Every public action, which is not customary, either is wrong, or, if it is right, is a dangerous precedent. It follows that nothing should ever be done for the first time.
I don't accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of rock. If someone says to me 'Well, you haven't been there, have you? You haven't seen it for yourself, so my view that it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid' - then I can't even be bothered to argue. There is such a thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted radically. God used to be the best explanation we'd got, and we've now got vastly better ones. God is no longer an explanation of anything, but has instead become something that would itself need an insurmountable amount of explaining. So I don't think that being convinced that there is no god is as irrational or arrogant a point of view as belief that there is. I don't think the matter calls for even-handedness at all.
Douglas AdamsBritish science fiction writer and humorist1952 - 2001
We do not ‘come into’ this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean ‘waves,’ the universe ‘peoples.’ Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe.
Alan WattsBritish American author and lecturer1915 - 1973
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds; and until we know what has been or will be the peculiar combination of outward with inward facts, which constitute a man’s critical actions, it will be better not to think ourselves wise about his character.
George EliotEnglish novelist, essayist, poet and journalist1819 - 1880
There are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind. This is one such period, if you haven't noticed already.
Robert Anton WilsonAmerican author, futurist, and agnostic mystic1932 - 2007
Last night I had a dream, when I got to Africa, I had one hell of a rumble.
I had to beat Tarzan’s behind first, For claiming to be King of the Jungle.
For this fight, I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning and throw thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad. Just last week, I murdered a rock, Injured a stone, Hospitalised a brick.
I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.
I’m so fast, man, I can run through a hurricane and don't get wet.
When George Foreman meets me, he’ll pay his debt.
I can drown the drink of water, and kill a dead tree,
Wait till you see Muhammad Ali.
Dickinson, E. (1924). The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown.
If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
Samuel JohnsonEnglish writer and lexicographer1709 - 1784
Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one,
Have oft-times no connexion. Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men,
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.
The Task (1785), book VI, 'The Winter Walk at Noon'
What is hope? nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of.
Lord ByronEnglish Romantic poet and lyricist1788 - 1824
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’