Good quotes

for discussing science, relationships, religion or non-BK spirituality.
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ex-l

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Re: Good quotes

Post19 Dec 2016

The future ... what is the that? The future is just another crappy version of the present.

It's some bribe people offer to make you do what they want, not what you want.

- Cameron Howe, from 'Halt and Catch Fire'
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post24 Dec 2016

To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead

- Thomas Paine, English-American political activist & revolutionary 1737-1809
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Re: Good quotes

Post27 Jan 2017

If God is left out of sex, it becomes pornographic; if sex is left out of God, it becomes pious and self-righteous.”

- Leonard Cohen
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post05 Mar 2017

First of all, one must enquire into what the religious mind is; not what religion is, but that quality of the mind and the heart that is religious.

One can give a great many meanings to that word 'religion', depending on one's conditioning - either accepting it emotionally, sentimentally or devotionally, or totally denying the whole question of a religious attitude, a religious way of life, as a great many people do. One is rather ashamed even to talk about religious matters. But the religious mind has nothing whatsoever to do with belief in God - it has no theory, philosophy, or conclusion, because it has no fear and therefore no need for belief.

...A mind that is dependent on authority and therefore incapable of standing alone, incapable of understanding, incapable of looking directly [for itself], such a mind must inevitably have fear of going wrong, of not doing the right thing, of not reaching the ecstasy that is promised or that one hopes for. All such forms of authority must absolutely come to an end; which means to have no fear, no dependency on another (there is no guru) and a mind that is not seeking experience.

The religious mind does not belong to any group, any sect, any belief, any church, any organized circus; therefore it is capable of looking at things directly and understanding things immediately. Such is the religious mind, because it is a light to itself. Its light is not lit by another - the candle that is lit by another can be put out very quickly.

And most of our beliefs, dogmas, rituals, are the result of propaganda which has nothing whatsoever to do with a religious life. A religious mind is a light to itself and therefore there is no punishment or reward.

- Jiddu Krishnamurti, BEYOND VIOLENCE PART III CHAPTER 3 LONDON 4TH PUBLIC TALK 30TH MAY 1970 'THE RELIGIOUS MIND'
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post19 Mar 2017

RIP Chuck Berry, musical revolutionary.
Another side of Chuck Berry who did a version of this poem on an album in the 1970s.


Chuck Berry ”Pass Away” - with Robbie Robertson
The King's Ring - by Theodore Tilton

I.

Once in Persia reigned a King,
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel, at a glance,
Fit for every change or chance:
Solemn words, and these are they:
'Even this shall pass away!'

II.

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to rival these.
But he counted little gain
Treasures of the mine or main.
What is wealth? the King would say;
'Even this shall pass away.'

III.

In the revels of his court,
At the zenith of the sport,
When the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests,
He, amid his figs and wine,
Cried, O loving friends of mine!
Pleasure comes, but not to stay:
'Even this shall pass away.'

IV.

Lady fairest ever seen
Was the bride he crowned his queen.
Pillowed on the marriage-bed,
Whispering to his soul, he said,
Though a bridegroom never pressed
Dearer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh must come to clay:
'Even this shall pass away.'

V.

Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield.
Soldiers with a loud lament
Bore him bleeding to his tent.
Groaning from his tortured side,
Pain is hard to bear, he cried,
But with patience day by day,
'Even this shall pass away.'

VI.

Towering in the public square
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue carved in stone.
Then the King, disguised, unknown,
Gazing at his sculptured name,
Asked himself,And what is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay:
'Even this shall pass away.'

VII.

Struck with palsy, sere and old,
Waiting at the Gates of Gold,
Spake he with his dying breath,
Life is done, but what is Death?
Then, in answer to the King,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray --
Even this shall pass away.

Source:

The Sexton's Tale, And Other Poems.
Copyright 1867
Sheldon And Company, New York.
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ex-l

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Re: Good quotes

Post31 Mar 2017

Unearned confidence* about that which one is ignorant, always has the brightest glow.

* (an inflated sense of self-importance or superiority over others)
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post27 Jun 2017

Delusion is an ironical trickster!

"If you believe in the higher self, it's just a simple trick of the lower self!

If you believe there is no lower self, but only the higher self, or that the lower self is merely something for the higher self to shine through, that's just lending validity to the duality.

If you think you have a lower self—or an ego to get rid of [or transcend]—and you fight against it, nothing strengthens the delusion that it exists more than that.

So this tremendous schizophrenia in humans—of thinking they are rider and horse, soul in command of body, a will that must control passions, and so on—this kind of split thinking simply aggravates the problem. We just get more and more split.

Thinking this way just results in an interior conflict that will never, never get resolved. You either know the true self or you don't, and if you do know it, then this thing we call the lower self ceases to be a problem, because it's just a mirage."

~Alan Watts
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post14 Jul 2017

BKs and other theists love to quote people like Einstein out of context. Saw this question asked today on Quora
Q. If someone like Albert Einstein believed in God, why don't atheists?
Answer from Derek Williams

It’s probably better to let Albert Einstein “speak” for himself:

“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

- Albert Einstein, letter to an atheist (1954), quoted in Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman.

“The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

- Letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, January 3, 1954

“During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution, human fantasy created gods in man's own image who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate influence, the phenomenal world.”

- Albert Einstein, quoted in: 2000 Years of Disbelief, James Haught.

“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”

- Albert Einstein to Guy H. Raner Jr., Sept. 28, 1949, quoted by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2.

“It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”

- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, November 9, 1930.

“I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.”

- Albert Einstein, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman.
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post23 Sep 2017

'Compulsive liars shouldn’t frighten you. They can harm no one if no one listens to them.

Compulsive believers, on the other hand: they should terrify you. Believers are the liars’ enablers.'

Nick Cohen
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Re: Good quotes

Post23 Sep 2017

“Other people teach us who we are. Their attitudes to us are the mirror in which we learn to see ourselves. But the mirror is distorted. We are, perhaps, rather dimly aware of the immense power of our social enviornment.”

― Alan Watts, from " THE BOOK on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are"

Arbit

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Re: Good quotes

Post25 Sep 2017

Truth must have a possibility of verification.

If a man says, "I have seen a vision," and tells me the I have no right to see it, I believe him not.
The (prophet/seer) man should never be singular; he should only represent what all men can attain.

-Swami Vivekananda
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Re: Good quotes

Post28 Dec 2017

"I resolved from the beginning of my quest that I would not be misled by sentiment and desire into beliefs for which there was no good evidence."

― Bertrand Russell, Fact and Fiction, The Pursuit of Truth, 1961
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Re: Good quotes

Post01 Jan 2018

There have been at least 3000 Gods so far but only yours actually exists.
The others are silly made up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real - Ricky Gervais
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Re: Good quotes

Post01 Jan 2018

FAITH
Stephen Colbert and Ricky Gervais Debate the Existence of God

Matt Wilstein
MATT WILSTEIN
02.01.17 10:38 PM ET

Typically, the question “Is there a God?” does not come up on late-night TV. But Wednesday night was different.

Stephen Colbert is one of comedy’s most devout Catholics—he even teaches Sunday school. Ricky Gervais is one of its most outspoken atheists, happily getting into a philosophical debate with anyone on Twitter who disagrees with him.

On Wednesday, they met on the Late Show couch, and Colbert presented Gervais with what he thought was a simple question: “Why is there something instead of nothing?”

“That makes no sense at all,” Gervais replied, denying the premise of Colbert’s inquiry right off the bat. “Surely, the bigger question is not why but how,” he said. “Why is irrelevant, isn’t it?”

Asked by Colbert if there is a “demiurge” that started everything, Gervais said, “Outside of science and nature, I don’t believe so.” He described himself as an “agnostic atheist,” meaning “no one knows if there’s a God.”

“So technically, everyone’s agnostic. We don’t know,” Gervais continued. Colbert couldn’t help but agree on that point. “An agnostic atheist is someone who doesn’t know if there’s a God or not, as no one does,” he said, adding, “Atheism is only rejecting the claim that there is a God. Atheism isn’t a belief system.”

Gervais summed up atheism this way: “You say there’s a God. I say, can you prove that? You say no. I say I don’t believe you, then.”

If Colbert believes in one God, then “there are about 3,000 to choose from” if you go back through history, Gervais said. “Basically, you deny one less God than I do,” he told Colbert. “You don’t believe in 2,999 Gods. And I don’t believe in just one more.”

“I know that I can’t convince you that there is a God, nor do I really want to convince you that there is a god,” Colbert said, explaining that he personally has a “strong desire” to direct his “gratitude” for life “towards something or someone.”

When Gervais brought up how difficult it is for some people to believe the Big Bang Theory, Colbert tried to describe that belief as similar to faith. Instead of having faith in God, he suggested, Gervais has faith in Stephen Hawking.

But that’s when Gervais went in for the kill.

“Science is constantly proved all the time,” he said. “If we take something like any fiction, any holy book, and destroyed it, in a thousand years’ time that wouldn’t come back just as it was.

Whereas if we took every science book and every fact and destroyed them all, in a thousand years they’d all be back, because all the same tests would give the same result.”

“That’s good,” Colbert had to admit. “That’s really good.”
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Pink Panther

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Re: Good quotes

Post22 Jan 2018

"As soon as absolute truth is supposed to be contained in the sayings of a certain man, a body of experts interpret his sayings ... They become (necessarily) opponents of all intellectual and moral progress."

– Bertrand Russell, Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization?
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