World Views

Great Quotes: Life

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.
Jung

I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day difficult.
E.B. White

The highest form of morality is not to feel at home in one's own home.
Theodor Adorno

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
Bertrand Russell

Nature can provide for the needs of people; [she] can't provide for the greed of people.
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)  

Life's just a mood ring we're not allowed to see.
They Might Be Giants

A positive attitude may not solve all of your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright

The angels fly because they take themselves lightly.
G. K. Chesterton

Behind the door of every contented, happy man there ought to be someone standing with a little hammer and continually reminding him with a knock that there are unhappy people.
Anton Chekhov

When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always.
Mohandas Gandhi

All unuttered truths turn poisonous.
Nietzsche

We are what we do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

Should the nation's wealth be redistributed? It has been and continues to be redistributed to a few people in a manner strikingly unhelpful.
Kurt Vonnegut

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist & Nobel laureate

There are only two worthwhile things to leave behind when we depart this world of ours: children and art.
Stephen Sondheim, Sunday In The Park With George

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everyone goes "Awww!"
Jack Kerouac

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.
Thomas Jefferson

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Elie Wiesel, author

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
John Donne, poet (1573-1631)

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:38:45 RSV

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?" Instead, they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way." A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.
Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

The only devils in this world are those running around in our own hearts, and that is where all our battles should be fought.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)

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