#philosophy

First of all, Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. If anything at all, it is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It looks at things objectively (yathābhūtam). It does not falsely lull you into living in a fool's paradise, nor does it frighten and agonize you with all kinds of imaginary fears and sins. It tells you exactly and objectively what you are and what the world around you is, and shows you the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness. ↗

— Walpola Rahula

#buddhism #middle-path #middle-way #objectivism #objectivity

...when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases. ↗

— Robert Anton Wilson

#philosophy #brain

If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders - What would you tell him?" I…don't know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?" To shrug. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#strength

We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil. ↗

— J.R.R. Tolkien

#philosophy #true

Feathers filled the small room. Our laughter kept the feathers in the air. I thought about birds. Could they fly is there wasn't someone, somewhere, laughing? ↗

— Jonathan Safran Foer

#philosophy #laugh

you can measure the size of a person by what makes him or her angry ↗

— Dale Carnegie

#self-improvement #wisdom #self-improvement

Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. ↗

— Ray Bradbury

#information #news #philosophy #change

Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground. ↗

— Marcus Aurelius

#change

Deceit dispels the boredom of the Absolute. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#boredom #deceit #dejan-stojanovic #dispelling #literature

Procreation annihilates eternity. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#dejan-stojanovic #eternity #literature #literature-quotes #philosophy