Great quotes: Psychology, Philosophy and Metaphysics

I thought I'd start a thread to collect quotes that would fit in this forum. I'll start.

This one has always intreagued me:

"Confucius and you are both dreams, and I who say you are dreams am a dream myself. This is a paradox. Tomorrow a wise man may explain it; that tomorrow will not be for ten thousand generations."
—Chuang Tse: II

All beings must strive for enlightenment,

For If we do not we hurt other beings,

& Therefore Both now and in the future Ourselves.

Elf 08

"He never spoke with any bitterness at all, no matter how awful the things he said. Are there really people without resentment, without hate, she wondered. People who never go cross-grained to the universe? Who recognize evil, and resist evil, and yet are utterly unaffected by it?
Of course there are. Countless, the living and the dead. Those who have returned in pure compassion to the wheel, those who follow the way that cannot be followed without knowing they follow it, the sharecropper's wife in Alabama and the lama in Tibet and the entomologist in Peru and the millworker in Odessa and the greengrocer in London and the goatherd in Nigeria and the old, old man sharpening a stick by a dry streambed somewhere in Australia, and all the others. There is not one of us who has not known them. There are enough of them, enough to keep us going. Perhaps."
-Ursula LeGuin, The Lathe of Heaven

reply to post by silent thunder


Huh, I just watched the movie Lathe of Heaven, which gives me pause as I reply with this quote by Carl Jung:

"Saying that something is a denizen of the psychic realm in no way precludes its also having an efficacious force in the physical realm through the phenomenon called synchronicity."

Originally posted by ViolatoR
reply to post by silent thunder

 

Huh, I just watched the movie Lathe of Heaven, which gives me pause as I reply with this quote by Carl Jung:

"Saying that something is a denizen of the psychic realm in no way precludes its also having an efficacious force in the physical realm through the phenomenon called synchronicity."

Very strange coincidence and good relevant quote. Have you read the book? Its short and probably worth your time if you liked the movie.

reply to post by silent thunder


I haven't, yet, but I might have to now - the movie was so good! I especially loved it when the alien said to George: "If help wanted, inquire within." He took a "help wanted" sign and turned it into a distilled version of every guru's teachings!

I also loved it when Dr. Haber said "You dreamed of an alien invasion to united the earth? What a stupid idea!" It reminds me of this quote: "I couldn't help but say to Mr. Gorbachev just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet. We'd find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together." - Ronald Reagan

"Every person,all the events of your life
are there because you have drawn them there.
What you choose
to do with them is up to you" Richard Bach



"You are never given a wish
without also being given the power to make it true.
You may have to work for it, however." Richard Bach



"Argue for your limitations,
and sure enough,
they're yours." Richard Bach

from the book illusions by Richard Bach

"Embrace this moment, remember: we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion."
-TOOL : Parabol/Parabola



[edit on 10/16/09 by Devastating Truth]

Originally posted by Devastating Truth
"Embrace this moment, remember: we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion."
-TOOL : Parabol/Parabola

I really, REALLY like that album, although I generally don't like that genre of music...for some reason it got a hold on me and wouldn't let go some years ago.

"I think, therefore I am." -Descartes

"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
- Bertrand Russell

Originally posted by afterschoolfun

"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
- Bertrand Russell

Ooh, that's a clever one, even if I don't completely agree.

Russell was quite a wit. There is an anecdote about him being a professor and being caught having an affair with a student. The dean called him into his office and chewed him out, saying something like "...And the sickest thing of all about this whole mess is that you are a Professor of Ethical Philosophy!" Russel replied: "Well, when I was a Professor of Mathematics, nobody ever accused me of not being a 90-degree triangle."

[edit on 10/16/09 by silent thunder]

Originally posted by silent thunder
I really, REALLY like that album, although I generally don't like that genre of music...for some reason it got a hold on me and wouldn't let go some years ago.

That describes my relationship to TOOL quite well. The whole album is a masterpiece. Lateralus continues to be my favorite piece of music ever written, seconded by Reflection of Disposition/Reflection/Triad. I have never had music move me too tears before TOOL. The shear beauty and harmony is enough to choke up anyone! Seems like I say this a lot but I implore all ATS members who are not familiar with TOOL to do themselves a favor and check it out. It helped me to find my path.

Some more quotes!

"So crucify the ego before it's far too late to leave behind this place, so negative and blind and cynical. And you will come to find that we are all one mind, capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable."
-TOOL : Reflection

"Be here now"
-Ram Dass

ૐ

"He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn't know about the union
of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
It can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.

The Master's power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old."

Lao Tzu

"Sitting bewildered and flabbergasted on the little bench, I looked down at my body. But this time I looked without the cultural background that identified me as "male, "Indian", "Brahmin", "seeker", "world traveler", "public speaker", "civilized gentleman", "virtuous person", etc. seeing instead a warm-blooded mammal, a calm, harmless, fully-clothed `monkey'."
- K. Uppaluri Gopala

Even The Wise Man Makes Mistakes,

Even The Fool Is Sometimes Right

Guang Wu - Zhou Dynasty

..................................

So you want to rule the world?

That is like climbing a tree to look for a Fish,

It is impossible.

When Mencuis talked King Xuan out of more war - Warring states peiod

Elf

Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you there are terrible temptations which require strength and courage to
yield to.

~~~ Oscar Wilde

Some great quotes here, nice work

You may be interested in this:

11 Most Important Philosophical Quotations

My favourite from that list is-
“One cannot step twice in the same river.” – Heraclitus (ca. 540 – ca. 480 BCE)

“God is dead.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) is another very controversial one.

Peace.

""There must exist, beyond mere appearances … a 'veiled reality' that science does not describe but only glimpses uncertainly. In turn, contrary to those who claim that matter is the only reality, the possibility that other means, including spirituality, may also provide a window on ultimate reality cannot be ruled out, even by cogent scientific arguments." -Dr. Bernard d'Espagnat

When one makes the mind stick to one thought, the mind becomes rock-steady and the energy is conserved

- Ramana Maharshi

"Insanity in individuals is oftentimes rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule."

-Frederick Nietzsche