Quotes About Meaning

Ask them about a particular apple and they will tell you about the gross national product; ask about this chair right here and they'll go on at length about the evolution of furniture. They are not avoiding the subject; they are looking at it philosophically, in the round, as it were. The specific information you are seeking never comes through.

Sigismundo Celine, in the woods of Ohio, meditated. To him all phenomena were real in some sense, unreal in some sense, meaningless in some sense, real and meaningless in some sense, unreal and meaningless in some sense, and real and unreal and meaningless in some sense.

But I tend to agree with the black novelist Ishmael Reed that the history of the world is largely the history of the warfare between secret societies which are conspiratorial in most cases.

And that ended the broadcast. The next time I saw him was less than a week later and he obviously hadn't had his shot for the day. He came over to me in a coffee shop and the transformation was shocking. The Buddha-like eyes were frantic, the voice had a whine, and "facts" now had a very emotional meaning for him.

As we said at the beginning, the bedrock claim of existentialism holds that existence precedes essence, or we have no essence. Like electrons, we jump from one information system to another, and only those who have not looked closely believe that one essence remains constant through all transformations.

It is venturesome to think that a coordination of words (philosophies are nothing more than that) can resemble the universe very much. — Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths

Unless you stop to ask what coincidence means. I think it means two incidents are associated: co-incidence: coordination of incidents. So, then, to explain two associated incidents (prayers for rain followed by rain) by saying coincidence is to say that the two incidents were associated because the two incidents were associated. That may be soothing enough, but it is hardly analytical.

As usual, when you look for synchronicity, synchronicity looks for you.

Since words contain both denotations (referents in the sensory-existential world) and connotations (emotional tones and poetic or rhetorical hooks), humans can be moved to action even by words which have no real meaning or reference in actuality. This is the mechanism of demagoguery, advertising and much of organized religion.

It is possible that truth only exists when one has already specified the context or field within which one is speaking.

Language structures demark our reality-tunnels. I mentioned that earlier, but it needs repeating.

Colin Wilson argues that when we say, Life is boring and meaningless, it means that we are boring and meaningless. Can there be any truth in this?

Since critics appear notoriously dogmatic and pugnacious, it seems that meaning (a)—admitting relativity—is not what they mean. Is criticism then a form of theology (the only other field that claims access to the mind of God?) Or are we to take it that they are all Platonists?

Got nothing to do with us," I said. "I'm working on a case. You're my trusty sidekick." "Long as I don't have to call you Kemo Sabe." "Ever wonder what that meant?" I said. "I always thought it meant Paleface Motherfucker," Hawk said. "That's probably it," I said.

Afterlife is no less implausible than anything else,' I said. 'All explanations of existence are equally incredible.' 'So you might as well believe something that makes you feel good as not

If there are no things which are important, then things are assigned importance arbitrarily and defended at great risk. Because the risk validates the importance.

See, being a person is kind of random and arbitrary business. You may have noticed that. And you need to believe in something to keep it from being too random and arbitrary to handle. Some people take religion, or success, or patriotism, or family, but for a lot of guys those things don't work. A guy like me. I don't have religion or family that sort of thing. So you accept some system of order, and you stick to it.

You and Galileo," I said. "Didn't he throw his balls off the leaning tower?" Quirk Said.

Life is mostly metaphor.

Do you have a diagnosis?" "It's what in my profession we call characterological." "Which means you haven't an explanation." "Basically yes," Susan said. "It's simply how you are." "You sure?" "Yes.

We're fifteen," he said. "And we found each other already? Is that possible? Can you find somebody at fifteen?

Trivial, he echoed. Perhaps. Then again, maybe it's all in the way you look at it

This world's no blot for us, Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good: To find its meaning is my meat and drink.

There is to truer truth attainable to man than comes of music.