Quotes Thread

[Zephyrus]

I think a cool way of sharing wisdom among friends is to disseminate our favorite quotes that we find witty and insightful, if not downright cynical. Use this thread from time to time to share such quotations.

I'll start with this one from Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

"Jésus vint établir sur la terre un royaume spirituel; ce qui, séparant le système théologique du système politique, fit que l'Etat cessa d'être un, et causa les divisions intestines qui n'ont jamais cessé d'agiter les peuples chrétiens. Or cette idée nouvelle d'un royaume de l'autre monde n'ayant pu jamais entrer dans la tête des païens, ils regardèrent toujours les chrétiens comme de vrais rebelles qui, sous une hypocrite soumission, ne cherchaient que le moment de se rendre indépendants et maîtres, et d'usurper adroitement l'autorité qu'ils feignaient de respecter dans leur faiblesse."

My translation:

Jesus came to establish on Earth a spiritual kingdom. This man, by separating the theological system from the political system, made the State cease to exist, and caused the intestine divisions that never ceased to plague the Christian peoples. But since this novel idea of an other-wordly kingdom had never entered into the pagans' minds, they always regarded the Christians as downright rebels who, under a hypocritical submission, were merely seeking the moment to free themselves and become masters, and to cleverly usurp the authority which through humility they pretended to revere.

 

[unknown]

I have this written on my dry erase board at home:

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" -- Emerson...it's kind of my personal motto

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Pretty awesome Rousseau quote, Zeph.

I like these:

"Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent."
-Nietzsche

"In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point."
-also Nietzsche

"Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion."
-Hobbes

 

[Mort Divine]

"In my day, the only people who had moustaches were Puerto Ricans and homos. And we all know you're not a Puerto Rican"

- Ted West of Outrageous Fortune

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

I love how Nietzsche makes the aphorism experiential art for the reader. He harnesses the brilliant self-diagnostic essence of his prose and ups the ante about ten times.

"I am not interested in erecting a building, but in presenting to myself the foundations of all possible buildings."

-Ludwig Wittgenstein

Applies to me because I don't have interest in any particular specialized field other than one that examines the underlying skeleton of all intellectual efforts.

Excuse the potential silliness of that post. I've had a few drinks.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

That Wittgenstein is such a great quote; it's the perfect counter to someone saying something like "so...you're not a jack of all trades...and you aren't good at anything either...what gives?"

"FUCK YOU, I AM A THINKER."

btw, Nietzsche's less-than-prosaic prose is a great part of why he is so revered, in my (and many others') opinions. His style is so cutting, so incredibly razor-sharp, that it really makes you feel fucking dumb if you don't agree.

Also, no reason to apologize, your post was very well thought-out, but, to be fair, I've had a few drinks too.

 

[Pessimism]

I don't think there has ever existed a quote thread without some form of Nietzsche worship.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

i'd hit it, just sayin'

 

[sevag00]

I like this one:
“When asked, 'What did God do before he created the universe?' St. Augustine didn´t reply, 'he was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions.' Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe.” - Stephen Hawking

 

[Zephyrus]

"The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosophers as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful."

-Edward Gibbon

 

[Dak]

The same pretty much holds true today.

 

[skeptik]

"There is nothing better than oblivion, since in oblivion there is no wish unfulfilled." - HP Lovecraft
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." – James Branch Cabell
"Examine the religious principles, which have, in fact, prevailed in the world. You will scarcely be persuaded, that they are anything but sick men's dreams" - David Hume

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

The same pretty much holds true today.

Most quotes hold true today, that's precisely why they're quoted and why they survive.


Matt:
all three are rocking, Lovecraft always had the coolest shit to say.

 

[Pessimism]

^Especially when concerning my pals.

Edit for content:

"There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn." - Camus

"No wind favors he who has no destined port." - Montaigne

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom—go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!" - Samuel Adams

 

[Cythraul]

Jan Narveson on the social minimum:

"It would seem that the "minimum" is not simply the minimum for human life, but more nearly the minimum that their fellows are willing to see the persons in question get on with. Naturally, we tend to see them through the filter of our perception of what we would possibly be able to get by with. Not surprisingly, this turns out to be quite a lot. (I have noted a tendency among my academic colleagues to set the minimum somewhere around the current university level for supporting senior graduate students; equalitarians tend to set the upper limit at about the top of the full professor rank. Precise figures will vary according to the scales current at the institutions of the theorist.)"

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

"Trying to derive a moral universe -- any moral universe at all -- of Should from a purely materialistic universe of Is turns out to be impossible. The perfectly just outrage of a Hitchens at some crime by a theist turns out -- if you grant the New Atheists' materialism -- to be just one more biochemical reaction. And privileging a biochemical reaction merely because it is a lot more complex than, say, combustion is as crude a mystification as bowing down to a rock because it's really really big." - Mark Shea

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

"There's gonna be a douche named Wittgenstein one day, fuck him. What kind of name is that anyway, lol" ~ Epicurus

 

[The Butt]

"Look, I can't speak without swearing, and I've only got my grade ten, and I haven't had a cigarette since I've been arrested, and I'm ready to fuckin' snap. So I'd like to make a request under the People's Freedom of Choices and Voices Act that I be able to smoke and swear in your courtroom. Because if I can't smoke and swear, I'm fucked! And so are all these guys. I won't be able to properly express myself at a court level, and that's bullshit! It's not fair and if you ask me, I think it's a fuckin' mistrial."
—Ricky

 

[Pessimism]

Johnny Quid:
You see that pack of Virginia killing sticks on the end of the piano?

Pete:
Yes.

Johnny Quid:
All you need to know about life is retained in those four walls. You will notice that one of your personalities is seduced by the illusions of grandeur - the gold packet of king size with a regal insignia, an attractive implication towards grandeur and wealth; the subtle suggestion that cigarettes are indeed your royal and loyal friends, and that, Pete, is a lie. Your other personality is trying to draw your attention to the flip side of the discussion, written in boring bold black and white. It's a statement that these neat little soldiers of death and in fact trying to kill you and that, Pete, is the truth. Oh, beauty is a beguiling call to death and i'm addicted to the sweet pitch of its siren. That that starts sweet ends bitter, and that which starts bitter ends sweet.

 

[Srontgorrth]

"There's gonna be a douche named Wittgenstein one day, fuck him. What kind of name is that anyway, lol" ~ Epicurus

 

[The Heartbreak Kid]

Your "best"! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.