Quotes About Philosophy

Savoir souffrir sans se plaindre, ça c'est la seule chose partique, c'est la grande science, la leçon à apprendre, la solution du problème de la vie.

Nijedna savršena duša nije lišena neke mešavine ludila. Aristotel

Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.

My feeling is, quite simply, that if there is a God, He has done such a bad job that he isn't worth discussing.

I have never, in all my life, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual void. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so.

Postulates are based on assumption and adhered to by faith. Nothing in the Universe can shake them.

It is remarkable, Hardin, how the religion of science has grabbed hold.

Who?" "Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, 'Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.' I'm no god and I'll contend no longer. Let it go, Pete, and go your way. Maybe the world will last our time and, if not, there's nothing that can be done anyway. I'm sorry, Pete. You fought the good fight, but you lost, and I'm through.

Does everyone just believe what he wants to? As long as possible. Sometimes longer. What about you? You mean, am I human? Certainly. I don't believe I'm really old. I believe I'm quite attractive. I believe you seek out my company because you think I'm charming - even when you insist on turning the conversation to physics.

It's always easy to explain the unknown by postulating a superhuman and arbitrary will.

There are many people, many worlds who believe in supernaturalism in one form or another... religion, if you like the word better. We may disagree with them in one way or another, but we are as likely to be wrong in our disbelief as they in their belief. In any case, there is no disgrace in such belief and my questions were not intended as insults.

I shall not be alive a half decade hence," said Seldon, "and yet it is of overpowering concern to me. Call it idealism. Call it an identification of myself with that mystical generalization to which we refer by the term, 'man.

it suddenly seems to me that the destruction of what should not be, that is, the destruction of what you people call evil, is less just and desirable than the conversion of this evil into what you call good.

He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men.

A really good story does not answer everything. After all, life doesn't answer everything. There remain ambiguities. There remains room for doubt.

There's no way we can raise a positronic brain one inch above the level of perfect materialism. "We can't, damn it, we can't. Not as long as we don't understand what makes our own brains tick. Not as long as things exist that science can't measure. What is beauty, or goodness, or art, or love, or God? We're forever teetering on the brink of the unknowable, and trying to understand what can't be understood. It's what makes us men.

Where did the substance of the universe come from? . . If 0 equals ( + 1) + (-1), then something which is 0 might just as well become + 1 and -1. Perhaps in an infinite sea of nothingness, globs of positive and negative energy in equal-sized pairs are constantly forming, and after passing through evolutionary changes, combining once more and vanishing. We are in one of these globs between nothing and nothing and wondering about it.

Consegue entender que, ao afastar as armadilhas e vicissitudes que perseguem o homem, a Eternidade não deixa que ele encontre suas próprias soluções, boas e amargas, soluções reais que chegam quando a dificuldade é enfrentada, não evitada?

What is beauty, or goodness, or art, or love, or God? We're forever teetering on the brink of the unknowable, and trying to understand what can't be understood. It's what makes us men.

We're forever teetering on the brink of the unknowable, and trying to understand what can't be understood. It's what makes us men.

Where any answer is possible, all answers are meaningless.

Perché tante persone passavano la loro vita senza cercare la risposta a tutte le domande che c'erano... anzi, senza nemmeno porsi le domande? si chiese Seldon. Nella vita, esisteva qualcosa di più eccitante della ricerca delle risposte?

so that one has to say 'I/we/Gaia' as an invented pronoun to express the inexpressible.

Chen said, Dr. Seldon, you disturb the peace of the Emperor's realm. None of the quadrillions living now among all the stars of the Galaxy will be living a century from now. Why, then, should we concern ourselves with events of three centuries distance?