Quotes About Philosophy

A healthy nature needs no God or immortality

An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog.

Nothing is beautiful, only man on this piece of navety rests all aesthetics, it is the first truth of aesthetics. Let us immediately add its second nothing is ugly but degenerate man-the domain of aesthetic judgment is therewith defined.

The last Christian died on the cross.

The living is a species of the dead and not a very attractive one.

You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

Si l'humanité a été stupide pendant des millénaires, on ne s'explique pas comment elle a pu cesser de l'être, d'autant que ce fut dans un laps de temps relativement très court : et on se l'explique d'autant moins quand on observe avec quelle intelligence et quel héroisme elle a été stupide pendant si longtemps et avec quelle myopie philosophique et quelle décadence morale elle est devenue enfin "lucide" et "adulte".

The exoteric Islam doesn't interest me more than any other religion. But the mysticism interests me. It's like Hinduism. [Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of the Perennialist Philosophy DVD]

Notons qu'un soi-disant "sociobiologiste"-- ce mot est tout un programme -- a poussé l'ingéniosité jusqu'à remplacer la matière par des "gênes" dont l'égoïsme aveugle, combiné avec un instinct de fourmis ou d'abeilles, aurait fini par constituer non seulement les corps mais aussi la conscience et en fin de compte l'intelligence humaine, miraculeusement capable de disserter sur les gênes qui se sont amusés à la produire.

When one denies the supernatural it is unwise to hold forth on matters that have no meaning without it or to busy oneself with the psychology of those who accept it.

Joy was substance over optics," he said. "Joy was a long-term thinker. Joy was bold.

If a tree falls in the forest and it hits a mime, would he make a noise?

If you want to believe in reincarnation, you have to believe that this life, what you're living through right now, is the afterlife. You're missing out on the afterlife you looked forward to in your last existence by worrying about your next life. This is what happens after you die. Take a look.

If you want to believe in reincarnation, you have to believe that this life, what you're living through right now, is the afterlife. You're missing out on the afterlife you looked forward to in your last existence by worrying about your next life. This is what happens after you die.

Reality exists as it is. The words we use to explain our understanding of it are always pale reflections of the truth we are attempting to convey and of our own understanding of that truth.

Because a lot of our philosophical stances these days are kind of half-assed. We're very bold in our proclamations of our own moral rectitude, but then we neglect to even keep our own toilets clean. You see a lot of that kind of thing. I used to see it all the time in my punk-rock days. Those guys were super-concerned with having the right political and philosophical views. But they never seemed to be able to keep their showers free from mold or

We live forever by practicing the Buddha Way right now. If we wind up being reborn after we pass from this life, that's fine. If not, that's okay too.

The entire moon and sky can be reflected in a dewdrop on a blade of grass.

Religions say that spirit/mind is real while matter is negligible. Materialistic philosophies, such as classical science, say that mind is just an illusion caused by the interactions of material objects and processes. Contemporary physics is starting to dimly comprehend that this distinction is false, but it will probably take a long time before this view becomes widely accepted. This is much more than just a dry philosophical debate. People get killed over this stuff.

Zen is the complete absence of belief. Zen is the complete lack of authority.

Dhammapada. Anyhow,

The Dalai Lama famously said, "If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change.

According to Buddhist philosophy, nothing ever really belongs to you. Even so, you can still give stuff away.

We think we're doing our jobs for the paycheck, but Dogen says that's an illusion. The underlying, original reason we work is to give to others. The payment you receive is a kind of karmic payback for the service you give.