Favourite philosophical/political quotes

More Than Mortal · April 24, 2015, 02:54:26 PM

"If I have seen further [than those before me], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton.

"What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, power itself in man. What is bad? All that proceeds from weakness." - Friedrich Nietzsche.

"Active, successful natures shun the dictum 'know thyself' and follow the commandment: 'Will thyself.'" - Friedrich Nietzsche

"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." - Isaac Asimov.

"Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others." - Christopher Hitchens.

"Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence." - Christopher Hitchens.

""If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say." - H.L. Mencken.

"Trust is good. Control is better." - Lenin.

"I have written on all sorts of subjects and yet I have no enemies, except indeed all the Whigs, all the Tories and all the Christians." - David Hume.

"Mohammed praises [instances of] tretchery, inhumanity, cruelty, revenge, and bigotry that are utterly incompatible with civilized society." - David Hume.

"An empty throne always tempts me." - Napoleon.

"If I fail it is only because I have too much pride and ambition." - Caesar.

Word Wizard · April 24, 2015, 02:58:20 PM

"Two in the pink, one in the stink" - Mother Teresa

Hahahaha very funny Zonda · April 24, 2015, 03:04:09 PM

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Azumarill · April 24, 2015, 03:07:08 PM

"I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude."- Thoreau

Verbatim · April 24, 2015, 03:09:02 PM

"A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung out into the cosmic brutality without hesitation."

- Zapffe

challengerX · April 24, 2015, 03:09:39 PM

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Azumarill · April 24, 2015, 03:10:47 PM

“If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.” - Socrates

edit: this might not be a quote from socrates. goodreads is trying to confuse me

Verbatim · April 24, 2015, 03:12:46 PM

"Whoever wants summarily to test the assertion that the pleasure in the world outweighs the pain, or at any rate that the two balance each other, should compare the feelings of an animal that is devouring another with those of that other."

- Brilliant-ass motherfucker (AKA Schopenhauer)

More Than Mortal · April 24, 2015, 03:21:33 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on April 24, 2015, 03:12:46 PM

(AKA Schopenhauer)

I'll stick with Nietzsche.

gats · April 24, 2015, 03:44:22 PM

Science is the most durable and nondivisive way of thinking about the human circumstance. It transcends cultural, national, and political boundaries. You don't have American science versus Canadian science versus Japanese science. - Sam Harris

“I could never understand ethnic or national pride. Because to me pride should be reserved for something you achieve or attain on your own, not something that happens by accident of birth. Being Irish isn’t a skill, it’s a fuckin’ genetic accident. You wouldn’t say ‘I’m proud to be 5’11”. I’m proud to have a predisposition for colon cancer.’ So why the fuck would you be proud to be Irish, or proud to be Italian, or American or anything?”
-George Carlin

Mr. Psychologist · April 24, 2015, 04:34:42 PM

I'm not really big on philosophy but one of the ones that has always stood out to me was this

''He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.'' ~ Meta's Waifu

It's the last part that stands out to me, whether or not it's what was meant by the original quote doesn't really matter, it's that a psych who spends all day every day looking into the minds of the damaged and the broken, seeing the torments and suffering that people go through whilst trying to help them can take an unfortunate toll <.<

Not Comms Officer · April 24, 2015, 05:17:11 PM

Quote from: Mr Psychologist on April 24, 2015, 04:34:42 PM

I'm not really big on philosophy but one of the ones that has always stood out to me was this

''He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.'' ~ Meta's Waifu

It's the last part that stands out to me, whether or not it's what was meant by the original quote doesn't really matter, it's that a psych who spends all day every day looking into the minds of the damaged and the broken, seeing the torments and suffering that people go through whilst trying to help them can take an unfortunate toll <.<

You always "attribute" quotes to things like that. Lol.

Mr. Psychologist · April 24, 2015, 05:18:47 PM

Quote from: Not Comms Officer on April 24, 2015, 05:17:11 PM

Quote from: Mr Psychologist on April 24, 2015, 04:34:42 PM
I'm not really big on philosophy but one of the ones that has always stood out to me was this

''He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.'' ~ Meta's Waifu

It's the last part that stands out to me, whether or not it's what was meant by the original quote doesn't really matter, it's that a psych who spends all day every day looking into the minds of the damaged and the broken, seeing the torments and suffering that people go through whilst trying to help them can take an unfortunate toll <.<
You always "attribute" quotes to things like that. Lol.

To psychology stuff or to meta's waifu?

Not Comms Officer · April 24, 2015, 05:23:22 PM

Quote from: Mr Psychologist on April 24, 2015, 05:18:47 PM

Quote from: Not Comms Officer on April 24, 2015, 05:17:11 PM
Quote from: Mr Psychologist on April 24, 2015, 04:34:42 PM
I'm not really big on philosophy but one of the ones that has always stood out to me was this

''He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.'' ~ Meta's Waifu

It's the last part that stands out to me, whether or not it's what was meant by the original quote doesn't really matter, it's that a psych who spends all day every day looking into the minds of the damaged and the broken, seeing the torments and suffering that people go through whilst trying to help them can take an unfortunate toll <.<
You always "attribute" quotes to things like that. Lol.
To psychology stuff or to meta's waifu?

Both. You attribute quotes to random things.

Mr. Psychologist · April 24, 2015, 05:30:01 PM

Quote from: Not Comms Officer on April 24, 2015, 05:23:22 PM

Quote from: Mr Psychologist on April 24, 2015, 05:18:47 PM
Quote from: Not Comms Officer on April 24, 2015, 05:17:11 PM
Quote from: Mr Psychologist on April 24, 2015, 04:34:42 PM
I'm not really big on philosophy but one of the ones that has always stood out to me was this

''He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.'' ~ Meta's Waifu

It's the last part that stands out to me, whether or not it's what was meant by the original quote doesn't really matter, it's that a psych who spends all day every day looking into the minds of the damaged and the broken, seeing the torments and suffering that people go through whilst trying to help them can take an unfortunate toll <.<
You always "attribute" quotes to things like that. Lol.
To psychology stuff or to meta's waifu?
Both. You attribute quotes to random things.

Oh right, well that's because I'm poking fun at meta here.

Nascent Email · April 24, 2015, 06:02:17 PM

"That which I cannot crush with words alone, I will crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard!"
- Lord Solar Macharius

Turkey · April 24, 2015, 06:35:37 PM

I'm sure back when I studied philosophy rigorously I'd have quite a few quotes gathered up, but I've moved to the position that truth rarely comes from pithiness.

Very recently though I was reading some discourse that focused partially on an aspect of Hume's Fork, specifically the following:

"If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."

And I really like this. Not because I appreciate it for its reliance on scientific reasoning to separate the chaff from the wheat, so to say, when interpreting philosophy, but because it demonstrates how hilariously self-refuting sweeping, grand statements can be.

DAS B00T x2 · April 24, 2015, 07:12:27 PM

Solar system is so humongous big, right? But if you see like our solar system and our galaxy on the side, you know, like, we’re so small you can never see it. Our galaxy is like huge, but if you see the big picture our galaxy (is) like a small tiny-like dot in the universe. I think like, ‘And we have some problems here on the earth we worry about? Compared to like…nothing. Just be happy. Don’t worry be happy right now -Ilya Bryzgalov

The Lord Slide Rule · April 24, 2015, 11:32:22 PM

It is terrible to see how a single unclear idea, a single formula without meaning, lurking in a young man’s head, will sometimes act like an obstruction … in an artery, hindering the nutrition of the brain, and condemning its victim to pine away in the fullness of his intellectual vigor and in the midst of intellectual plenty. - Charles Sanders Pierce

Magos Domina · April 25, 2015, 12:07:41 AM

"The KKK are not a racist organisation" - Nick Griffin

King pesto · April 25, 2015, 12:10:13 AM

Oh, but when I make literally this thread months ago, the mods fuck me in the ass.

King pesto · April 25, 2015, 12:11:44 AM

Quote from: Trojanlord on April 24, 2015, 06:02:17 PM

"That which I cannot crush with words alone, I will crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard!"
- Lord Solar Macharius

WH40K is an awful meme and you should be ashamed.

Dan · April 25, 2015, 12:13:08 AM

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”
― Terence McKenna

“Life lived in the absence of the psychedelic experience that primordial shamanism is based on is life trivialized, life denied, life enslaved to the ego.”
― Terence McKenna

King pesto · April 25, 2015, 12:15:32 AM

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.
-Albert Camus

aREALgod · April 25, 2015, 10:00:03 AM

"The only easy day was yesterday." - US Navel SEAL motto/quote

aREALgod · April 25, 2015, 10:15:47 AM

Quote from: Verbatim on April 24, 2015, 03:12:46 PM

"Whoever wants summarily to test the assertion that the pleasure in the world outweighs the pain, or at any rate that the two balance each other, should compare the feelings of an animal that is devouring another with those of that other."

- Brilliant-ass motherfucker (AKA Schopenhauer)

What a stupid quote from a very stupid individual.

Verbatim · April 25, 2015, 10:28:40 AM

If Meta posted it, you wouldn't have said anything.

big dog · April 25, 2015, 02:11:31 PM

"Am I tough enuss-tough enough? Hell yes I'm tough enough."
-Ed Miliband

aREALgod · April 25, 2015, 02:15:24 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on April 25, 2015, 10:28:40 AM

If Meta posted it, you wouldn't have said anything.

lol you have no proof of that whatsoever. Once again, you're just mad I pointed out the stupidity of your quote.

DAS B00T x2 · April 25, 2015, 02:16:45 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on April 25, 2015, 10:28:40 AM

If Meta posted it, you wouldn't have said anything.

>taking midge seriously