Quotes

Some ironic distance →

Published September 9, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 9  ·  ,

Finally, when it comes to your own self-opinion, try to have some ironic distance from it. Make yourself aware of its existence and how it operates within you. Come to terms with the fact that you are not as free and autonomous as you like to believe. You do conform to the opinions of the groups you belong to; You do buy products because of subliminal influence; You can be manipulated. Realize as well that you are not as good as the idealized image of your self-opinion.

~ Robert Greene

Elsewhere, this is 4a1004. — slipbox

Clichés →

Published September 8, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 8  ·  ,

The problem with clichés is not that they contain false ideas, but rather that they are superficial articulations of very good ones. […] Clichés are detrimental in so far as they inspire us to believe that they adequately describe a situation while merely grazing its surface. And if this matters, it is because the way we speak is ultimately linked to the way we feel, because how we describe the world must at some level reflect how we first experience it.

~ Alain De Botton

Elsewhere, this is 4a1003. — slipbox

Not your soul →

Published September 7, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 7  ·  ,

You cannot sell your talent, your genius; as soon as you do, you are a prostitute. You can sell your work, but not your soul.

~ John Ruskin

Elsewhere, this is 4a1002. — slipbox

False ideas →

Published September 6, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 6  ·  

False ideas which gain currency can easily be recognized by the loud fanfare with which they are accompanied. Real truth does not need any other embellishments.

~ Leo Tolstoy

Elsewhere, this is 4a1001. — slipbox

The way to virtue →

Published September 5, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 5  ·  

The way to fame goes through the palaces, the way to happiness goes through the markets, the way to virtue goes through the deserts.

~ Chinese proverb

Elsewhere, this is 4a999. — slipbox

Elusive of casual definition →

Published September 4, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 4  ·  ,

We feel something, and reach out for the nearest phrase or hum with which to communicate, but which fails to do justice to what has induced us to do so. We hear Beethoven’s Ninth and hum poum, poum, poum, we see the pyramids at Giza and go, “that’s nice.” These sounds are asked to account for an experience, but their poverty prevents either us or our interlocutors from really understanding what we have lived through. We stay on the outside of our impressions, as if staring at them through a frosted window, superficially related to them, yet estranged from whatever has eluded casual definition.

~ Alain De Botton

Elsewhere, this is 4a998. — slipbox

Falsity and simplicity →

Published September 3, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 3  ·  ,

False science and false religion express their dogmas in highly elevated language to make simple people think that they are mysterious, important, and attractive. But this mysterious language is not a sign of wisdom. The wiser a person is, the simpler the language he uses to express his thoughts.

~ Lucy Malory

Elsewhere, this is 4a997. — slipbox

A bad example →

Published September 2, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 2  ·  , ,

Nothing is more harmful than a bad example set by others. They bring into our life notions which never would have occurred to us without an example.

~ Leo Tolstoy

Elsewhere, this is 4a996. — slipbox

Happiness →

Published September 1, 2022  ·  All posts on Sep 1  ·  

Pleasure, luxury—these things you call happiness, but I think that to wish nothing is the happiness of god, and when you wish to have only small things, then you make yourself closer to this divine and high happiness.

~ Socrates

Elsewhere, this is 4a995. — slipbox

What is philosophy for? →

Published August 31, 2022  ·  All posts on Aug 31  ·  ,

Philosophy isn’t a parlor trick or made for show. It’s not concerned with words, but with facts. It’s not employed for some pleasure before the day is spent, or to relieve the uneasiness of our leisure. It shapes and builds up the soul, it gives order to life, guides actions, shows what should and shouldn’t be done—it sits at the rudder steering our course as we vacillate in uncertainties. Without it, no one can live without fear or free from care. Countless things happen every hour that require advice, and such advise is to be sought out in philosophy.

~ Seneca

Elsewhere, this is 4a994. — slipbox