Free Will Quotes - Page 14

• In one day I had altered my life; my life, therefore, was alterable. This simple axiom did not call out for exegesis; no, it entered my bloodstream directly, as powerful as heroin. I could feel it pump and surge, the way it brightened my veins to a kind of glass. I had wakened that morning to narrowness and predestination and now I was falling asleep in the storm of my own free will.

  Carol Shields

  Morning, Powerful, Fall

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• So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' - then you should abandon them.

  Gautama Buddha

  Wise, Teacher, Buddhist

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• The government will take from the 'haves' and give to the 'have nots.' Both have lost their freedom. Those who 'have', lost their freedom to give voluntarily of their own free will and in the way the desire. Those who 'have not,' lost their freedom because they did not earn what they received. They got 'something for nothing,' and they will neither appreciate the gift nor the giver of the gift.

  Howard W. Hunter

  Government, Giving, Appreciate

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• I stand ready to negotiate, but I want no part of laws: I acknowledge none; I protest against every order with which some authority may feel pleased on the basis of some alleged necessity to over-rule my free will. Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government.

  Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

  Government, Hands, Order

  "The Authority Principle" in Daniel Guerin "No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism" (p. 90), 1980.

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• The church is only the church when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Mean, Men, Offering

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1986). “Bonhoeffer for a New Generation”

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• It would perhaps not be amiss to point out that he had always tried to be a good dog. He had tried to do all the things his MAN and his WOMAN, and most of all his BOY, had asked or expected of him. He would have died for them, if that had been required. He had never wanted to kill anybody. He had been struck by something, possibly destiny, or fate, or only a degenerative nerve disease called rabies. Free will was not a factor.

  Stephen King

  Dog, Fate, Boys

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• The professional, though he accepts money, does his work out of love. He has to love it. Otherwise he wouldn’t devote his life to it of his own free will.

  Steven Pressfield

  Work Out, Doe, Accepting

  Steven Pressfield (2002). “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles”, p.73, Black Irish Entertainment LLC

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• I'm one of those writers who, when writing, believes she's god-and that she hasn't bestowed free will on any of her characters. In that sense there are no surprises in any of my books.

  Lynn Abbey

  Believe, Book, Writing

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• You and I, we must carry on, Gemma. I cannot afford the luxury of love. I must marry well. And now I must look after you. It is my duty." "If you wish to suffer, you do so of your own free will, not on my behalf. Or Father's or Grandmama's or anyone's. You are a fine physician, Thomas. Why is that not enough?" "Because it isn't," he says with a rare candor. "Only this and the hope of nothing more? A quiet respectability with no true greatness or heroism in it, with only my reputation to recommend me. So you see, Gemma, you are not the only one who cannot rule her own life.

  Libba Bray

  Father, Greatness, Luxury

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• God, our genes, our environment, or some stupid programmer keying in code at an ancient terminal - there's no way free will can ever exist if we as individuals are the result of some external cause.

  Orson Scott Card

  Stupid, Way, Causes

  Orson Scott Card (2009). “Xenocide: Volume Three of the Ender Quintet”, p.255, Macmillan

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• I’ve only ever met one woman who actually was a prostitute of her own free will. She didn’t have a pimp. She could pick and choose her customers. That’s so rare. So we have to look at the reality and not romanticize it. We have to be clear that you have the right to sell your own body but nobody has the right to sell anybody else’s body. No one has that right.

  Gloria Steinem

  Reality, Pimp, Body

  Interview with Jennifer Bardi, thehumanist.com. August 14, 2012.

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• Evil exists because of the disobedience of Satan. God gave Satan, and the angels, and man free will. Satan used his free will and abused it by not obeying authority. Hell was created by Satan’s disobedience to God, and his purposeful removal from God’s love—which is what hell is. Removing yourself from God’s love. You send yourself to hell. God does not send you there.

  Stephen Colbert

  Love You, Angel, Men

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• I was angry at God until I came to understand that it isn't God's fault when people mistreat me. I still have my doubts at times, but I try to remember that God has given them the same free will that He's given me.

  Jennifer Hudson

  People, Doubt, Trying

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• Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them.  And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself.  The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special. Because everyone is.

  David McCullough

  Independent, Exercise, Creative

  "Commencement speaker blasts students". www.washingtonpost.com. June 8, 2012.

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• Stop entertaining those vain fears. Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue.

  Pio of Pietrelcina

  Faith, Inspiration, Evil

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• Here we have bishops, priests, and deacons, a Censorship Board, vigilant librarians, confraternities and sodalities, Duce Maria, Legions of Mary, Knights of this Christian order and Knights of that one, all surrounding the sinner's free will in an embattled circle.

  Sean O'Casey

  Christian, Knights, Order

  Sean O'Casey (1975). “The Letters of Sean O'Casey: 1955-58”, Catholic University of Amer Press

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• Freedom of the will is a psychological fiction.

  Louis Berkhof

  Fiction, Psychological

  Louis Berkhof (1996). “Systematic Theology”, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• Paul Davies takes us on a logically and rhetorically compelling modern search for human agency. This outstanding analysis, well informed by naturalistic views of our evolved affective nature, is the kind of philosophical work that is essential for a field to move forward when ever-increasing findings from modern science are inconsistent with traditional philosophical arguments. This book is for all who wish to immerse themselves in the modern search for free will. It is steeped in the rich liqueur of current scientific and philosophical perspectives and delusions.

  Jaak Panksepp

  Moving, Book, Philosophical

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• Wise guidance never violates people's Free Will. A superior who demands obedience of his subordinates should show respect for their capacity to understand, and also for their Innate Right to their own Free Will.

  Paramahansa Yogananda

  Wise, Respect, People

  J. Donald Walters, Swami Kriyananda, Yogananda (Paramahansa) (2004). “Conversations with Yogananda”, p.70, Crystal Clarity Publishers

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• That which you call your soul or spirit is your consciousness, and that which you call 'free will' is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom, the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and your character.

  Ayn Rand

  Character, Thinking, Choices

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.192, Penguin

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• The man who partakes in the breaking of the bread dares to build his house on the very core of love. He becomes, as it were, Godlike, but regardless of the strength he derives from it, his free will remains. We are always free to disown this immense grace, to abuse it. The Greatest Love may be betrayed. Fed on the Living Bread, we nevertheless conceal a part of ourselves which longs for swine's food.

  Francois Mauriac

  Men, House, Grace

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• You're saying the gods don't have free will." "The power to make mistakes," Penny said. "Only we have that. Mortals

  Lev Grossman

  Mistake, Choices, Pennies

  Lev Grossman (2015). “The Magicians Trilogy”, p.533, Penguin

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• ...We're a government that believes in everybody having the illusion of free will.

  Anthony Burgess

  Believe, Government, Illusion

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• I believe in free will.

  Jessa Crispin

  Believe, I Believe, I Believe In

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I'm not there to impose my religious beliefs on anybody, or say 'this is the only way you should think'. It's up to you to decide, and God is a God of free will.

  Robert Hood

  Religious, Thinking, Up To You

  "An Ecumenical Chatter: When Rev Robert Hood Met Fr Alan Green". Interview with Luke Turner, thequietus.com. June 6, 2016.

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