Words caught on the flyThis page contains some phrases that I heard (or read) sometime and somewhere, and that somehow attracted me. Where I can, I refer to the source - though that may be not always possible. You may know well some people I refer to - but the phrases I picked may have avoided too much public attention. On the other hand, live talk of ordinary people can be as bright and thought-provoking as the well-considered aphorisms of an acknowledged talent - and I did not hesitate to bring them public in the same array. Certainly, it's just a tiny portion of what could have been caught on the fly - but a pretty something is better than beautiful nothing.
And all things, whose opposites do not exist for ever,
may either be or not be, and their way is emergence and death.
There cannot be what has been called "void", or
"nothingness" or "empty", or any of the other
myriad metaphors that many philosophers have wont to entertain
themselves with, and that has passed, I feel erroneously,
for philosophy.
If we first claim that the axioms of a formal system are about
nothing then take credit for the explanatory value when it works,
and escape the consequences when it doesn't, then what we do is
foolproof but not honest.
The formal system is a hypothesis; the theorems are predictions.
Whether they are true depends on the real world.
Arguments may be valid without being true.
... logic is not a priori to anything; it's learned via living...
The important thing is to realize that one cannot suppose that one
may arrive at the truth merely by a study of words...
Never wrestle with a pig; you'll get dirty, and the pig will like it.
Even the stupid hate being made to look foolish!
When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If you set your sights on only grabbing a leaf off a high tree limb,
instead of grabbing for a star, because you believe that the former is more
attainable, then you will only get the leaf, which will wither and die,
while the star still shines from afar.
If a wolf has eaten your enemy, it does not mean that
the wolf has become your friend.
To find a fit, simply means not to notice any discrepancies.
Things are bound to get a whole lot worse before they can get any better.
If we could only perceive it, we would hear how every solid body sings!
It may be better to know, rather than be ignorant.
A god that can be comprehended is no god.
Even if Nature has been created by a god, creating a human being
has made further god's intervention utterly impossible.
The ideas have the property of coming and disappearing.
The humanity consists of people.
Do not believe what has been written. Believe yourself.
Don't spit on the people, or eventually the people will spit on you,
and you'll get drowned.
Why every hard blow makes one apt to think of the sense of life?
Thou who said "A", say "B"!
Esteem yourself!
I protest against the feebleness of reason!
Maybe the abnormality is the norm of life.
Everybody is right their way. And everybody is not right because
they are right their way.
One bad working theory is better than no theory at all.
The culture of thought is possessing the methods that are mutually consistent.
Moving from anything that burns we move from the light too!
If only the brain were like hair, so that one could comb it!
See also:
[Unism Central]
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