Famous quotes

[thinkandmull]

I read a series of famous quotes by philosophers, and was wondering if any of you wanted to comment on some of them

1. “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
   Albert Einstein
2. “If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.” Herman Hesse, German novelist
3. “To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670
4. “Man is the measure of all things” Protagoras
5. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance” Socrates

and finally

1. “Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest” – Denis Diderot"

Yikes!

Comment away…

 

[seagal]

1. “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
   Albert Einstein
   I hate to argue with a genius but I don’t agree with Einstein’s statement at all. I don’t know the context of that quote, it may well have been tongue in cheek. To my way of thinking, time doesn’t do anything at all, it’s only a way to measure the things that happen.
2. “If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.” Herman Hesse, German novelist
   I’ve often heard that and I’ve assumed it’s true, but I can’t say I’ve actually seen the proof of it. I glad to say there aren’t too many people that I have hated in my life, and for the one or two that fall into that category, I don’t see any similarities to me at all. But maybe I just don’t want to see it.
3. “To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670
   Stephen Hawking said in his last book “Philosophy is dead”, which, as his critics have pointed out, is itself a philosophical statement. Where’s the scientific proof? What experiments did he perform to come to that conclusion?
4. “Man is the measure of all things” Protagoras
   My first reaction to that statement is “no” but I can’t prove it.
5. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance” Socrates

Um, no.

1. “Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest” – Denis Diderot"

I don’t know why you’re even asking about this one.

 

[thinkandmull]

I just thought the Diderot quote was so extreme, and showed the spirit of the French Revolution, that I should include it in the list

 

[puzzledtoo]

I find quite often without much effort that if I think of someone as arrogant, obnoxious, etc… and it bothers me, that I can think of times I’ve acted that way myself. So I can see validity in this statement.
I think maybe Einstein was speaking"tongue in cheek". As for the rest of the quotes-too deep for me.

 

[littlestsouls2]

1. “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
   Albert Einstein

Could it (all happen at once)?

1. “If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.” Herman Hesse, German novelist

Sometimes true. People are very different, but there still exists a lot of hate.

1. “To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670

Love it.

1. “Man is the measure of all things” Protagoras

Apart from his conscience and rationality; mathematics; truth…

1. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance” Socrates

Mortal sin: Full knowledge, full consent…

1. “Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest” – Denis Diderot"

On the contrary, man will never be free until ‘the prince of this world [Satan] be cast out’ (Jn. 12:31) by Jesus, Who is made present on our Altars by the hands of even the last priest.

 

[thinkandmull]

Here’s a few more quotes:

“When I study philosophical works I feel I am swallowing something which I don’t have in my mouth.” Albert Einstein

Hmmmm

“Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one’s desires, but by the removal of desire” Epictetus

Buddistic. Wasn’t he Greek?

“Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold and dung. Before you understand it, it’s like gold; after you understand it, it’s like dung.” Zen Saying

This is again Buddhistic. They have a different take on this than the West. Aristotle and his followers say that the more truth something has, the more being it has. For Zen followers, the immaterial and removal from matter has more meaning, but not more being. Matter has being, but paradoxically is just an illusion

 

[Charlemagne_III]

“When I study philosophical works I feel I am swallowing something which I don’t have in my mouth.” Albert Einstein

Hmmmm

Yes, well we all know that Einstein was not a great philosopher, but in this remark he seems to be swallowing his own spit.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

“Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one’s desires, but by the removal of desire” Epictetus

I would answer with the following:

Death is secured not as fulfilling one’s desire, but by removing the desire to live.

 

[puzzledtoo]

“Freedom is secured not by fulfilling of one’s desires, but by the removal of desire.” I like this one, it reminds me of this–“I-want-peace” “I” is ego “want” is desire. Remove ego and desire and you have peace." This is from Sathya Sai.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

“To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées

This is all the more true as it refutes the notion of those who believe that the application of reason to the solving of life’s problems is not worth spit. Indeed, those who say they despise philosophy prove emphatically that they think it is worth spitting on.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

“Freedom is secured not by fulfilling of one’s desires, but by the removal of desire.” I like this one, it reminds me of this–“I-want-peace” “I” is ego “want” is desire. Remove ego and desire and you have peace." This is from Sathya Sai.

Well then, without an ego I suppose you could say the dead are truly at peace.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

“Man is the measure of all things” Protagoras

That’s only true for an atheist, and Protagoras was an atheist.