Quotes About Will

De las tres formas de Estado, la democracia es, en el sentido propio de la palabra, necesariamente un despotismo, porque crea un poder ejecutivo en el que todos deciden sobre alguien y, en su caso, contra alguien (es decir, contra quien no esté de acuerdo con los demás), con lo que deciden todos, que no son realmente todos. Esto es una contradicción de la voluntad general consigo misma y con la libertad.

O homem, e, duma maneira geral, todo o ser racional, existe como fim em si mesmo, não só como meio para o uso arbitrário desta ou daquela vontade. Pelo contrário, em todas as suas ações, tanto nas que se dirigem a ele mesmo como nas que se dirigem a outros seres racionais, ele tem sempre de ter considerado simultaneamente como fim.

I should never act in such a way that I could not also will that my maxim should be a universal law.

Freedom is alone the unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity; and is independent of the will and co-action of every other…

It must be freely admitted that there is a sort of circle here from which it seems impossible to escape. In the order of efficient causes we assume ourselves free, in order that in the order of ends we may conceive ourselves as subject to these laws because we have attributed to ourselves freedom of will; for freedom and self-legislation of will are both autonomy...

I]f I know that it is only by this process that the intended operation can be performed, then to say that if I fully will the operation, I also will the action required for it, is an analytical proposition...

In other words, it must be the same to you, when you do perceive this unity, whether we say, God has wisely willed it so, or nature has wisely arranged it so.

Freedom of the will is of a wholly unique nature in that an incentive can determine the will to an action only so far as the individual has incorporated it into his maxim (has made it the general rule in accordance with which he will conduct himself); only thus can an incentive, whatever it may be, co-exist with the absolute spontaneity of the will (i.e., freedom).

if freedom were determined by laws, it would not be freedom, but would itself be nothing else but nature.

The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore consist in nothing else than the conception of law in itself, which certainly is only possible in a rational being, in so far as this conception, and not the expected effect, determines the will. This is a good which is already present in the person who acts accordingly, and we have not to wait for it to appear first in the result. *

It is in the capacity to love, that is to SEE, that the liberation of the soul from fantasy consists. The freedom which is a proper human goal is the freedom from fantasy, that is the realism of compassion. What I have called fantasy, the proliferation of blinding self-centered aims and images, is itself a powerful system of energy, and most of what is often called 'will' or 'willing' belongs to this system. What counteracts the system is attention to reality inspired by, consisting of, love.

What we really are seems much more like an obscure system of energy out of which choices and visible acts of will emerge at intervals in ways which are often unclear and often dependent on the condition of the system in between moments of choice.

Misery had certainly given her energy, a sense of identity, a powerful questing will. It was even impressive. His part however was to be lucid and disappointing and cold. The least tenderness or excitement, the least foothold in his heart, and he and she would both be in danger.

I can decide what to say but not what the words mean which I have said. I can decide what to do but I am not master of the significance of my act.

I'll take that challenge. It's a dead hand against a living will.

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

There must be a crisis, but I don't know how to make one. The progressive forces on the Foundation are oppressed fearfully. You Traders may have the will, but you are hunted and disunited. If all the forces of good will in and out of the Foundation could combine

Somewhere I had had a trace of faith in free will, but this morning I felt sure that man possessed as much choice as the clockwork of my wristwatch or the fly that stopped on the edge of my saucer. The same powers were driving Hitler, Stalin, the Pope, the Rabbi of Gur, a molecule in the center of the earth, and a galaxy billions of lightyears distant from the Milky Way. Blind powers? Seeing powers? It did not matter any more. We were fated to play our little games and to be crushed.

Schopenhauer was right. It's all that blind will to prolong the human tragedy.

Nat me ayudó a aceptar el hecho de que existen fuerzas más poderosas que mi voluntad, fuerzas incluso más poderosas que el amor.

Very few live by choice. Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly cooperate; and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbor better than his own.

The great soul surrenders itself to fate.

God's will is not an itinerary, but an attitude.

Ours is a sovereign nation Bows to no foreign will But whenever they cough in Washington They spit on Parliament Hill.