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Transience Quotes

Browse 97 quotes about Transience.

Transience Quotes

“Pleasure, in itself harmless, may become mischievous, by endearing to us a state which we know to be transient and probatory, and withdrawing our thoughts from that of which every hour brings us nearer to the beginning, and of which no length of time will bring us to the end. Mortification is not virtuous in itself, nor has any other use, but that it disengages us from the allurements of sense. In the state of future perfection, to which we all aspire, there will be pleasure without danger, and security without restraint.”

PleasureMortificationTransience
Book:The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
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“But we, when moved by deep feeling, evaporate; we breathe ourselves out and away; from moment to moment our emotion grows fainter, like a perfume. Though someone may tell us: “Yes, you’ve entered my bloodstream, the room, the whole springtime is filled with you . . . " — what does it matter? they can’t contain us, we vanish inside them and around them. (Denn wir, wo wir fühlen, verflüchtigen; ach wir atmen uns aus und dahin; von Holzglut zu Holzglut geben wir schwachern Geruch. Da sagt uns wohl einer: ja, du gehst mir ins Blut, dieses Zimmer, der Frühling füllt sich mit dir . . . Was hilfts, er kann uns nicht halten, wir schwinden inihm und um ihn.)”

LovePoetryTimePassionEmotionEmptinessContentmentFeelingTransienceRilke
Author:Rainer Maria Rilke
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“You swallow hard when you discover that the old coffee shop is now a chain pharmacy, that the place where you first kissed so-and-so is now a discount electronics retailer, that where you bought this very jacket is now rubble behind a blue plywood fence and a future office building. Damage has been done to your city. You say, ''It happened overnight.'' But of course it didn't. Your pizza parlor, his shoeshine stand, her hat store: when they were here, we neglected them. For all you know, the place closed down moments after the last time you walked out the door. (Ten months ago? Six years? Fifteen? You can't remember, can you?) And there have been five stores in that spot before the travel agency. Five different neighborhoods coming and going between then and now, other people's other cities. Or 15, 25, 100 neighborhoods. Thousands of people pass that storefront every day, each one haunting the streets of his or her own New York, not one of them seeing the same thing.”

ChangeMemoriesLossIndividualityNew York CityConsumerismModern SocietyRetailTransienceNeighborhoodsChain StoresMom And Pop Stores
Book:The Colossus of New York
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“Though some may see their shortcomings as the greatest evil from the pit of hell, while some throw invectives at God for bringing them into a cruel, problematic world. These shortcomings are transient, the greatest evil does its work and needs no interrogation, their invectives are just a waste of time, and the world is the most sweetest to those with a functional taste buds.”

LifeGodProblemEvilSinPovertySweetFailureTasteFunctionBlameCurseRejectionProblemsWoeSweetestTurmoilGrudgeAnnoyanceCruelInterrogationTransienceGrudgesTaste BudsShortcomingFunctionsGreatest EvilInvectivePit Of Hell
Author:Michael Bassey Johnson
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“This was our ritual as we waited for our lives to truly begin and I think now that maybe true sweetness can only happen in limbo. I don't know why. Is it because we are so unsure, so tentative and waiting? Like it needs that much room, that much space to expand. The not knowing anything really, the hoping, the aching transience: This is not real, not really, and so we let it alone, let it unfold lightly. Those times that can fly...While we waited...to do the real work of living. She also confessed that in an odd way she was happier here than she'd ever been. Even with all the loss. Happier "being" whatever that was. Than "waiting.”

PhilosophyHappinessSadnessAdvicePatienceDystopiaDystopian FictionTransienceDog Stars
Author:Pete Heller
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“Zen is important as a counterbalance to the western eagerness and performance thinking. As long as one cannot concede more than 60-100 years of earthly existence with appropriate vitality, the relativism will dominate the continuum for all times and makes the rational-materialist thinking totally annihilated, because all the material and utopian values can´t be transferred into the other sphere.”

UniverseZenTranscendenceTransienceAscendenceDescendence
Author:Ingmar Veeck
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“We are here in a wood of little beeches: And the leaves are like black lace Against a sky of nacre. One bough of clear promise Across the moon. It is in this wise that God speaketh unto me. He layeth hands of healing upon my flesh, Stilling it in an eternal peace, Until my soul reaches out myriad and infinite hands Toward him, And is eased of its hunger. And I know that this passes: This implacable fury and torment of men, As a thing insensate and vain: And the stillness hath said unto me, Over the tumult of sounds and shaken flame, Out of the terrible beauty of wrath, I alone am eternal. One bough of clear promise Across the moon”

GodPathSufiTransienceSword Sentiments
Author:Frederic Manning
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“The great measure of human maturation is the increasing understanding that we move through life in the blink of an eye; that we are not long with the privilege of having eyes to see, ears to hear, a voice with which to speak and arms to put round a loved one; that we are simply passing through.”

LifeLivingMaturityMaturationTransience
Book:Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words
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“Resilient aesthetics and resilient beauty are terms that immediately sound like oxymorons, as beauty and aesthetically pleasing experiences and objects tend to con- note something fleeting, transient, and/or volatile. We are used to viewing beauty as something that fades, being synonymous with newness, youth, unwrinkled faces and garments, fresh flowers, polished tables, newly painted walls, and with undented floors—all of which diminish with age, usage, and wear. We are used to aesthetics and beauty being linked to the visual impression of an object.”

BeautyAestheticsTransience
Book:Anti-trend, Resilient Design and the Art of Sustainable Living
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“The bag was a hybrid I had picked up at a store called Suitcase City while I was plotting my comeback. [...] It had a logo on it -- a mountain ridgeline with the words "Suitcase City" printed across it like the Hollywood sign. Above it, skylights swept the horizon, completing the dream image of desire and hope. I think that logo was the real reason I liked the bag. Because I knew Suitcase City wasn't a store. It was a place. It was Los Angeles.”

CaliforniaLos AngelesRestlessnessTransienceSouthern California
Book:The Brass Verdict
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“We vanish. That may be the kismet of the body. But we leave imprints. That may be the proof we were ever here. Time forgets us. That may be its duty. But we remember each other. That may be our defiance. The world moves on. That may be its nature. But we love, we lose, we long. That may be what makes it worth watching. We break. That may be the cost of living. But we mend. That may be the reason we keep going. Nothing lasts. That may be the rule. But we carve our names into cursory moments. That may be enough.”

MemoriesReflectionResilienceMeaning Of LifeDefianceImpermanenceLove And LossHuman ConnectionTransienceEphemeral Beauty
Author:Monika Ajay Kaul
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“There must be some place in this burg with signs of life," he grumbled. This attitude of boredom toward our city by the soldiers and their wives irritated me to the point of scratching anger. "Someday you'll realize that you never had it so good," I predicted. But when I became older, I realized that most people are completely lacking in sensitivity to and harmony with the world in which they live. In a larger sense, that is. Unless they are surrounded by their own familiar possessions and a few habitual friends, all is meaningless. There is nothing under the sun to interest them.”

MilitaryPerspectiveTransienceSan AntonioMargaret Brown KilikThe Duchess Of AngusJane Davis
Book:The Duchess of Angus
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