May 18
2004
- Love me for love's sake, that evermore thou may'st love on, through love's eternity. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- selected by Kalki
2005
- To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. ~ Bertrand Russell (born 18 May 1872)
- selected by Kalki
2006
- A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
~ Omar Khayyám (born 18 May 1048)- selected by Kalki
2007
- The opposition of instinct and reason is mainly illusory. Instinct, intuition, or insight is what first leads to the beliefs which subsequent reason confirms or confutes; but the confirmation, where it is possible, consists, in the last analysis, of agreement with other beliefs no less instinctive. Reason is a harmonising, controlling force rather than a creative one. Even in the most purely logical realms, it is insight that first arrives at what is new. ~ Bertrand Russell
- proposed by InvisibleSun
2008
- To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true. ~ Bertrand Russell
- proposed by Kalki
2009
- The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
~ Omar Khayyám ~- proposed byNingauble
2010
Suggestions
A gospel of work for work's sake never produced any work worth doing. ~ Bertrand Russell (born May 18, 1872)- 3 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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Thus contemplation not only enlarges the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our actions and our affections: it makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled city at war with the rest. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC) but would either trim the "thus" or extend it thus:
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- The impartiality which, in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very same quality of mind which, in action, is justice, and in emotion is that universal love which can be given to all, and not only to those who are judged useful or admirable. Thus contemplation not only enlarges the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our actions and our affections: it makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled city at war with the rest. In this citizenship of the universe consists man's true freedom, and his liberation from the thraldom of narrow hopes and fears.
- Comment: Would prefer this longer quote. - InvisibleSun 22:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
- The impartiality which, in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very same quality of mind which, in action, is justice, and in emotion is that universal love which can be given to all, and not only to those who are judged useful or admirable. Thus contemplation not only enlarges the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our actions and our affections: it makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled city at war with the rest. In this citizenship of the universe consists man's true freedom, and his liberation from the thraldom of narrow hopes and fears.
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Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 4 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
- 1 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Aphaia 22:05, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such departures as a criticism of themselves. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
- 1 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for the others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish for ever. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
- 3 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 InvisibleSun 07:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
- 3 Aphaia 22:05, 17 May 2007 (UTC) (It reminds me Fichte's quote about dogmatism and criticism, perhaps Russel was influenced/inspired.)
- 3 because although I dislike dogmatism, it exists in many humans and is one of mankind's greatest follies. Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few find it difficult to admit the impossibility. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 22:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 22:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Aphaia 22:05, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something that he can understand. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 Kalki 19:27, 17 May 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
- 3 InvisibleSun 22:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
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In America everybody is of opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors. ~ Bertrand Russell
- 3 Ningauble 15:40, 23 May 2009 (UTC) a critical but instructive thought from the aptly named Unpopular Essays
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