Share your favourite quotes!

[NataEames]

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
-Charles Darwin - this quote inspired me a lot to rise above all the troubles i had

[pert -5]

"The deepest sin of the human mind is to believe things without evidence."
- T. H. Huxley

[Enigma]

"a man could not hope to become a psychologist until after he had learned to smoke" - E. B. Titchener

[pert -5]

"a man could not hope to become a psychologist until after he had learned to smoke" - E. B. Titchener

Awesome Enigma.

From the Wiki page on Titchener:

Titchener attempted to classify the structures of the mind, like the way a chemist analyzes chemicals into their component parts - water into hydrogen and oxygen, for example. Thus, for Titchener, just as hydrogen and oxygen were structures, so were sensations and thoughts. He conceived of hydrogen and oxygen as structures of a chemical compound, and sensations and thoughts as structures of the mind.

Titchener believed that if the basic components of the mind could be defined and categorized that the structure of mental processes and higher thinking could be determined. What each element of the mind is, how those elements interact with each other and why they interact in the ways that they do will was the basis of reasoning that Titchener used in trying to find structure to the mind.

I came up with close to the same idea, independently, while on DXM:

5-8-2003
------------
5:55pm(EST)  There are certain experiences and sensations that can not be altered or broken down.  This is the same as the elements of the Periodic Table of Elements.  There must be a Psychological Periodic Table.  I must try to discover it, so I'll write these words for later analyzation; 1)Beauty, 2)Truth, 3)Love, 4)Memory, 5)Freedom, 6)Growth, 7)Satisfaction, 8)Rhythm.


Keep in mind, this was over 7 years ago, but the parallel is stunning.

[Enigma]

I was preparing the answer to an essay question on Titchener and Structuralism when I came across that little gem.

[SWM]

"We ourselves are not an illusory part of Reality; rather are we Reality itself illusorily conceived."

"Reality alone exists - and that we are. All the rest is only a dream, a dream of the One Mind, which is our mind without the 'our'. Is it so hard to accept? Is it so difficult to assimilate and to live? "

Wei Wu Wei

[pert -5]

"My mother is far too clever to understand anything she doesn't like."
- Arnold Bennett

LOL

[SWM]

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
Winston Churchill

[pert -5]

"It would be a poor thing to be an atom in a universe without physicists, and physicists are made of atoms.  A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms."
- George Wald

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wald

[pert -5]

"How inferior the human machine is, compared to man-made machines. They can be decoked, unscrewed, oiled and parts replaced. Decidedly, nature is not a very wonderful thing."
— J.K. Huysmans

[pert -5]

[Even if you are not religious this is, IMHO, a very fascinating piece of literature, replete with symbolisms and archetypes.]

Revelation 17

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.  
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
(Rev 17:1-18)

[Enigma]

"The Bible is like a software agreement. Most people just scroll to the end and click 'I agree' without ever reading it."


Saw this on reddit, dunno original source.

[SWM]

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend it whole life believing that it is stupid. - Einstein

[Enigma]

"The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference. ~ Richard Dawkins "God's Utility Function," Scientific American, November, 1995, p. 85

[MJAlex]

"We are each of us angels with only one wing. And we can only fly by embracing each other."
Luciano de Crescenzo

[Enigma]

"We live in an extraordinary age. These are times of stunning changes in social organization, economic well-being, moral and ethical precepts, philosophical and religious perspectives, and human self-knowledge, as well as in our understanding of that vast universe in which we are imbedded like a grain of sand in a cosmic ocean. As long as there have been human beings, we have posed the deep and fundamental questions, which evoke wonder and stir us into at least a tentative and trembling awareness, questions on the origins of consciousness; life on our planet; the beginnings of the Earth; the formation of the Sun; the possibility of intelligent beings somewhere up there in the depths of the sky; as well as, the grandest inquiry of all - on the advent, nature and ultimate destiny of the universe. For all but the last instant of human history these issues have been the exclusive province of philosophers and poets, shamans and theologians. The diverse and mutually contradictory answers offered demonstrate that few of the proposed solutions have been correct. But today, as a result of knowledge painfully extracted from nature, through generations of careful thinking, observing, and experimenting, we are on the verge of glimpsing at least preliminary answers to many of these questions.

...If we do not destroy ourselves, most of us will be around for the answers. Had we been born fifty years earlier, we could have wondered, pondered, speculated about these issues, but we could have done nothing about them. Had we been born fifty years later, the answers would, I think, already have been in. Our children will have been taught the answers before most of them will have had the opportunity to even formulate the questions. By far the most exciting, satisfying and exhilarating time to be alive is the time in which we pass from ignorance to knowledge on these fundamental issues; the age where we begin in wonder and end in understanding. In all of the four-billion-year history of the human family, there is only one generation priveleged to live through that unique transitional moment: that generation is ours. "

Carl Sagan

[pert -5]

The following statement regarding sciences could also be aptly applied to religions:

The question whether a science be possible, presupposes a doubt as to its actuality. But such a doubt offends the men whose whole possessions consist of this supposed jewel; hence he who raises the doubt must expect opposition from all sides.

Some, in the proud consciousness of their possessions, which are ancient, and therefore considered legitimate, will take their metaphysical compendia in their hands, and look down on him with contempt;

- Immanuel Kant, "Prolegomena"

[pert -5]

"for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."  -Shakespeare

[SWM]

Everything is energy and thats all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way, this is not philosophy, this is physics. ~ Albert Einstein

[pert -5]

Everything is energy and thats all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way, this is not philosophy, this is physics. ~ Albert Einstein

I'm sure I've stated before my interest in the agreement between the Hindu term Maya and E=mc^2 of physics.  While not synonymous, they contradict each other in no way either.  They are both different perspectives of the same realization.

[S. Earl Martin]

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do."
 -Robert A. Heinlein 
 

[S. Earl Martin]

Everything is energy and thats all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way, this is not philosophy, this is physics. ~ Albert Einstein

This is great. I have been working on research that is supported by this statement. I have had a number of eggheads tell me it wasn't so. Now I have a quote from the man himself confirming it. Thanks SWM

[thathillkid]

Often it is harder to see the truth, than believe the lie!

[S. Earl Martin]

Don't get any on you!
S. Earl Martin

[pert -5]

"If we are to have Beauty and Love, whether in begetting children or works of art, or what not, we must have perfect freedom to act, without fear or shame or any falsity."
- A. Crowley

[S. Earl Martin]

Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.
Chinese Proverb

[S. Earl Martin]

Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
Chinese Proverb

[pert -5]

Those are some good ones Earl.  I especially like the first one.  Very true.

[S. Earl Martin]

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell 

[pert -5]

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell 

Another good one.  My crown for being the most prolific quoter on the site is in jeopardy methinks!