let them hate, so long as they fear

oderint dum metuant

Unknown

"Philosophy is a study that lets us be unhappy more intelligently."

Brian Eno

I'm struck by the insidious, computer-driven tendency to take things out of the domain of muscular activity and put them into the domain of mental activity. The transfer is not paying off. Sure, muscles are unreliable, but they represent several million years of accumulated finesse.

Brian Eno, Wired 1/99, p. 176

E. M. Forster (1879 - 1970)

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

E. M. Forster (1879 - 1970)

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3

Though inclination be as sharp as will,
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3

Philosophical Quotations

No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head. ~Terry Josephson


Would there be this eternal seeking if the found existed? ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin


If you're going to tickle, use a feather not a whip. ~Audrey Foris, C'est l'esprit du coq rouge (Red Rooster Musings, trans.)


He who has seen present things has seen all, both everything which has taken place from all eternity and everything which will be for time without end; for all things are of one kin and of one form. ~Marcus Aurelius


If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one. ~Russian Proverb


The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself. ~Bertrand Russell


Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~Roger Miller


The obstacle is the path. ~Zen Proverb