Existence Quotes - Page 26

• Self-realization and self-fulfilment are the sine qua non for human existence.

  Arthur Miller

  Self, Realization, Humans

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• But myth is something else than an explanation of the world, of history, and of destiny. Myth expresses in terms of the world - that is, of the other world or the second world - the understanding that man has of himself in relation to the foundation and the limit of his existence. Hence to demythologize is to interpret myth, that is, to relate the objective representations of the myth to the self-understanding which is both shown and concealed in it.

  Paul Ricoeur

  Destiny, Men, Self

  Paul Ricoeur (1974). “The Conflict of Interpretations”, p.391, Northwestern University Press

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• Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.

  Abraham Joshua Heschel

  Cheating, Israel, People

  Abraham Joshua Heschel (1969). “The Prophets”

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• How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of good will.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Wise, Spiritual

  Albert Einstein (2010). “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, p.4, Princeton University Press

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• The real opposition is that between the ego-bound man, whose existence is structured by the principle of having, and the free man, who has overcome his egocentricity.

  Erich Fromm

  Real, Men, Ego

  Erich Fromm (1997). “On Being Human”, p.127, A&C Black

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• In the depths of every heart there is a tomb and a dungeon, though the lights, the music, and the revelry above may cause us to forget their existence.

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

  Heart, Light, May

  1851 Twice- Told Tales,'The Haunted Mind'.

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• One moment several things are possible, the next moment only one happens, and the rest don't exist. Except that other worlds have sprung into being, on which the did happen.

  Philip Pullman

  Other Worlds, Next, Moments

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• I want to be someone capable of seeing the unseen faces, of seeing those who do not seek fame or glory, who silently fulfil the role life has given them. I want to be able to do this because the most important things, those that shape our existence, are precisely the ones that never show their faces.

  Paulo Coelho

  Important, Unseen, Roles

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• It’s important that someone celebrate our existence," she objected amiably. "People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large. Solitary confinement is a punishment in every human culture.

  Lois McMaster Bujold

  Motivational, Mirrors, Punishment

  Lois McMaster Bujold (1994). “Mirror Dance”, p.129, Baen Books

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• Across town, over in the East Village, the graffiti was calling for the rich to be eaten, imprisoned, or taxed out of existence. Though it sometimes seemed like a nice idea, I hoped the revolution would not take place during my lifetime. I didn't want the rich to go away until I could at least briefly join their ranks.

  David Sedaris

  Nice, Ideas, Going Away

  David Sedaris (2000). “Me talk pretty one day”

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• Loss is essential, loss is part and parcel of that necessary calamity called life. Mind you, I'm not complaining. Thanks to some inexplicable universal guiding force, it is always the worthless things we lose - slough off, like a moulting snake. Losing and losing again, is the very basis of the process, til all we are left with is the bare essence of human existence.

  Rohinton Mistry

  Loss, Essence, Snakes

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• As for me, I believe that if there's a God - and I am as neutral on the subject as is possible - then the most basic proof of His existence is black humor. What else explains it, that odd, reliable comfort that billows up at the worst moments, like a beautiful sunset woven out of the smoke over a bombed city.

  Elizabeth McCracken

  Beautiful, Believe, Sunset

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• The pitch to which he was aroused was tremendous. All the fighting blood of his breed was up in him and surging through him. This was living., though he did not know it. He was realizing his own meaning in the world; he was doing that for which he was made.... He was justifying his existence, than which life can do no greater; for life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.

  Jack London

  Fighting, Blood, Doe

  Jack London (1981). “The unabridged Jack London”, Running Pr Book Pub

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• At the most we gaze at it in wonder, a kind of wonder which in itself is a form of dawning horror, for somehow we know by instinct that outsize buildings cast the shadow of their own destruction before them, and are designed from the first with an eye to their later existence as ruins.

  W. G. Sebald

  Eye, Shadow, Ruins

  W. G. Sebald (2013). “Austerlitz”, p.30, Penguin UK

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• You're so kind, Kazuhiko. That's what I like about you." I like you, too. I love you so much." If he weren't so inarticulate, Kazuhiko could have said so much more. How much her expression, her gentle manner, her pure untainted soul meant to him. How important, in short, her existence was to him. But he wasn't able to put into words. He was only a third-year student in junior high, and worst yet, composition was one of his worst subjects.

  Koushun Takami

  I Like You, Love You, Expression

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• You carry away with you a reflection of me, a part of me. I dreamed you; I wished for your existence. You will always be a part of my life. If I love you, it must be because we shared, at some moment, the same imaginings, the same madness, the same stage.

  Anais Nin

  Love You, Reflection, Madness

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• There's no sense drawing attention to yourself, Li." "Hellooooo. I'm aHorseman of the Apocalypse, and I'm betrothed to the most infamous, most powerful demon in existence. I couldn't draw more attention to myself i I wore Lady Gaga's meat dress to a PETA convention.

  Larissa Ione

  Powerful, Drawing, Meat

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• One doesn’t become a witch to run around being helpful either…. It’s to escape all that – to have a life of one’s own, not an existence doled out to you by others, charitable refuse of their thoughts, so many ounces of stale bread of life a day.

  Sylvia Townsend Warner

  Running, Bread Of Life, Helpful

  Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926). “Lolly Willowes; or, the loving huntsman”

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• The fact of God is necessary for the fact of man. Think God away and man has no ground of existence.

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Thinking, Men, Facts

  Aiden Wilson Tozer (1965). “The Knowledge of the Holy”, p.32, Fig

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• The ashes of your existence will fertilize the soil for the universe to follow.

  Richard Kadrey

  Soil, Ashes, Universe

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• The only way to show a true respect for God is to act morally while ignoring God’s existence.

  Karen Armstrong

  Way, Shows

  "A History of God". Book by Karen Armstrong, 1993.

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• She was still under the spell of her infatuation. She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering. But the thought of him was like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon her. It was not that she dwelt upon details of their acquaintance, or recalled in any special or peculiar way his personality; it was his being, his existence, which dominated her thought, fading sometimes as if it would melt into the mist of the forgotten, reviving again with an intensity which filled her with an incomprehensible longing.

  Kate Chopin

  Personality, Special, Details

  Kate Chopin (2006). “Awakening EasyRead Edition”, p.98, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• It is not true that the legislator has absolute power over our persons and property. The existence of persons and property preceded the existence of the legislator, and his function is only to guarantee their safety.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Safety, Guarantees, Function

  Frederic Bastiat (2006). “The Law”, p.64, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.

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• And I too wanted to be. That is all I wanted; and this is the last word. At the bottom of all these attempts which seemed without bounds, I find the same desire again: to drive existence out of me, to rid the passing moments of their fat, to twist them, dry them, purify myself, harden myself, to give back at last the sharp, precise sound of a saxophone note. That could even make an apologue: there was a poor man who got in the wrong world.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  Men, Giving, Desire

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• Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold. Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful. In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love

  Abdu'l-Bahá

  Heart, Light, Flames

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