“The person who is unable to seduce people, is not able to save them either.“ Søren Kierkegaard From The Quotable Kierkegaard edited by Gordon Marino, p.32. Appropriated from Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks, Bruce H. Kirmmse, General Editor. Vols.1-6. Princeton University Press, 2007-12. Kierkegaard justifies seduction as a means to an end, if that end is… Read More
Kierkegaard on the qualification of untruth
“There is one view in life that holds that wherever the multitude is, there too, is the truth—that truth itself needs to have the multitude on its side. There is another view of life that holds that wherever the multitude is, there is untruth, so that even if every individual, silently and separately, possessed the… Read More
Seneca on writing
“I wish, my dear Lucilius, that you would not be too particular with regard to words and their arrangement; I have greater matters than these to commend to your care. You should seek what to write, rather than how to write it – and even that not for the purpose of writing but of feeling… Read More
Jacques Derrida on language
“As soon as there is language, generality has entered the scene.” Jacques Derrida Experience, by far, expresses itself better than language ever could. The moment we begin to describe that which we experience is the moment when the magic and the mystery of that experience begin to fade. John
Nietzsche on the “right” way
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” Friedrich Nietzsche If more of us were to adopt this idea, think of how much more willing we would be to listen to one another, to actually entertain those ideas not… Read More
Gary Cox on the perfect child for an existentialist
“The perfect child for an existentialist would be potty trained, addicted to cigarettes and able to discuss the finer points of phenomenological ontology.” Gary Cox From The Existentialist’s Guide to Death, the Universe and Nothingness, by Gary Cox. Hence, I have no children! Mostly, because I myself have a hard time discussing the finer points, hell, even the… Read More
Sharon Lebell on the value of naiveté
“The wisest among us appreciate the natural limits of our knowledge and have the mettle to preserve their naiveté. They understand how little all of us really know about anything. There is no such thing as conclusive, once-and-for-all knowledge. The wise do not confuse information or data, however prodigious or cleverly deployed, with comprehensive knowledge… Read More
Steinbeck on writing
“The craft or art of writing is the clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness. In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable. And sometimes if he is very fortunate and if the time is right, a very little of what he is trying to do trickles through — not ever much.”… Read More
Letter to a friend by Hunter S. Thompson
A 22 year old Hunter S. Thompson gives some surprisingly wise advice to a friend in regards to how to find meaning and purpose in life. Read More
Seneca on not letting others tell us how we feel
“Do me a favour, when men surround you and try to talk you into believing that you are unhappy, to consider not what you hear but what you yourself feel, and to take counsel with your feelings and question yourself independently, because you know your own affairs better than anyone else does.” Seneca Seneca (2014-10-23).… Read More
