Philosopher – A Pondering Mind

Free Will

You can choose whatever you desire, but you’re not free to choose your desires. ~Arthur Schopenhauer

Reading….

Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what read ours. -John Locke

January

To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June. ~Jean-Paul Sartre

Opinions

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.” ~ John Locke

“The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.” ~ William James

Expression Of An Opinion

“The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: ifContinue reading “Expression Of An Opinion”

“Who are we to tell anyone what they can or can’t do?” ~John Locke

All Truth

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Poor People

There are two types of poor people, those who are poor together and those who are poor alone. The first are the true poor, the others are rich people out of luck. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

“The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.” ~Martin Heidegger

“Nothing is everything that doesn’t happen at this very moment.” ~Martin Heidegger

Pursuit Of Money

“In constant pursuit of money to finance campaigns, the political system is simply unable to function. Its deliberative powers are paralyzed.” ~ John Rawls, Philosopher, 1921 – 2002

“Lawyers sometimes tell the truth. They’ll do anything to win a case.” ~Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham, Philosopher, 1748 – 1832

“There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse.” ~David Hume

Bricks

“A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window.” ~ Gilles Deleuze, Philosopher, 1925 – 1995

“No matter how thin you slice it, there will always be two sides.” ~Baruch Spinoza

Two Ways To Be Fooled

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Words

Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects. ~ Blaise Pascal

The Poor

The poor don’t know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

The secret of theory is that truth does not exist. ~Jean Baudrillard

More And More Information

We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning. ~ Jean Baudrillard, French philosopher, Born: June 27, 1929 – Died: March 6, 2007

Freedom Of Choice

“When we can’t think for ourselves, we can always quote” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

Living

What is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying. ~Albert Camus

Hell isn’t other people. Hell is yourself. ~Ludwig Wittgenstein

Treasured Wealth

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. ~Henry David Thoreau

The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. ~Albert Camus

Senseless To Think Of Complaining

It is therefore senseless to think of complaining since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are. `~Jean-Paul Sartre

“Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.” ~Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant, Philosopher, Born: April 22, 1724 – Died: February 12, 1804

People

To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do rather than what they say. ~Rene Descartes

Shoes

“Our incomes are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and to trip.” ~ John Locke

Life After Death

“The real question of life after death isn’t whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher ~ 1889 – 1951

“Nothing is everything that doesn’t happen at this very moment.” ~ Martin Heidegger

Boundaries

“A boundary is not that at which something stops, but that from which something begins.” ~ Martin Heidegger, Philosopher ~ 1889 – 1976

Dreaming

“It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false.” ~ Rene Descartes, Philosopher ~ 1596 – 1650

“I know that I exist; the question is, What is this ‘I’ that ‘I’ know.” ~Rene Descartes

Fear

“To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.” ~ Bertrand Russell

“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.” ~ Bertrand Russell

“The wise man can change his mind; the stubborn one, never.” ~Immanuel Kant

Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

I don’t know why we are here, but I’m pretty sure it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. ~Ludwig Wittgenstein

There is a life and there is a death, and there are beauty and melancholy between. ~Albert Camus

To Be

“To be is to be perceived (Esse est percipi).” Or, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” ~ George Berkeley

“All perception is a gamble.” ~Edmund Husserl

People Know What They Do

“People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don’t know is what what they do does.” ~ Michel Foucault, Philosopher – Born: October 15, 1926 – Died: June 25, 1984

“Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. This is the equation.” ~Averroes

Averroes, Philosopher – Born: April 14, 1126-Died: December 10, 1198

The body

“The body is to be compared, not to a physical object, but rather to a work of art.” ~ Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Philosopher ~ 1908-1961

“All consciousness is consciousness of something” ~Edmund Husserl

Two People

“Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.” ~ William James

Time is the most unknown of all unknown things. ~Aristotle

Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats. ~Voltaire

“What worries you, masters you.” ~ John Locke

“Life is a constant process of dying.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer

“Just remember, once you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer

Majority Of Men

“The majority of men… are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and… are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher – 1788-1860