Quotes About Philosophy

Suffering ceases to be suffering in some way at the moment it finds a meaning." — Viktor Frankl (psychiatrist who survived a Nazi concentration camp and wrote about his experiences in Man's Search for Meaning)

And I saw it didn't matter who had loved me or who I loved. I was alone. The black oily asphalt, the slick beauty of the Iranian attendant, the thickening clouds—nothing was mine. And I understood finally, after a semester of philosophy, a thousand books of poetry, after death and childbirth and the startled cries of men who called out my name as they entered me, I finally believed I was alone, felt it in my actual, visceral heart, heard it echo like a thin bell.

The difference between science and philosophy is that the scientist learns more and more about less and less until she knows everything about nothing, whereas a philosopher learns less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything. There is truth in this clever crack, but, as Niels Bohr impressed, while the opposite of a trivial truth is false, the opposite of a great truth is another great truth.

Whatever will be will be.

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)

For she was of that generation who, having found nothing in religion, had formed themselves through literature.

We believe at once in evil, we only believe in good upon reflection. Is this not sad

The importance of novels and short stories in our society is great. Fiction supplies the only philosophy that many readers know; it establishes their ethical, social, and material standards; it confirms them in their prejudices or opens their minds to a wider world. The movies have not undermined the influence of fiction. On the contrary, they have extended its field, carrying the ideas which are already current among reader to those too young, too impatient, or too uneducated to read.

Our faith is stronger than death, our philosophy is firmer than flesh, and the spread of the Kingdom of God upon the earth is more sublime and more compelling.

A philosophy of work is essential if we would be whole men, holy men, healthy men, joyous men. A certain amount of goods is necessary for a man to lead a good life, and we have to make that kind of society where it is easier for men to be good.

Christian philosophy of work was this. God is our creator. God made us in His image and likeness. Therefore we are creators. He gave us a garden to till and cultivate. We become co-creators by our responsible acts, whether in bringing forth children, or producing food, furniture or clothing. The joy of creativeness should be ours.

I could not understand scientific truths, why should I worry about understanding spiritual truths of religion? I wanted to say yes, this is true.

I prize freedom of the mind above freedom of the body.

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher, wrote, "Every morning when I leave my house, I say to myself, 'Today I shall meet an impudent man, an ungrateful one, one who talks too much. Therefore do not be surprised.

Guns aren't lawful; nooses give; gas smells awful. So you might as well live.

Four be the things I'd been better without:Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

A friend of ours, when she trips over some surprisingly intense emotional response, says, philosophically, "Oh well—AFOG," which stands, she says, for Another Fucking Opportunity for Growth.

There are worse things than getting a call for the wrong number at 4 AM. It could be the right number.

I don't even understand the connection with 'died for your sins'. He died for your sin, well, how does one affect the other? 'I hit myself in the foot with a shovel for your mortgage'...

Life! Don't talk to me about life.

I am fascinated by religion. (That's a completely different thing from believing in it!) It has had such an incalculably huge effect on human affairs. What is it? What does it represent? Why have we invented it? How does it keep going? What will become of it? I love to keep poking and prodding at it. I've thought about it so much over the years that that fascination is bound to spill over into my writing.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovered exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarrely inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Time is bunk.

All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place.