Quotes About Choice

The man who says that all events are necessitated has no ground for critizing the man who says that not all events are necessitated. For according to him this is itself a necessitated event.

It is not an unbroken succession of drinking-bouts and of merrymaking, not sexual love, not the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest disturbances take possession of the soul.

If man is nothing but a material mechanism and part of the world mechanism, then his choices of good and evil are mechanically determined, and he cannot be said to be an autonomous and responsible ethical being. Thus if materialism is to save moral responsibility and at the same time save determinism, it must represent man as partially determined (in his organic functions) and partially free (in his ethical capacity).

The Lord gave us two ends -- one to sit on and the other to think with. Success depends on which one we use the most.

COMING TO JESUS is the condition for finding relief. All we need to do is choose to enter the sphere of his presence, and the unnatural pressures borne down upon us by both the world and ourselves begin to dissipate. To

Literature deals with morality but does not necessarily, does not, qua literature, help you to be more moral, either by precept or example. It makes you more aware. Which is to say that it makes you more human by making life more, not less, difficult. When you become more aware, the area of moral choice is widened. You can be a better man; you can also be a worse. Literature will not determine which. It is the equivalent of neither grace nor good works.

Human life [is] ... a process of filling in time until the arrival of death, or Santa Claus, with very little choice, if any, of what kind of business one is going to transact during the long wait.

Each person designs his own life, freedom gives him the power to carry out his own designs, and power gives the freedom to interfere with the designs of others.

we shared a common interest in how the past effects people—some let it decide who they are, while others make it part of what they will do.

Salesman: 'This one is better, but you can't afford it.' Housewife: 'That's the one I'll take.

the past effects people—some let it decide who they are, while others make it part of what they will do.

Spontaneity means option, the freedom to choose and express one's feelings from the assortment available.

I'm a first class passenger on the Spaceship Earth, and I got one ticket. And I gotta make the ride count, you know? And, as far as I figure, you can either take the service road or the scenic route. And, man, if I only have one ride, I want it to be beautiful. 84. Highway.

Dos caminos se dividían en un bosque y yo tomé el menos transitado, y eso estableció una gran diferencia.

Como Shakespeare dijo: "¡La culpa … no es de nuestras estrellas, sino de nosotros mismos, al consentir ser inferiores!

One ship goes East another West, By the self-same winds that blow; 'Tis the set of the sail and not the gale Which determines the way they go.

We believe that if you put in place the mechanisms that allow for personal choice as far as Medicare is concerned, as well as the programs in Medicaid, that we can actually get to a better result and do what most Americans are learning how to do, which is to do more with less.

Listen to the language the domain experts use. Are there terms that succinctly state something complicated? Are they correcting your word choice (perhaps diplomatically)? Do the puzzled looks on their faces go away when you use a particular phrase? These are hints of a concept that might benefit the model.

Do you mind?' He inquired politely as he lowered himself into the chair. 'Do I mind what?' She examined his ears as if they were curious phenomena. 'Rabies, dogs, aged relatives or standing around in the rain?' 'Do you mind me sitting here?' 'I can please myself whether or not I endure it. That's freedom, isn't it?

Many years later, another Marxian rephrased this as the choice between socialism and barbarity. Which of these will prevail is a question which the twenty-first century must be left to answer.

Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to do.

The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

So, what have I learned over my long and weird life? Well, first, that there are two kinds of people, and I don't much care for either of them. Second, when faced with a difficult choice, either way is often best. Third, always leave a party when people begin to play the bongos.