#philosophy

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#philosophy #art

As soon as a Western man comes into contact with the East -- he's already confused. The West has sort of an international rape mentality towards the East. ...Basically, 'Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes.' The West thinks of itself as masculine -- big guns, big industry, big money -- so the East is feminine -- weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom -- the feminine mystique. Her mouth says no, but her eyes say yes. The West believes the East, deep down, wants to be dominated -- because a woman can't think for herself. ...You expect Oriental countries to submit to your guns, and you expect Oriental women to be submissive to your men. ↗

— David Henry Hwang

#political-philosophy #art

One never knows how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her — is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is the very least question of definitions. ↗

— Gregory Maguire

#philosophy #wicked #witch #life

Always blow your own trumpet, blowing someone else’s is unhygienic ↗

— Benny Bellamacina

#life #life-lessons #philosophy #wisdom #life

It was both odd and unjust, a real example of pitiful arbitrariness of existance, that you were born into a particular time & held prisoner there whether you wanted it or not. It gave you an indecent advantage over the past and made you a clown vis-a-vis the future. ↗

— Daniel Kehlmann

#life

Love, I think, is a gateway to the world, not an escape from it. ↗

— Mark Doty

#life #living #love #philosophy #life

I believe that just because something didn’t go the way you planned it once, it’s no reason not to try again. ↗

— Chantelle Shaw

#philosophy #life

I think that the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people. ↗

— Stephen Chbosky

#life

I just know that I don't want cheating. I refuse. I deepened myself but I don't believe in myself because my thought is invented. ↗

— Clarice Lispector

#life #philosophy-of-life #thought #thoughts-on-life #life

Wisdom—seems to the rabble a kind of escape, a means and a trick for getting well out of a wicked game. But the genuine philosopher—as it seems to us, my friends?—lives "unphilosophically" and "unwisely," above all imprudently, and feels the burden and the duty of a hundred attempts and temptations of life—he risks himself constantly, he plays the wicked game. ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#wisdom #life