Alan Lightman Quotes - Page 4

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• As a scientist, I don't believe science will ever discover whether God exists. Nor do I believe religion will ever prove it.

  Alan Lightman

  Believe, Scientist, Whether God Exists

  "Reviewing Mr g: Physicist-turned-novelist Alan Lightman meets God at the intersection of science and religion". Interview with Greg Quill, www.thestar.com. February 12, 2012.

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• With infinite life comes an infinite list of relatives. Grandparents never die, nor do great grandparents, great-aunts…and so on, back through the generations, all alive and offering advice. Sons never escape from the shadows of their fathers. Nor do daughters of their mothers. No one ever comes into his own…Such is the cost of immortality. No person is whole. No person is free.

  Alan Lightman

  Daughter, Mother, Courage

  "Einstein's Dreams". Book by Alan Lightman, 1992.

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• In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time. The first is as rigid and metallic as a massive pendulum of iron that swings back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay. The first is unyielding, predetermined. The second makes up its mind as it goes along.

  Alan Lightman

  Time, Swings, Two

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.19, Vintage

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• Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition. A man who has owned nothing but a bicycle all of his life feels suddenly wealthy the moment he buys an automobile...But this happy sensation wears off. After a while the car becomes just another thing that he owns. Moreover, when his neighbor next door buys two cars, in an instant our man feels wretchedly poor and deprived.

  Alan Lightman

  Men, Two, Doors

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• Who would fare better in this world of fitful time? Those who have seen the future and live only one life? Or those who have not seen the future and wait to live life? Or those who deny the future and live two lives?

  Alan Lightman

  Life, Future, Two

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• But what is the past? Could it be, the firmness of the past is just illusion? Could the past be a kaleidoscope, a pattern of images that shift with each disturbance of a sudden breeze, a laugh, a thought? And if the shift is everywhere, how would we know?

  Alan Lightman

  Past, Laughing, Patterns

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.102, Vintage

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• In a world in which time is a circle, every handshake, every kiss, every birth, every word, will be repeated precisely.

  Alan Lightman

  Time, Kissing, Circles

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.11, Vintage

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• A world in which time is absolute is a world of consolation. For while the movements of people are unpredictable, the movement of time is predictable. While people can be doubted, time cannot be doubted. While people brood, time skips ahead without looking back.

  Alan Lightman

  Time, People, Movement

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.27, Vintage

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• Time is a rigid, bonelike structure, extending infinitely ahead and behind, fossilizing the future as well as the past.

  Alan Lightman

  Time, Past, Structure

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• Some make light of decisions, arguing that all possible decisions will occur. In such a world, how could one be responsible for his actions? Others hold that each decision must be considered and committed to, that without commitment there is chaos. Such people are content to live in contradictory worlds, so long as they know the reason for each.

  Alan Lightman

  Commitment, Light, Long

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• I have always loved magic realism as a form of writing. I have also been fascinated for a long time with the intersection of science and religion.

  Alan Lightman

  Writing, Magic Realism, Long

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• I still will sit down at the piano and play when I am wrestling with something emotionally or just want to move into the musical world.

  Alan Lightman

  Moving, Wrestling, Play

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• Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.

  Alan Lightman

  Stuck, Persons

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.42, Vintage

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• With a background in science I am extremely interested in the meeting ground of science, theology, and philosophy, especially the ethical questions at the border of science and theology.

  Alan Lightman

  Philosophy, Ethical Questions, Borders

  ""Mr g," by Alan Lightman". Interview with Jeff Glor, www.cbsnews.com. January 24, 2012.

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• Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in law or physics or any other discipline. A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of the imagination, and because science has raised so many issues that concern and affect humans, it's a good starting place for me.

  Alan Lightman

  Emotional, Law, Issues

  "Reviewing Mr g: Physicist-turned-novelist Alan Lightman meets God at the intersection of science and religion". Interview with Greg Quill, www.thestar.com. February 12, 2012.

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• If I were not a writer, I would spend more time doing the things that I am already doing, which include doing research in physics, teaching, and running a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower women in Cambodia.

  Alan Lightman

  Running, Teaching, Organization

  ""Mr g," by Alan Lightman". Interview with Jeff Glor, www.cbsnews.com. January 24, 2012.

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• What sense is there in continuing when one has seen the future?

  Alan Lightman

  Continuing

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• A world with one month is a world of equality.

  Alan Lightman

  World, Months

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.38, Vintage

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• I've taken a philosophical position on e-mail. Although I think it's a wonderful communication technology, and it has a lot of good uses, it is abused quite a lot.

  Alan Lightman

  Communication, Philosophical, Taken

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• I have too many friends who tell me that they spend the first hour of every morning going through their e-mail messages. I'd like to use my time more carefully.

  Alan Lightman

  Morning, Use, Mail

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• As both a scientist and a humanist myself, I have struggled to understand different claims to knowledge, and I have eventually come to a formulation of the kind of religious belief that would, in my view, be compatible with science.

  Alan Lightman

  Religious, Views, Different

  Alan Lightman (2014). “The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew”, p.30, Vintage

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• The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present.

  Alan Lightman

  Loneliness, Being Alone, Past

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.42, Vintage

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• People are content to live in contradictory worlds, so long as they know the reason for each.

  Alan Lightman

  Long, People, World

  Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.18, Vintage

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• Scientists will forever have to live with the fact that their product is, in the end, impersonal.

  Alan Lightman

  Forever, Facts, Scientist

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• We often do not see what we do not expect to see.

  Alan Lightman

  Alan Lightman (2000). “Great Ideas in Physics”, p.4, McGraw Hill Professional

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