#existence

Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#existence #infinite #means #point #random

Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others. ↗

— Elizabeth Janeway

#beings #demands #efforts #existence #fragmented

The novel doesn't come into existence until certain methods of reproducing fiction come along. ↗

— Leslie Fiedler

#certain #come #existence #fiction #into

God ceases to be God only for those who can admit the possibility of His non-existence, and that conception is in itself the most severe punishment they can suffer. ↗

— Giacomo Casanova

#ceases #conception #god #his #itself

The mind of a human being is formed only of comparisons made in order to examine analogies, and therefore cannot precede the existence of memory. ↗

— Giacomo Casanova

#cannot #comparisons #examine #existence #formed

There is no fixed physical reality, no single perception of the world, just numerous ways of interpreting world views as dictated by one's nervous system and the specific environment of our planetary existence. ↗

— Deepak Chopra

#environment #existence #fixed #interpreting #just

Well, acting itself is a form of rebellion, always. Getting up there in front of people, telling stories - you're kind of going against the grain to begin with, wanting to do that, don't you think? Why else would you do it? Except maybe as kind of a way to affirm your very existence. ↗

— John Cusack

#affirm #against #always #begin #else

There is something very intriguing about, for example, the sense of accomplishment that a small child has, which you might be able to reduce to aggression and libido, but which might also have some independent existence. ↗

— Peter Gay

#about #accomplishment #aggression #also #child

It is a lonely existence to be a child with a disability which no-one can see or understand, you exasperate your teachers, you disappoint your parents, and worst of all you know that you are not just stupid. ↗

— Susan Hampshire

#disability #disappoint #existence #just #know

Imagine a land where people are afraid of dragons. It is a reasonable fear: dragons possess a number of qualities that make being afraid of them a very commendable response. Things like their terrible size, their ability to spout fire, or to crack boulders into splinters with their massive talons. In fact, the only terrifying quality that dragons do not possess is that of existence. Now, the people of this land know about dragons because their leaders have warned them about them. They tell stories about cruel dragons with razor teeth and fiery breath. They recount legends of dragons hunting by night on silent wings. In short, the leaders make sure that the people believe in all the qualities of dragons, including that key quality of existence. And then they control the people — when they need to — with their fear of dragons. The people pay a dragon-slaying tax … everyone stays indoors after dark to avoid being snatched by swooping claws … and nobody ever strays out of bounds for fear of being eaten well and truly up. Perhaps somebody will wonder if dragons aren’t, after all, fictitious because — despite their size — nobody seems to have actually seen one. And so it is necessary from time to time to provide evidence: a burnt tree or two, a splintered rock, the mysterious absence of a villager. The population is controlled by the dragons in its collective mind. It’s contrived superstition, and it is possible because the people do not know enough about the way the world works to know that dragons do not exist. ↗

— David Whiteland

#dragons #existence #faith #ignorance #superstition