Raymond Smullyan Quotes

• Some people are always critical of vague statements. I tend rather to be critical of precise statements; they are the only ones which can correctly be labeled wrong.

  Raymond Smullyan

  People, Criticism, Critics

  Raymond M. Smullyan (2013). “The Tao Is Silent”, p.25, Harper Collins

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• Why should I be worried about dying? It's not going to happen in my lifetime!

  Raymond Smullyan

  Dying, Lifetime, Worried

  Raymond Smullyan (1986). “This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes”, p.58, Simon and Schuster

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• I have free will, but not of my own choice. I have never freely chosen to have free will. I have to have free will, whether I like it or not!

  Raymond Smullyan

  Choices, Free Will, Chosen

  Raymond M. Smullyan, Jason Rosenhouse (2014). “Four Lives: A Celebration of Raymond Smullyan”, p.305, Courier Corporation

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• Recently, someone asked me if I believed in astrology. He seemed somewhat puzzled when I explained that the reason I don't is that I'm a Gemini.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Astrology, Reason, Puzzled

  Raymond Smullyan (1983). “Five Thousand B.C. and Other Philosophical Fantasies”, p.31, Macmillan

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• All my life I have been intensely repelled by the idea of 'making an effort'. I hate this idea today as much as I did as a child. I don't know why I hate it so much; I just do.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Children, Hate, Ideas

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• Humor could not flourish in a wholly serious and rational atmosphere.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Atmosphere, Serious, Rational

  Raymond M. Smullyan, Jason Rosenhouse (2014). “Four Lives: A Celebration of Raymond Smullyan”, p.273, Courier Corporation

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• There is nothing like a naturalistic orientation to dispel all these morbid thoughts of "sin" and "free will" and "moral responsibility.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Responsibility, Moral, Sin

  Jason Rosenhouse, Raymond M. Smullyan (2014). “Four Lives: A Celebration of Raymond Smullyan”, p.325, Courier Corporation

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• I believe that either Jupiter has life or it doesn't. But I neither believe that it does, nor do I believe that it doesn't.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Believe, Jupiter, Doe

  Raymond Smullyan (1983). “Five Thousand B.C. and Other Philosophical Fantasies”, p.88, Macmillan

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• It has always puzzled me that so many people have taken it for granted that God favors those who believe in him. Isn't it possible that the actual God is a scientific God who has little patience with beliefs founded on faith rather than evidence?

  Raymond Smullyan

  Believe, Taken, People

  Raymond Smullyan (1983). “Five Thousand B.C. and Other Philosophical Fantasies”, p.33, Macmillan

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• Metaphysical problems about "mind" versus "matter" arise only from epistemological confusions.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Confusion, Mind, Matter

  Raymond Smullyan (1983). “Five Thousand B.C. and Other Philosophical Fantasies”, p.84, Macmillan

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• Why do I act as I do? To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea why. It is simply my nature to act as I act, and that's all I can say.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Math, Ideas, No Idea

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• Why should I be worried about death?

  Raymond Smullyan

  Worried, Should, Should I

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• Because I have been a magician for many years, people have often asked me whether I ever have sawn a woman in half. I reply, Oh, yes I've sawn over seventy women in half in my lifetime, and I'm learning the second half of the trick now.

  Raymond Smullyan

  Years, People, Half

  Raymond Smullyan (1983). “Five Thousand B.C. and Other Philosophical Fantasies”, p.31, Macmillan

  7 Copy quote

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