Week 2023-43: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - Collected Quotes

"Meditation makes the man Divine and brings the Divine to the world of man." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is a means to discover all the glories of the ocean of mind." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is a technique to integrate one's personality, to be able to live and enjoy full life of all glories - worldly and divine." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is the most effective form of relaxation. It not only relaxes the body and mind but also feeds them with vital energy, peace and happiness." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"Meditation is the straight flight of the mind to the Kingdom of Heaven present in the heart of everyone." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)

"If a man is able to submit himself to nature, then nature will react to his needs. Almighty nature is all powerful and all loving, for the laws of nature are for the creation and evolution of all beings and creatures throughout the cosmos. There is no greater kindness than the kindness of nature." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"In meditation we research the field without time and space and activity, and yet produce a useful effect while conducting the research." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Let the standard of everybody's mind be raised to the heights of his own inner glory and then man will feel for himself the greatness of the higher values of life and would be tempted to bring them down into practical life and live them." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Life is not a struggle, not a tension. Life has not to be suffering. Life is bliss. It is eternal wisdom, eternal existence." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Nothing from outside can stop a man from enjoying lasting peace and permanent joy in life, for it is the essential nature of his own soul." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"When the conscious mind expands to embrace deeper levels of thinking, the thought wave becomes more powerful and results in added energy and intelligence." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

Week 2023-42: Stephen R Covey - Collected Quotes

"Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building." (Stephen R Covey)

"Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people." (Stephen R Covey)

"Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do)." (Stephen R Covey)

"Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually." (Stephen R Covey)

"It is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves." (Stephen R Covey)

"Live out of your imagination, not your history." (Stephen R Covey)

"Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important." (Stephen R Covey)

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood." (Stephen R Covey)

"Start with the end in mind." (Stephen R Covey)

"Strength lies in differences, not in similarities." (Stephen R Covey)

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." (Stephen R Covey)

"There are three constants in life [...] change, choice and principles." (Stephen R Covey)

"To receive gratitude with grace is a form of gratitude by itself, and not always an easy art to master." (Stephen R Covey)

"To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground." (Stephen R Covey)

"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships." (Stephen R Covey)

"Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It's not logical; it's psychological." (Stephen R Covey)

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey." (Stephen R Covey)

"We seek not to imitate the masters, rather we seek what they sought." (Stephen R Covey)

"When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation." (Stephen R Covey)

"While I believe in the power of positive thought, I do not believe that you or I can simply psyche ourselves into success or peace of mind." (Stephen R Covey)

"While values drive behaviors, principles govern consequences." (Stephen R Covey)

Week 2023-40: Richard Bandler - Collected Quotes

"Magic is hidden in the language we speak. The webs that you can tie and untie are at your command if only you pay attention to what you already have (language) and the structure of the incantations for growth." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"Models are not intended to either reflect or construct a single objective reality. Rather, their purpose is to simulate some aspect of a possible reality. In NLP, for instance, it is not important whether or not a model is 'true', but rather that it is 'useful'. In fact, all models can be perceived as symbolic or metaphoric, as opposed to reflective of reality. Whether the description being used is metaphorical or literal, the usefulness of a model depends on the degree to which it allows us to move effectively to the next step in the sequence of transformations connecting deeper structures and surface structures. Instead of 'constructing' reality, models establish a set of functions that serve as a tool or a bridge between deep structures and surface structures. It is this bridge that forms our 'understanding' of reality and allows us to generate new experiences and expressions of reality." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"The most pervasive paradox of the human condition which we see is that the processes which allow us to survive, grow, change, and experience joy are the same processes which allow us to maintain an impoverished model of the world - our ability to manipulate symbols, that is, to create models. So the processes which allow us to accomplish the most extraordinary and unique human activities are the same processes which block our further growth if we commit the error of mistaking the model of the world for reality." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"[…] there is an irreducible difference between the world and our experience of it. We as human beings do not operate directly on the world. Each of us creates a representation of the world in which we live - that is, we create a map or model which we use to generate our behavior. Our representation of the world determines to a large degree what our experience of the world will be, how we will perceive the world, what choices we will see available to us as we live in the world." (Richard Bandler & John Grinder, "The Structure of Magic", 1975)

"In general communication theory there is a basic axiom that a signal only has meaning in terms of the frame or context in which it appears. The sound of a squeaky shoe on a busy sidewalk has little meaning; the same sound outside your window when you are alone in bed means something else altogether." (Richard Bandler, "Reframing: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning", 1982)

"As soon as we believe in something, we search for ways to prove it’s true." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"In my experience, the biggest challenge people face is learning to get out of their own way. When you can see just how easy change can be, you can begin to take control over your life and make all the changes you want - but you need to take the action." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"In order to change beliefs, we first need to learn a way of finding out the qualities of beliefs." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Most problems we face in life, as I have said already, happen in our minds. Furthermore, problems generally exist in our concept of the past and the future. The past and the future don’t exist except in our minds." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Once they have a choice, people always make the best choice. The trouble is that people don’t think they have one." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"One of the most important aspects of what human beings do is build beliefs. Beliefs are what trap most people in their problems. Unless you believe you can get over something, get through something, or get to something, there is little likelihood you will be able to do it. Your beliefs refer to your sense of certainty on some of your thoughts." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Reframing is also the pivotal element in the creative process: it is the ability to put a commonplace event in a new frame that is useful or enjoyable." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Thinking isn’t a passive process unless you do it passively. Thinking should always be an active process where you think in a way that gets you the results you want." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"We have been trained to believe that change isn’t easy and requires a lot of effort and a lot of time. I’ve always found this to be simply not true." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"When you can take on board new, positive suggestions and disbelieve the old, limiting suggestions, you will be ready to tackle the rest of your problems, especially your fears." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Whenever people have trouble letting go of good things or bad things, it’s because they are associated to the memory. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s just like being there. If you’re holding on to bad memories, it’s now time to look at them and shrink them down." (Richard Bandler, "Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming", 2008)

"Our biggest limit is not in what we want and cannot do; it is in what we have never considered that we can do." (Richard Bandler, How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP, 2914)

Week 2023-39: Dan Millman - Collected Quotes

"Everything you'll ever need to know is within you; the secrets of the universe are imprinted on the cells of your body." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"Life is not a private affair. A story and its lessons are only made useful if shared." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"No amount of knowledge will nourish or sustain your spirit, it can never bring you ulimate happiness or peace. Life requires more that knowledge; it requires intense feeling and constant energy. Life demands right action if knowledge is to come alive." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"When you resist what happens, your mind begins to race; the same thoughts that impinge upon you are actually created by you." (Dan Millman, "Way of the Peaceful Warrior", 1980)

"Before you can see the Light, you have to deal with the darkness." (Dan Millman, "Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior" (ed. Dan Millman, 1991) 

"Conscious evolution begins as we take responsibility for clearing our own obstructions." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"Every positive change - every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness - involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"Peaceful warriors have the patience to wait until the mud settles and the water clears. They remain unmoving until the right time, so the right action arises by itself. They do not seek fulfillment, but wait with open arms to welcome all things." (Dan Millman, "No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior's Guide to Daily Life", 1992)

"Energy follows thought; we move toward, but not beyond, what we can imagine. What we assume, expect, or believe creates and colors our experience. By expanding our deepest beliefs about what is possible, we change our experience of life." (Dan Millman, "The Life You Were Born to Live: A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose", 1993)

"Choice means giving up something you want for something else you want more." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"Faith is our direct link to universal wisdom, reminding us that we know more than we have heard or read or studied that we have only to look, listen, and trust the love and wisdom of the Universal Spirit working through us all." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"Process transforms any journey into a series of small steps, taken one by one, to reach any goal. Process transcends time, teaches patience, rests on a solid foundation of careful preparation, and embodies trust in our unfolding potential." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"So be gentle with yourself; show yourself the same kindness and patience you might show a young child - the child you once were. If you won't be your own friend, who will be? If, when playing an opponent, you are also opposing yourself, you will be outnumbered." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"So trust the process of your life unfolding, and know with certainty, through the peaks and valleys of your journey, that your soul rests safe and secure in the arms of God." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995)

"Unless the desire to change remains strong, body and mind tend to return to old, familiar patterns. It takes time-from three to six months-for old habits to become obsolete. By the end of that time, you'll have adapted to a new pattern. In a sense, you'll have found a new way of life." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995) 

"Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds." (Dan Millman, "Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth", 1998)

"Masters of one art have mastered all because they have mastered themselves. With dominion over both mind and muscle, they demonstrate power, serenity, and spirit. They not only have talent for their sport, they have an expanded capacity for life. The experts shine in the competitive arena; the masters shine everywhere." (Dan Millman, "Body Mind Mastery: Training for Sport and Life", 1999)

"Avoid fragmentation: Find your focus and seek simplicity. Purposeful living calls for elegant efficiency and economy of effort-expanding the minimum time and energy necessary to achieve desired goals." (Dan Millman, "Living on Purpose", 2000)

"I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything." (Dan Millman, "Living on Purpose", 2000)

"Simplicity has power. Founding our life on constructive, positive behavior is the simplest, most direct, and powerful approach I've ever found-simple, but not easy." (Dan Millman, "Living on Purpose", 2000)

Week 2023-38: Mahatma Gandhi - Collected Quotes

"A living faith cannot be manufactured by the rule of majority." (Mahatma Gandhi, "India on Trial" 1922)

"The most practical, the most dignified way of going on in the world is to take people at their word, when you have no positive reason to the contrary." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1924)

"True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1924)

"Without devotion, action and knowledge are cold and dry and many even become shackles." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1930)

"Democracy is a great institution and, therefore, it is liable to be greatly abused." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"Dignity of human nature requires that we must face the storms of life." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"Reason has to be strengthened by suffering, and suffering opens the eyes of understanding." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." (Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, 1931)

"Much that we hug today as knowledge is ignorance pure and simple. It makes the mind wander and even reduces it to a vacuity." (Mahatma Gandhi, "The Gandhi Sutras", 1949)

"Religion is one tree with many branches. As branches, you may say, religions are many, but as a tree, religion is only one." (Mahatma Gandhi, "None High: None Low", 1965)

"Prayer is a sign of repentance, a desire to become better, purer." (Mahatma Gandhi, "The Supreme power", 1963)

"Belief in non-violence is based on the assumption that human nature in the essence is one and therefore unfailingly responds to the advances of love..." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"You cannot stop big wars if you carry on little wars yourselves." (Mahatma Gandhi)

Week 2023-37: Henri-Frédéric Amiel - Collected Quotes

"An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1852)

"Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1852)

"The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1856)

"To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1864)

"Nature does at least what she can to translate into visible form the wealth of the creative formula. By the vastness of the abysses into which she penetrates, in the effort - the unsuccessful effort - to house and contain the eternal thought, we may measure the greatness of the divine mind." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1866)

"What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1868)

"Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1875)

"Everything which is, is thought, but not conscious and individual thought. The human intelligence is but the consciousness of being. It is what I have formulated before: Everything is a symbol of a symbol, and a symbol of what? of mind." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1882)

""Time is but the measure of the difficulty of a conception. Pure thought has scarcely any need of time, since it perceives the two ends of an idea almost at the same moment." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1883)

"Time is but the space between our memories; as soon as we cease to perceive this space, time has disappeared." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry]  1884)

"Every situation is an equilibrium of forces; every life is a struggle between opposing forces working within the limits of a certain equilibrium." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1885)

"Understanding [...] must begin by saturating itself with facts and realities. [...] Besides, we only understand that which is already within us. To understand is to possess the thing understood, first by sympathy and then by intelligence. Instead of first dismembering and dissecting the object to be conceived, we should begin by laying hold of it in its ensemble. The procedure is the same, whether we study a watch or a plant, a work of art or a character." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1886)

"The art which is grand and yet simple is that which presupposes the greatest elevation both in artist and in public." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1893)

"The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1893)

"Time is the supreme illusion. It is but the inner prism by which we decompose being and life, the mode under which we perceive successively what is simultaneous in idea." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1893)

"Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel, [journal entry] 1896)

"Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"Minds accustomed to analysis never allow objections more than half-value, because they appreciate the variable and relative elements which enter in." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"No forms of error are so erroneous as those that have the appearance without the reality of mathematical precision." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"Time and space are fragments of the infinite for the use of finite creatures." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

"Wisdom consists in rising superior both to madness and to common sense, and in lending one's self to the universal delusion without becoming its dupe." (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)

Week 2023-36: Donald C Gause - Collected Quotes

"A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived. […] Seen in this way, the problem could be solved either by changing desires or changing perceptions." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"As a practical matter, it is impossible to define natural, day-to-day problems in a single, unique, totally unambiguous fashion. On the other hand, without some common understanding of the problem, a solution will almost invariably be to the wrong problem." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Don't mistake a solution method for a problem definition - especially if it’s your own solution method." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Each solution is the source of next problem. We never get rid of problems. Problems, solutions, and new problems weave an endless chain. The best we can hope for is that the problems we substitute are less troublesome than the ones we 'solve'." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"If you can’t think of at least three things that might be wrong with your understanding of the problem, you don’t understand the problem." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Much of what has traditionally been called 'problem-solving' is, in reality, puzzle solving. A puzzle is difficult by design - but that difficulty implies a designer." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"The fledgling problem solver invariably rushes in with solutions before taking time to define the problem being solved. Even experienced solvers, when subjected to social pressure, yield to this demand for haste. When they do, many solutions are found, but not necessarily to the problem at hand." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"The really important thing in dealing with problems is to know that the question is never answered, but that it doesn't matter, as long as you keep asking. It's only when you fool yourself into thinking you have the final problem definition - the final, true answer - that you can be fooled into thinking you have the final solution. And if you think that, you're always wrong, because there is no such thing as a 'final solution'." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"Wherever possible, we initially place the problem in the semantic level that lends us the most comfort." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

Week 2023-35: Hypatia of Alexandria

"All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth - often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

"He who influences the thinking of his time, influences all the moments that follow him. Leave your opinion for eternity." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"In fact men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth - often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Life is growth, and the more we travel, the more truth we can understand. Understanding the things that surround us is the best preparation to understand the things that lie beyond." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Neoplatonism is progressive philosophy, and does not expect to state final conditions to men whose minds are finite. Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." (Hypatia of Alexandria)

"To rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world, is just as base as to use force. [...] Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." ([attributed] Hypatia of Alexandria)

Week 2023-34: Sophocles - Collected Quotes

"A human being is only breath and shadow." (Sophocles)

"A state is not a state if it belongs to one man." (Sophocles)

"All a man's affairs become diseased when he wishes to cure evils by evils." (Sophocles)

"All is disgust when one leaves his own nature and does things that misfit it." (Sophocles)

"Chance never helps those who do not help themselves." (Sophocles)

"Enemies' gifts are no gifts and do no good." (Sophocles)

"Evil gains work their punishment." (Sophocles)

"Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing." (Sophocles)

"Gratitude to gratitude always gives birth." (Sophocles)

"He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life." (Sophocles)

"How dangerous can false reasoning prove!" (Sophocles)

"How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth." (Sophocles)

"In a just cause the weak will beat the strong." (Sophocles)

"It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself, and no one else, has made it." (Sophocles)

"It is best to live however one can be." (Sophocles)

"It is terrible to speak well and be wrong." (Sophocles)

"Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?" (Sophocles)

"Kindness gives birth to kindness." (Sophocles)

"Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial." (Sophocles)

"Man is not constituted to take pleasure in the same things always." (Sophocles)

"Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it." (Sophocles)

"Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution." (Sophocles)

"Money is the worst currency that ever grew among mankind. This sacks cities, this drives men from their homes, this teaches and corrupts the worthiest minds to turn base deeds." (Sophocles)

"Much wisdom often goes with fewest words." (Sophocles)

"No great thing comes without a curse" Sophocles

"No lie ever reaches old age." (Sophocles)

"No treaty is ever an impediment to a cheat." (Sophocles)

"Not knowing anything is the sweetest life." (Sophocles)

"Not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed." (Sophocles)

"Old age and the passage of time teach all things." (Sophocles)

"One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try." (Sophocles)

"One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession." (Sophocles)

"Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way." (Sophocles)

"Quick decisions are unsafe decisions." (Sophocles)

"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud." (Sophocles)

"Rather throw away that which is dearest to you, your own life, than turn away a good friend." (Sophocles)

"The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves." (Sophocles)

"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities." (Sophocles)

"There is a point at which even justice does injury." (Sophocles)

"There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us." (Sophocles)

"To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task." (Sophocles)

"To him who is in fear everything rustles." (Sophocles)

"To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away." (Sophocles)

"What fate can be worse than to know we have no one but ourselves to blame for our misfortunes!" (Sophocles)

"Wisdom is the most important part of happiness." (Sophocles)

"When a man has lost all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse." (Sophocles)

"When trouble ends even troubles please." (Sophocles)

"Whoever understands how to do a kindness when he fares well would be a friend better than any possession." (Sophocles)

"Why should a man fear, since chance is all in all for him, and he can clearly fore-know nothing? Best to live lightly as one can, unthinking." (Sophocles)

"Wise thinkers prevail everywhere." (Sophocles)

"You win the victory when you yield to friends." (Sophocles)

Week 2023-33: Marcus Aurelius - Collected Quotes

"Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

"And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Either all things proceed from one intelligent source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole; or there are only atoms, and nothing else than a mixture and dispersion. Why, then, art thou disturbed? Say to this ruling faculty, Art thou dead, art thou corrupted, art thou playing the hypocrite, art thou become a beast, dost thou herd and feed with the rest?" (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

"In the series of things those which follow are always aptly fitted to those which have gone before; for this series is not like a mere enumeration of disjointed things, which has only a necessary sequence, but it is a rational connection: and as all existing things are arranged together harmoniously, so the things which come into existence exhibit no mere succession, but a certain wonderful relationship." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 180 AD)

 

"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, cca. 121–180)

 

"Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.“ (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

"The other reason is that what happens to the individual is a cause of well-being in what directs the world - of its well-being, its fulfillment, or its very existence, even. Because the whole is damaged if you cut away anything - anything at all - from its continuity and its coherence. Not only its parts, but its purposes. And that's what you're doing when you complain: hacking and destroying." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"The universal intelligence puts itself in motion for every separate effect [...] or it puts itself in motion once, and everything else comes by way of a sequence in a manner; or individual elements are the origin of all things. In a word, if there is a god, all is well; and if chance rules, do not thou be governed by it." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations", cca. 121–180 AD)

 

"The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it." (Marcus Aurelius)

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." (Marcus Aurelius)

Week 2023-32: Epictetus - Collected Quotes

"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master." (Epictetus)

"As it is pleasant to see the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for him who has escaped from troubles to think of them." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"Fight against yourself, recover yourself to decency, to modesty, to freedom. And, in the first place, condemn your actions; but when you have condemned them, do not despair of yourself. For both ruin and recovery are from within." (Epictetus)

"He who exercises wisdom exercises the knowledge which is about God." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it." (Epictetus)

"In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"It is better by assenting to truth to conquer opinion, than by assenting to opinion to be conquered by truth." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"It is my business, to manage carefully and dexterously whatever happens." (Epictetus)

"It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life." (Epictetus)

"Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly." (Epictetus)

"No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage." (Epictetus)

"Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle." (Epictetus)

"The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will." (Epictetus, "Of Courage")

"Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them." (Epictetus)

"To be getting an education means this: to be learning what is your own, and what is not your own." (Epictetus, "Discourses")

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger." (Epictetus)

"You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." (Epictetus)

Week 2023-31: Heraclitus of Ephesus - Collected Quotes

"Everything flows and nothing stays. [...] You can't step twice into the same river." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"For those who are awake there is one common universe." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [3.89], cca. 5th century)

"He who does not expect will not find out the unexpected, for it is trackless and unexplored." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"It should be known that war is universal, that strife is justice, and all things come into existence by strife and necessity." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Much learning does not teach a man to have intelligence." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"The fairest order in the world is a heap of random sweepings." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"The real constitution of things is accustomed to hide itself." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"The road up and the road down is one and the same." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "On the Universe", cca. 5th century)

"The greatest virtue is to be prudent, and wisdom is to speak the truth and with understanding to act according to nature. (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [75.112], cca. 5th century)

"There is one wisdom, to understand how reason steers everything through everything." (Heraclitus of Ephesus, "Fragments" [4.41], cca. 5th century)

"Time is like a river flowing endlessly through the universe." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

"Unite whole and part, agreement and disagreement, accordant and discordant; from all comes one, and from one all." (Heraclitus of Ephesus)

Week 2023-30: Kahlil Gibran - Collected Quotes

"Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self." (Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet", 1923)

"You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts." (Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet", 1923)

"Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your appetite." (Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet", 1923)

"A pearl is a temple built by pain around a grain of sand." (Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam", 1926)

"Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking." (Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam", 1926)

"Perhaps the sea's definition of a shell is the pearl." (Kahlil Gibran, "Sand and Foam", 1926)

"A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle." (Kahlil Gibran)

"And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Knowledge and understanding are life's faithful companions who will never prove untrue to you. For knowledge is your crown, and understanding your staff; and when they are with you, you possess no greater treasures." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Life without Love is like a tree without blossom and fruit." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Philosophy's work is finding the shortest path between two points." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow." (Kahlil Gibran)

"The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves." (Kahlil Gibran)

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." (Kahlil Gibran)

Week 2023-29: Plutarch of Chaeronea - Collected Quotes

"For it was not so much that by means of words I came to a complete understanding of things, as that from things I somehow had an experience which enabled me to follow the meaning of words." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Lives")

"For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"If Nature be not improved by instruction, it is blind; if instruction be not assisted by Nature, it is maimed; and if exercise fail of the assistance of both, it is imperfect." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Life of Agesilaus II")

"Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"The generous mind adds dignity to every act, and nothing misbecomes it." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Lives")

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

"The two most powerful agencies in man's nature are reason and mind." (Plutarch of Chaeronea)

"To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Life of Fabius")

"Were it only to learn benevolence to humankind, we should be merciful to other creatures." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Lives")

"Wise men are able to make a fitting use even of their enmities." (Plutarch of Chaeronea, "Moralia" ["Morals"], cca. 1st century)

Week 2023-28: Oliver Goldsmith - Collected Quotes

"People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Bee", 1759)

"In two opposite opinions, if one be perfectly reasonable, the other can't be perfectly right." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Oliver Goldsmith", 1780)

"All that philosophy can teach is to be stubborn or sullen under misfortunes." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"Books are necessary to correct the vices of the polite; but those vices are ever changing, and the antidote should be changed accordingly should still be new." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"If we do not find happiness in the present moment, in what shall we find it?" (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792) 

"Religion does what philosophy could never do; it shows the equal dealings of Heaven to the happy and the unhappy, and levels all human enjoyments to nearly the same standard. It gives to both rich and poor the same happiness hereafter, and equal hopes to aspire after it." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"Taste is the power of relishing or rejecting whatever is offered for the entertainment of the imagination." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

"The wisdom of the ignorant somewhat resembles the instinct of animals; it is diffused in but a very narrow sphere, but within the circle it acts with vigor, uniformity, and success." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Miscellaneous Works of Dr. Goldsmith", 1792)

'Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity." (Oliver Goldsmith, "A history of the earth: and animated nature", 1813)

"A man's own heart must ever be given to gain that of another." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Vicar of Wakefield, a Tale: To which is Annexed The Deserted Village", 1828)

"Our greatest glory is, not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." (Oliver Goldsmith, "The Complete Works of Oliver Goldsmith", 1893)

"Teaching by lecture makes men mere scholars, but instructing by examination makes them learned: the student has the best chance of becoming actually great." (Oliver Goldsmith)

Week 2023-27: Democritus - Collected Quotes

"By convention sweet, by convention bitter; by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention color: but in reality, atoms and void." (Democritus)

"By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich." (Democritus)

"Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity." (Democritus)

"Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss." (Democritus)

"I would rather discover one true cause than gain the kingdom of Persia." (Democritus)

"If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it." (Democritus)

"It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others." (Democritus)

"It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new." (Democritus)

"It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all." (Democritus)

"Men should strive to think much and know little." (Democritus)

"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." (Democritus)

"Neither art nor wisdom may be attained without learning."  (Democritus)

"No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge." (Democritus)

"Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self; for what we wish, that we readily believe." (Democritus)

"Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry." (Democritus)

"The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist." (Democritus)

"The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged." (Democritus)

"There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom." (Democritus)

"Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains." (Democritus)

Week 2023-26: Plotinus - Collected Quotes

"All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"But if anyone despises the arts because they produce their works by imitating nature, we must tell him, first, that natural things are imitations too. Then he must know that the arts do not simply imitate what they see, but they run back up to the forming principles from which nature derives" (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Conscious apprehension seems to exist […] as happens in a mirror-image when the smooth and bright surface is peaceful." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"On the assumption that all happens by Cause, it is easy to discover the nearest determinants of any particular act or state to trace it plainly to them." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"The noetic act is without parts and has not, so to speak, come out into the open, but remains unobserved within, but the verbal expression unfolds its content and brings it out of the noetic act into the image making power, and so shows the noetic act as if in a mirror, and this is how there is conscious apprehension and persistence and memory of it." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty superior to reason, by entering into a state in which you are your finite self no longer." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Beauty is rather a light that plays over the symmetry of things than that symmetry itself." (Plotinus)

"Knowledge has three degrees - opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition." (Plotinus)

"We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing […] a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use." (Plotinus)

Week 2023-25: Isaac Asimov - Collected Quotes

"Old men tend to forget what thought was like in their youth; they forget the quickness of the mental jump, the daring of the youthful intuition, the agility of the fresh insight. They become accustomed to the more plodding varieties of reason, and because this is more than made up by the accumulation of experience, old men think themselves wiser than the young." (Isaac Asimov, "Pebble in the Sky", 1950)

"The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists." (Isaac Asimov, "The Gods Themselves", 1972)

"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing." (Isaac Asimov, "Science Past, Science Future", 1975)

"People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely rickety substance in order to avoid it. I, on the other hand, see coincidence everywhere as an inevitable consequence of the laws of probability, according to which having no unusual coincidence is far more unusual than any coincidence could possibly be." (Isaac Asimov, "The Planet That Wasn't", 1976)

"At odd and unpredictable times, we cling in fright to the past." (Isaac Asimov, "Foundation's Edge", 1982)

"The greatest weapons in the conquest of knowledge are an understanding mind and the inexorable curiosity that drives it on." (Isaac Asimov, "Asimov's New Guide to Science", 1984)

"If we only obey those rules that we think are just and reasonable, then no rule will stand, for there is no rule that some will not think is unjust and unreasonable." (Isaac Asimov, "Foundation and Earth", 1986)

"A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

"Any increase in knowledge anywhere helps pave the way for an increase in knowledge everywhere." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

"There is very little flexibility in the behavior of the Universe. What it does once, it does again." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

"What makes it so hard to organize the environment sensibly is that everything we touch is hooked up to everything else." (Isaac Asimov, "Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations", 1988)

Week 2023-24: Philip K Dick - Collected Quotes

"Can any of us fix anything? No. None of us can do that. We're specialized. Each one of us has his own line, his own work. I understand my work, you understand yours. The tendency in evolution is toward greater and greater specialization. Man's society is an ecology that forces adaptation to it. Continued complexity makes it impossible for us to know anything outside our own personal field - I can't follow the work of the man sitting at the next desk over from me. Too much knowledge has piled up in each field. And there are too many fields." (Philip K. Dick, The Variable Man", 1952)

"[…] anybody with a genuine system of prediction would be using it, not selling it." (Philip K Dick, "Solar Lottery", 1955) 

"It’s the highest goal of man - the need to grow and advance [...] to find new things [...] to expand. To spread out, reach areas, experiences, comprehend and live in an evolving fashion. To push aside routine and repetition, to break out of mindless monotony and thrust forward. To keep moving on [...]" (Philip K Dick, "Solar Lottery", 1955)

"These machines had become old and worn-out, had begun making mistakes; therefore they began to seem almost human." (Philip K Dick & Ray Nelson, "The Ganymede Takeover", 1967)

"A humanoid robot is like any other machine; it can fluctuate between being a benefit and a hazard very rapidly." (Philip K Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", 1968)

"To the paranoid, nothing is a surprise; everything happens exactly as he expected, and sometimes even more so. It all fits into his system. For us, though, there can be no system; maybe all systems - that is, any theoretical, verbal, symbolic, semantic, etc. formulation that attempts to act as an all-encompassing, all-explaining hypothesis of what the universe is about - are manifestations of paranoia. We should be content with the mysterious, the meaningless, the contradictory, the hostile, and most of all the unexplainably warm and giving." (Philip K Dick, "The Android and the Human", [speech] 1972)

"Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, it doesn’t go away." (Philip K Dick, "Valis", 1981)

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." (Philip K. Dick)

"The problem with introspection is that it has no end." (Philip K. Dick)

"The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give." (Philip K. Dick)

Week 2023-23: Mind is...

"Mind is the limit and measure of all things [...]" (Nicolas of Cusa [Nicolaus Cusanus], "Idiota de mente" ["The Layman: About Mind"], 1450)

"You know how the divine Simplicity enfolds all things. Mind is the image of this enfolding Simplicity." (Nicolas of Cusa [Nicolaus Cusanus], "Idiota de mente: The Layman: About Mind", 1450)

"Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth." (Desiderius Erasmus, "Praise of Folly", 1509)

"The mind is so constituted that it does not willingly rest in facts and immediate causes, but seeks always after a knowledge of the remoter links in the chain of causation." (Thomas H Huxley, "Discourses Biological and Geological", 1894)

"A truthful mind is necessary for the discovery of truth in Nature." (Sir Richard A Gregory, "Discovery; or, The Spirit and Service of Science", 1916)

"Mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience; all else is remote inference." (Arthur Eddington, "Science and the Unseen World", 1929)

The truly scientific mind is altogether unafraid of the new [...]" (Wilfred Trotter, "Observation and Experiment and Their Use in the Medical Sciences", British Medical Journal Vol. 2, 1930)

"Most mistakes in philosophy and logic occur because the human mind is apt to take the symbol for the reality." (Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion: With Other Opinions and Aphorisms", 1931)

"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." (Robertson Davies, "Tempest-Tost", 1951)

"We are part of nature, and our mind is the only instrument we have, or can conceive of, for learning about nature or about ourselves." (Conrad H Waddington, "The Nature of Life", 1960)

"The mind is defined as the sum total of all the programs and the metaprograms of a given human computer, whether or not they are immediately elicitable, detectable, and visibly operational to the self or to others." (John C Lilly "Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer" 2nd Ed., 1972)

"The human mind is constantly drawn to anything that embodies some aspect of symmetry." (Marcus du Sautoy, "Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature", 2008)

"The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe." (Albert Einstein)