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Thought Quotes

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Thought Quotes

“There’s the claim that the only progress made is in posing problems that scientists can answer. That philosophy never has the means to answer problems—it’s just biding its time till the scientists arrive on the scene. You hear this quite often. There is, among some scientists, a real anti-philosophical bias. The sense that philosophy will eventually disappear. But there’s a lot of philosophical progress, it’s just a progress that’s very hard to see. It’s very hard to see because we see with it. We incorporate philosophical progress into our own way of viewing the world. [...] And it’s usually philosophical arguments that first introduce the very outlandish idea that we need to extend rights. And it takes more, it takes a movement, and activism, and emotions, to affect real social change. It starts with an argument, but then it becomes obvious. The tracks of philosophy’s work are erased because it becomes intuitively obvious. The arguments against slavery, against cruel and unusual punishment, against unjust wars, against treating children cruelly—these all took arguments. About 30 years ago, the philosopher Peter Singer started to argue about the way animals are treated in our factory farms. Everybody thought he was nuts. But I’ve watched this movement grow; I’ve watched it become emotional. It has to become emotional. You have to draw empathy into it. But here it is, right in our time—a philosopher making the argument, everyone dismissing it, but then people start discussing it.”

ThinkingPhilosophyScienceProgressPrejudiceHuman RightsThoughtBigotryAnimal RightsAnimal Cruelty
Author:Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
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“I find it interesting that by saying to someone “you just realized that you’re breathing”, you immediately cause them to go from breathing automatically and subconsciously to having to control their breathing manually and consciously. This is the power of words. It is a real, physical power— somehow, when we flop our tongues around in specific ways, audio waves are created that, when interpreted by the ears of another person, cause a real, physical change in that person such as I described above.”

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Book:Bending The Universe
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“[When asked if he had ever learned anything about his work from film criticism] No. To see a film once and write a review is an absurdity. Yet very few critics ever see a film twice or write about films from a leisurely, thoughtful perspective. The reviews that distinguish most critics, unfortunately, are those slambang pans which are easy to write and fun to write and absolutely useless. There's not much in a critic showing off how clever he is at writing silly, supercilious gags about something he hates.”

ThinkingFilmCriticismInsightThoughtThoughtfulOpen MindednessReviewFilm CriticismBad CriticismGood Criticism
Author:Stanley Kubrick
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“We all have a life to live! We all have unique and distinctive purposes to fulfill! Everybody has a purpose on earth, and everybody must live the true purpose why God gives life to us each day! You are not on earth to compete with anybody but your true purpose. You are not on earth to compare yourself to anybody, but the you in you and the true purpose for which you came here! Life is good when you don’t compare yourself in a manner that will make you feel bad. Life is good when you know your true purpose in life and who you must live to be and to please! You fulfill your true you distinctively when you understand you are you and not anybody! So many people are living others destiny just because they have neglected their own true purpose! So many people think badly just because they compare themselves wrongfully with others and things! Everybody has a life and everybody must live a life! If there is any reason to compare yourself to others and things, let it be the inspiration you get from comparing yourself with others and things that makes you do something unique! There is a true reason for our existence on earth and we must reason from nothing, but the true reason why we live each day!”

PurposeThoughtLive Your LifePurposeful LivingLiving WellTrue PurposePleasing OthersComparing Yourself To OthersKnow Yourself BetterLiving Your Destiny
Author:Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
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“That thing you thought you'd do You start to think you can't; You always say tomorrow, But you haven't got a plan. Everyone's asking questions, And all you do is dodge. That career that you'd imagined Was only a mirage. The older that you get, The smaller that you feel; You forget what's only in your head, And what is really real. Sometimes people make it; They become who they meant to be. But most of the time, Dreamers only dream.”

PeopleRealSometimesFeelingsDreamTimeHopeFeltForgetImagineTomorrowThoughtThinkCareerDreamingQuestionsPlanFeelNeverStartAlwaysWaitDoSmallBecomeDreamersOlderMeant
Book:The Words
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“It so happens that the primary though - as an act of thought - already has a form and is more easily transmitte to itself, or rather, to the very person who is thinking it; and that is why - because it has a form - it has a limited reach. Whereas the thought called "freedom" is free as an act of thought. It's so free that even to its thinker it seems to have no author.”

ThinkingRealityFreedomConsciousnessExperienceThoughtLimitationAuthorThinkerPsychoanalysisBoundlessState Of Consciousness
Author:Clarice Lispector
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“All humanity needs, is to be reminded that there has always existed a human consensus on all common human needs and desires (extremely long life in perfect health, abundance, well-being), and that now, transgressing the religious option, he has achieved the scientific option of working for all of them, and for much more. His rationality, guided by both his ambition and inspiration, will do the rest. WHATEVER RELIGION PROMISES, SCIENCE WILL DELIVER.”

InspirationalScienceReligionThoughtConsensusScientificHuman Desires
Book:The Human Consensus and The Ultimate Project Of Humanity
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“The core issue in monotheism is righteousness/wickedness. Righteous/wicked qualifies a person acting or being Good/bad. In an environment of scarcity, man’s vital strategy for collective survival hinges on being good to his clan and bad to rival clans to acquire or defend resources. So the creation/elaboration/nurture of both good and bad can only be the consequence of a primary cause: scarcity. Monotheism “Revealing” such a mental disadvantage in a Creator as to confuse consequences for causes is … revelatory.”

PhilosophyReligionCreatorThoughtUnreasonableRevelationScarcityIllogicalMonotheismGood EvilIncomprehensibleGood Bad
Author:Haroutioun Bochnakian
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“Moments later, Sona Kilroy, heading for the open doorway, stepped over the sergeant’s body. With an old auto-rifle in his left hand and his favorite sword in the other, and the sharp melodic din of bolts and bullets ringing in his ears, ‘the Hammer’ grinned an evil grin to himself, well pleased. He wished he could’ve seen the look on the face of Indomitable’s captain when he realized the tables had just been turned on him! The thought amused him. It was bloody hilarious. He cackled, reveling in this complete reversal of fortune. Then he stalked onward with conviction, a grim smile on his lips – intent on taking the ship for himself. * * *”

MomentsEarsLipsConvictionThoughtHilariousBoltsTheAndInJustForOtherHeHimWithReversalIntentOnHisSeenCaptainLaterHadHimselfHammerDoorwayAmused HimCackledIndomitable SKilroyOf FortuneSergeants BodyWell Pleased
Book:Dead Beckoning
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“The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false. The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning. He has a strong austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment. Who doubts that this toughness is one of man's greatest needs? Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

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Book:Strength to Love
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“From my heel to my toe is a measured space of 29.7 centimetres or 11.7 inches. This is a unit of progress and it is also a unit of thought. 'I can only meditate when I am walking,' wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the fourth book of his 'Confessions', 'when I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.' Søren Kierkegaard speculated that the mind might function optimally at the pedestrian pace of three miles per hour, and in a journal entry describes going out for a wander and finding himself 'so overwhelmed with ideas' that he 'could scarcely walk'. Christopher Morley wrote of Wordsworth as 'employ[ing] his legs as an instrument of philosophy' and Wordsworth of his own 'feeling intellect'. Nietzsche was typically absolute on the subject - 'Only those thoughts which come from 'walking' have a value' - and Wallace Stevens typically tentative: 'Perhaps / The truth depends on a walk around the lake.' In all of these accounts, walking is not the action by which one arrives at knowledge; it is itself the means of knowing.”

PhilosophyTruthMeditationWalkingThought
Book:The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
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“Monotheism and an absolute God define one another. The absolute is a mental construct, an abstract mental model. The absolute, whether it is a purest abstract essence or an extreme abstract measure, only exists in our minds as an abstraction. Furthermore, the absolute will only lead to the abandon of all measure and blind us to the relative interdependence of all things. The measure of knowledge of life is the knowledge of the measure of this relative interdependence.”

PhilosophyGodReligionThoughtConfusionAbsoluteAbstractionInterdependenceMonotheism
Book:The Human Consensus and The Ultimate Project Of Humanity
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“One cannot walk in such regions, consciously without enlargement of thought. There are heights and valleys which, to those who seek them in a sympathetic spirit, are better " seats of learning " than any school or university in the land ; there are days when the climber seems to rise into a rarer mental as well as visual atmosphere, and to leave far below him the crass cares and prejudices of commonplace life.”

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Book:On Cambrian and Cumbrian Hills Pilgrimages to Snowdon and Scafell
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