that I am good not know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it, you talk about it, but you don't know it."”

KnowsBelieveHeartPersonsTalkingLove YouDangerDegreesDon't BelieveRationalLive ByProjectionNot TalkingPlaces In Your Life
Author:William P. Young
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“Like fanning through a deck of cards, my mind flashes on the thousand chances, trivial to profound, that converged to re-create this place. Any arbitrary turning along the way and I would be elsewhere; I would be different. Where did the expression "a place in the sun" first come from? My rational thought process cling always to the idea of free will, random event; my blood, however, streams easily along a current of fate.”

WayMindFirstsIdeasDifferentWould BeProcessChanceSunFateBloodEventsExpressionThousandProfoundCurrentsRationalCardsStreamsFree WillElsewhereFlashArbitraryDeckThought ProcessRational ThoughtDeck Of CardsRandom Events
Author:Frances Mayes
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“Morality is neither rational nor absolute nor natural. World has known many moral systems, each of which advances claims universality; all moral systems are therefore particular, serving a specific purpose for their propagators or creators, and enforcing a certain regime that disciplines human beings for social life by narrowing our perspectives and limiting our horizons.”

WorldHumansPurposeCertainSocialNaturalHuman BeingsKnownMoralParticularPerspectiveDisciplineMoralityClaimsAbsolutesCreatorRationalServingHorizonRegimesNatural WorldSocial LifeUniversality
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Murphy watched me thoughtfully for several empty seconds. Then she said, very gently, "You're a good man, Harry." I swallowed and bowed my head, made humble by the tone of her voice and the expression on her face, more than the words themselves. Not always rational," she said, smiling. "But you're the best kind of crazy.”

MenKindMadeSaidFacesVoiceCrazyExpressionEmptyHumbleRationalToneGood ManSecondsMurphyDresdenYou Re The BestKarrin Murphy
Author:Jim Butcher
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“When it shall be said in any country in the world my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness: When these things can be said, there may that country boast its Constitution and its Government”

WorldWantMaySaidCountryGovernmentHappinessFoundPoorStreetsIgnoranceTaxesMy FriendsEmptyConstitutionRationalJailPrisonerDistressBoastBeggar
Book:Collected Writings
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“If men will permit themselves to think, as rational beings ought to think, nothing can appear more ridiculous and absurd, exclusive of all moral reflections, than to be at the expence of building navies, filling them with men, and then hauling them into the ocean, to try which can sink each other fastester. Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infintely more advantage than any victory with all its expence. But this, though it best answers the purpose of Nations, does not that of Court Governments, whose habited policy is pretence for taxation, places, and offices.”

IfsThinkingMenTryingDoeGovernmentPurposeNationsAnswersMoralPolicyBuildingOughtVictoryCostOfficeOceanReflectionAdvantageCourtRidiculousRationalAbsurdPermitTaxationFillingNavyExclusivePretence
Author:Thomas Paine
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“Would you like to borrow a pair of my panties to wave around at the next Council meeting to get the point across?” His eyes flashed. “Got any to spare?” I could’ve picked somebody rational. But no, I had to fall in love with this arrogant idiot. Come to the Keep with me, be my princess. Mourn me when your crazy dad kills me. Yeah, right.”

EyeFallNextCrazyDadYeahMeetingsFalling In LoveWaveRationalIdiotHis EyesPairsPrincessArrogantSparesCouncilKill MeMournPantiesYour CrazyMy Princess
Author:Ilona Andrews
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“The reason this system can’t be overthrown in this country,” Walter said, “is all about freedom. The reason the free market in Europe is tempered by socialism is that they’re not so hung up on personal liberties there. They also have lower population growth rates, despite comparable income levels. The Europans are all-around more rational, basically. And the conversation about rights in this country isn’t rational. It’s taking place on the level of emotion, and class resentments, which is why the right is so good at exploiting it.”

SaidCountryReasonGrowthLevelsEmotionLibertyClassRightsConversationEuropeRatePopulationIncomeSocialismRationalDespiteResentmentHungFree MarketPopulation GrowthPersonal Liberty
Author:Jonathan Franzen
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“They reached the carriage house. When she turned the knob, he got all critical again. “Why isn’t this door locked?” “It’s Parrish. There’s not much point.” “We have crime here, just as any other place does. Keep this door locked from now on.” “Like that’s going to stop you. All you’d have to do is give it one good kick, and – “ “Not from me, you ninny!” “I hate to be the one to break the bad news, but if they find my body, you’re the one with the biggest grudge.” “It’s impossible to hold a rational conversation with you.”

IfsGivingDoeBodyHateHouseBreakImpossibleDoorsCrimeConversationNewsI HateCriticalRationalKicksLockedBad NewsGrudgeCarriagesKnobs
Author:Susan Elizabeth Phillips
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“I am older than you. Believe me, there is no other way to live on earth. Men are not open to truth or reason. They cannot be reached by a rational argument. The mind is powerless against them. Yet we have to deal with them. If we want to accomplish anything, we have to deceive them into letting us accomplish it. Or force them. They understand nothing else. We cannot expect their support for any endeavor of the intellect, for any goal of the spirit. They are nothing but vicious animals. They are greedy, self-indulgent, predatory dollar-chasers”

IfsMenWayWantMindBelieveSelfReasonEarthSpiritForceGoalAnimalDealsSupportArgumentDollarsAccomplishIntellectRationalEndeavorBelieve In MeDeceivingGreedyPowerlessViciousWay To LivePredatorySelf IndulgentChasers
Author:Ayn Rand
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“You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn't nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating.”

GivingMindCultureSpaceRichWorshipAssumingIntuitionRationalGoldenFascinatingRationalityBack WhenCalvesJuicy
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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“I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil—you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.”

WorldFeelsMindHumansHelpingLife IsJoyPurposeReligionUniverseEvilHuman BeingsClassAtheismMoralityIntelligentSakeAtheistValuableRationalSay AnythingTrust YourselfPossessingPeace And Joy
Book:Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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“[Aldous Huxley] compared the brain to a 'reducing valve'. In ordinary perception, the senses send an overwhelming flood of information to the brain, which the brain then filters down to a trickle it can manage for the purpose of survival in a highly competitive world. Man has become so rational, so utilitarian, that the trickle becomes most pale and thin. It is efficient, for mere survival, but it screens out the most wondrous part of man's potential experience without his even knowing it. We're shut off from our own world.”

MenWorldPurposeBrainKnowingInformationPerceptionSurvivalOrdinaryMereScreensSensesRationalManageOverwhelmingEfficientPaleFloodReducingFiltersWondrousHuxleyUtilitarianValveKool Aid
Book:The electric kool-aid acid test
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