Christoph Luxenberg Quotes

As Luxenberg's work has only recently been published we must await its scholarly assessment before we can pass any judgements. But if his analysis is correct then suicide bombers, or rather prospective martyrs, would do well to abandon their culture of death, and instead concentrate on getting laid 72 times in this world, unless of course they would really prefer chilled or white raisins, according to their taste, in the next. ~ Ibn Warraq

There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving the desires of the century, or even of the decade, before it has done so itself. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

One of our forefathers must have read a forbidden book. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Too oft is transient pleasure the source of long woes. ~ Christoph Martin Wieland

To be silent is sometimes an art, yet not so great a one as certain people would have us believe, who are wisest they are most silent. ~ Christoph Martin Wieland

Just as secrets have a way of breaking loose, memories often have a way of breaking down. They elude us, or aren't quite sharp enough, or fool us into remembering things that didn't quite happen that way. Yet much as a family inhabits a house, memories inhabit our stories, make them breathe, give them life. So we learn to live with the reality that what we remember is an imperfect version of what we know to be true. ~ Steve Luxenberg

I have nothing to do with comics. I know nothing about comics. I am aware of the importance of comics, but they're not within my world. Not because I feel that I'm above it, but just that micro-surgery is not in my world either. Is that a deficit or is that an advantage? ~ Christoph Waltz

Even Christoph Waltz's character, Colonel Landa in 'Inglourious Basterds', I never judged him. ~ Quentin Tarantino

Just as there are polysyllabic words that say very little, so there are also monosyllabic words of infinite meaning. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

I forget most of what I read, just as I do most of what I have eaten, but I know that both contribute no less to the conservation of my mind and my body on that account. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

You can't always do the extraordinary, in between you have to do the ordinary. Because if you didn't, what would constitute the extraordinary? ~ Christoph Waltz

- It is clear that we have to come down a bit from the high horse of reason on which we enjoy sitting. We have to be simple and take time to think how to make things understandable to the little ones. We have to become children again, and some find that too hard. ~ Johann Christoph Blumhardt

I only do what I like to do. ~ Christoph Waltz

A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

You see, my version of why anyone would want to become an actor is that it's some psychological fixation, something that happened in puberty that you didn't outgrow in time, which is normal. Nevertheless, if you make it a profession, it can be really neurotic. ~ Christoph Waltz

It's not the age that makes the man but the man the age. ~ Rudolf Christoph Eucken

It's a wonderful narrative device to bring someone from the outside and look through his eyes if you want to describe the absurdity and preposterous reality that is accepted amongst the ones who are inside. ~ Christoph Waltz

It makes a great difference by what path we come to a knowledge of certain things. If we begin in our youth with metaphysics and religion we can easily proceed along a series of rational conclusions that will lead us to the immortality of the soul. Not every other path will lead to this, at least not quite so easily. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

I had to learn how to drive a cement truck because there is a whole car chase with cement trucks, so I had to learn how to drive a cement truck. I don't like these things, but I'm not an idiot. I can do it. ~ Christoph Waltz

I think Pope Francis is a good shepherd and has great experience in following people in joyful, but also distressing situations and he knows what he is speaking about when he discusses how to accompany families in their lives toward joy and love. ~ Christoph Schonborn

Physics is the science of motion. ~ Christoph Schiller

I worked next to an elephant. And considering that she could step on your toes, it's a good idea to keep a certain distance. It's also a good idea to befriend the trainer. ~ Christoph Waltz

That's exactly what I'm driving at. 'Basterds' was interesting because it was, in a way, unfamiliar. I thought well, OK. Let's leave the comfort zone and just risk it. Why not? Because, exactly as you said, in a way, by taking that risk, I make up a little bit for my ignorance in the subject, or rather, the genre. ~ Christoph Waltz

Laughter is a most healthful exercise; it is one of the greatest helps to digestion with which I am acquainted; and the custom prevalent among our forefathers, of exciting it at table by jesters and buffoons, was in accordance with true medical principles. ~ Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland

Where the frontier of science once was is now the centre. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Diogenes, filthily attired, paced across the splendid carpets in Plato's dwelling. Thus, said he, do I trample on the pride of Plato. Yes, Plato replied, but only with another kind of pride. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Only an unsatisfied preference is bad. In other words, he argues that although it is good to have fulfilled whatever desires one might have, one is not better off having a fulfilled desire than having no desire at all. By way of example, consider the case in which we 'paint the tree nearest to Sydney Opera house red and give Kate a pill that makes her wish that the tree nearest to Sydney Opera House were red'*. Professor Fehige plausibly denies that we do Kate any favour in doing this. She is no better off than had we done nothing. What matters is not that people have satisfied desires but that they do not have unsatisfied ones. It is the avoidance of frustration that is important.

* Fehige, Christoph, 'A Pareto Principle for Possible People', 513–14. ~ David Benatar

I think motherhood is the noblest task of all, because you cannot do it at your convenience, or tailor it to suit your preferences. You have to be ready to give up everything when you take on this task: your time, restful nights, your hobbies, your pursuit of physical fitness, any beauty you may have had, and all of the private little pleasures you might have counted as a right, from late dinners and long soaks in the tub to weekend excursions and cycling trips ... I'm not saying you can't have any of these things, but you have to be ready to let them all go if you're going to have children and put them first. ~ Johann Christoph Arnold

Simplicity is not about making something without ornament, but rather about making something very complex, then slicing elements away, until you reveal the very essence. ~ Christoph Niemann

The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

People often think faith consists of forcing oneself to accept something that one does not and cannot understand. Often we call people believers if they just accept what others tell them. Some seek faith by denying reason and forcing themselves into something that has not yet become a personal experience. God requires a different faith, though. He is content if you believe what you can experience. Be faithful and hold on to what you have, not to what you do not have. ~ Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

It is commonly a dangerous thing for a man to have more sense than his neighbors. Socrates paid for his superiority with his life; and if Aristotle saved his skin, it was by taking to his heels in time. ~ Christoph Martin Wieland

Madness is a completely undervalued quality and I don't understand why people should hide it to conform to some boring version of themselves. ~ Christoph Fischer

Friendship is the holiest of gifts;
God can bestow nothing more sacred upon us!
It enhances every joy, mitigates every pain.
Everyone can have a friend,
Who himself knows how to be a friend. ~ Christoph August Tiedge

Without really trying, I have become a collector of other families' secrets. Whenever I tell someone about my detective work, the first question is invariably something like this: 'Can you tell me the secret?' Sure, I say. The next question often is: 'Want to hear my family's secret? ~ Steve Luxenberg

To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

It's surprising how many sleepless nights it takes to become an overnight success! ~ Christoph Martin