Quotes About Choice

Galen Strawson, a philosopher who states with great bravado, "The impossibility of free will … can be proved with complete certainty." Yet in an interview, Strawson admits that, in practice, no one accepts his deterministic view. "To be honest, I can't really accept it myself," he says. "I can't really live with this fact from day to day. Can you, really?

The problem is that many people treat morality as a list of rules. But in reality, every moral system rests on a worldview. In every decision we make, we are not just deciding what we want to do. We are expressing our view of the purpose of human life. In the words of theologian Stanley Hauerwas, a moral act "cannot be seen as just an isolated act, but involves fundamental options about the nature and significance of life itself.

To the little girl it wasn't funny. She felt wistful and a bit sad that it had taken so long to be free of being responsible for the happiness of others, free of guilt, and free not to forgive—and free to choose not to even see her mother.

Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you. —Frank Tyger

Epictetus famously opens the Encheiridion this way: "Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, and aversion—in short, everything that is our own doing. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations, and our official positions—in short, everything that is not our own doing.

It's funny, but if I had to say whom I'm closer to, who knows me better, I'd have a hard time choosing between my husband and my best friend.

Life is a dream but the controls are in your hands.

No hay otro camino por el cual pueda pasar por eso camino en este.

One of them says, 'Why did they do it?' And the other answers, 'Because they could.' That is the only answer there ever is.

There is a part in each of us which holds fast to the old truth: either you are the hunter or you are the prey. Learn which you are. Act accordingly. Your life depends upon it.

There is no safety that does not also restrict us. And many needless restrictions feel safe and comfortable. It is so hard to know, at any moment, the distinction between being safe and being caged. It is hard to know when it is better to choose freedom and fear, and when it is simply foolhardy. I have often, I think, too often erred on the side of caution.

Allie says: Are you trying to tell me there's literally no right choice here? The voice says: There's never been a right choice, honeybun. The whole idea that there are two things and you have to choose is the problem.

One of them says, "Why did they do it, Nina and Darrell?" And the other answers, "Because they could." That is the only answer there ever is.

It doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. The power to hurt is a kind of wealth.

We are not ruled by blind instinct like the beasts. Uniquely, we can listen to the commands of God, can understand them, yet can choose disobedience. It is this, and only this, which gives our obedience its value.

Pourquoi ont-ils fait ça, [...] ?" Et l'autre répond : "Parce qu'ils le pouvaient." Et c'est la seule réponse qui sera jamais.

It doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted.

It's enough for her to know, sitting in there in the dark, that if she really wanted to she could get out. The knowledge is as good as freedom.

Non conta la consapevolezza che non dovrebbe, che non lo farebbe mai. Ciò che importa è che potrebbe farlo, se volesse. Il potere di fare del male è uno stato di benessere. ... Pagina 105

There's never been a right choice, honeybun. The whole idea that there are two things and you have to choose is the problem.

A dead end street is a good place to turn around.

So we are left with a stark choice: allow climate disruption to change everything about our world, or change pretty much everything about our economy to avoid that fate. But we need to be very clear: because of our decades of collective denial, no gradual, incremental options are now available to us.

It could be verified that no princess was ever asked whether she wanted to be rescued and carried off by a dragon-slayer to a fate (no doubt) worse than death.

There's liberty in the other scale. It's heavy".