#phil

If only it were possible to love without injury – fidelity isn’t enough: I had been faithful to Anne and yet I had injured her. The hurt is in the act of possession: we are too small in mind and body to possess another person without pride or to be possessed without humiliation. In a way I was glad that my wife had struck out at me again – I had forgotten her pain for too long, and this was the only kind of recompense I could give her. Unfortunately the innocent are always involved in any conflict. Always, everywhere, there is some voice crying from a tower. ↗

— Graham Greene

#life #love #philosophy #faith

Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all. ↗

— Adam Smith

#democracy #freedom #history #hope #individualism

Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously ↗

— Confucius

#harmony

...an optimistic mind-set finds dozens of possible solutions for every problem that the pessimist regards as incurable. ↗

— Robert Anton Wilson

#philosophy #problems

There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book. ↗

— Philip Pullman

#philip-pullman #young-adult #children

I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think ↗

— Socrates

#philosophy #teaching

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy. ↗

— Thích Nhất Hạnh

#teaching

I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of the peace. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#teaching

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. ↗

— Albert Einstein

#philosophy #wonder #wonder

You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it. ↗

— Malcolm X

#politics #wrong