#al

I do not consider myself a religious person, because I don't adhere to a particular religion or faith or prescribed beliefs, as did my father, who was a Baptist minister. And I am not an atheist, one who thinks that belief in anything beyond the here and now and the rational is delusion. I love science, but I allow for mystery, things that can never be proven by a rational mind. I am a person who thinks about the nature of the spirit when I write. I think about what can't be known and only imagined. I often sense a spirit or force or meaning beyond myself. I leave it open as to what the spirit is, but I continue to make guesses -- that it could be the universal binding of the emotion of love, or a joyful quality of humanity, or a collective unconscious that turns out to be a unified conscience. The spirit could be all those worshiped by all the religions, even those that deny the validity of others. It could be that we all exist in all ten dimensions of a string-theory universe and are seeding memories in all of them and occupy them simultaneously as memory. Or we exist only as thought and out perception that it is a physical world is a delusion. The nature of spirit could also be my mother and my grandmother and that they really do serve as my muses as I fondly imagine them doing at times. Or maybe the nature of the spirit is a freer imagination. I've often thought that imagination was the conduit to compassion, and compassion is a true spiritual nature. Whatever the spirit might be, I am not basing what I do in this life on any expected reward or punishment in the hereafter or thereafter. It is enough that I feel blessed -- and by whom or what I don't know -- but I receive it with gratitude that I am a writer and my work is to imagine all the possibilities. ↗

— Amy Tan

#science #spirituality #faith

The art of doing mathematics consists in finding that special case which contains all the germs of generality. ↗

— David Hilbert

#case #consists #contains #doing #finding

The further a mathematical theory is developed, the more harmoniously and uniformly does its construction proceed, and unsuspected relations are disclosed between hitherto separated branches of the science. ↗

— David Hilbert

#branches #construction #developed #disclosed #does

It is through accepting other people in our own countries that we shall come to respect our neighbours and be respected in our turn. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#come #countries #neighbours #other #our

I think it is really important to have a sense of business. As a designer you can get so wrapped up in the design and fashion side that you forget the business side. ↗

— Tommy Hilfiger

#design #designer #fashion #forget #get

Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. ↗

— Albert Einstein

#chief #concern #diagrams #endeavors #equations

The preppy lifestyle has gone global. We feel that our business has grown so well because preppy travels so well. It's all-American classic. ↗

— Tommy Hilfiger

#because #business #classic #feel #global

In July of 1983, I left Washington, DC area and have had minimal contact with Judge Clarence Thomas since. ↗

— Anita Hill

#clarence #contact #dc #had #i

You should never feel comfortable. There is something wrong if you are. You should always feel under threat, on the edge of your seat and pushing yourself. Win one and you want to win more. It's never-ending. ↗

— Damon Hill

#comfortable #edge #feel #more #never

I am not allowing myself to get carried away. ↗

— Damon Hill

#am #away #carried #get #i