Richard Robinson Quotes

In the Christian religion, though perhaps not in any other, we frequently find a conception of god that is selfcontradictory and therefore corresponds to nothing. That is the conception formed by the following three propositions taken together:
1. God is all-powerful.
2. God is all-benevolent.
3. There is much misery in the world.
A god who was all-powerful but left much misery in the world would not be all-benevolent. An all-benevolent god in a world containing much misery would not be an all-powerful god. A world containing a god who was both all-powerful and all-benevolent would contain no misery.
Here, then, we have a mathematical proof bearing on a common religious doctrine. Anyone who is confident that he frequently comes across misery in the world may conclude with equal confidence that there is no such thing as an all-powerful and all-benevolent god. And this mathematically disposes of official Christianity, as has long been known. ~ Richard Robinson

[Obituary of atheist philosopher Richard Robinson]
An Atheist's Values is one of the best short accounts of liberalism (a term Robinson accepted) and humanism (a term he ignored) produced during the present century, all the more powerful for its lucidity and moderation, its wit and wisdom. It may now seem old-fashioned, but during those confused alarms of struggle and fight between the ignorant armies of left and right, thousands of readers must have taken inspiration from Richard Robinson's rational defence of rationalism.
It is a pity that it is now out of print, when there is still so much nonsense and so little sense in the world. ~ Nicolas Walter

I'd love to have a big old hug with Richard Simmons. ~ Blake Shelton

I have a friend who's an artist, and he sometimes takes a view which I don't agree with. He'll hold up a flower and say, "Look how beautiful it is," and I'll agree. But then he'll say, "I, as an artist, can see how beautiful a flower is. But you, as a scientist, take it all apart and it becomes dull." I think he's kind of nutty. [...] There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts. ~ Richard Feynman

A play gets on Broadway by fluke. And you don't even start out with that ambition. When I do a play, the intention is just to put it up somewhere. ~ Richard Greenberg

We actually respond to one another's energy more than to people's exact words or actions. In any situation, your taking or giving of energy is what you are actually doing. Everybody can feel, suffer, or enjoy the difference, but few can exactly say what it is that is happening. Why do I feel drawn or repelled? What we all desire and need from one another, of course, is that life energy called eros! It always draws, creates, and connects things. ~ Richard Rohr

In matters of affection, the rules of engagement at Empire High were detailed yet unambiguous, an extension of procedures established in junior high, a set of guidelines that couldn't have been clearer if they'd been posted on the schoolhouse door. If you were a girl and your heart inclined toward a particular boy, you had one of your girlfriends make inquiries from one of that boy's friends. Such contact represented the commencement of a series of complex negotiations, the opening rounds of which were handled by friends. Boy's friend A might report to Girl's friend B that the boy in question considered her a fox, or, if he felt particularly strongly, a major fox. Those experienced in these matters knew that it was wise to proceed cautiously, since too much ardor could delay things for weeks. The girl in question might be in negotiations with other parties, and no boy wanted to be on record as considering a girl a major fox only to discover that she considered him merely cool. Friends had to be instructed carefully about how much emotional currency they could spend, since rogue emotions led to inflation, lessening the value of everyone's feelings. Once a level of affection within the comfort zone of both parties was agreed upon, the principals could then meet for the exchange of mementos - rings, jackets, photos, key chains - to seal the deal, always assuming that seconds had properly represented the lovers to begin with. ~ Richard Russo

There is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death. This suggests to me that it is not at all inevitable and that it is only a matter of time before biologists discover what it is that is causing us the trouble. ~ Richard P. Feynman

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion. ~ Richard M. Nixon

It's not when you start that makes your success in the world, but when you quit. ~ Richard Bach

To be with Derek Jacobi and Stellan Skarsgard, it's a master class in acting every day. ~ Richard Madden

I'm not approachable by someone who says, "Let's try some drugs," or something like that. I'm absolutely close-minded about that kind of thing. But I'm wide open to anyone who says, "I've been wondering why we're here and where we're going, and I've got a few answers, but I wondered if anything ever happened to you that suggests ... " Then they have me, and I become a chatterbox and can just talk away literally for days. ~ Richard Bach

A short story is something that I think can be intuited and envisioned and held in your mind almost at once. ~ Richard Russo

All frauds, like the wall daubed with untempered mortar ... always tend to the decay of what they are devised to support. ~ Richard Whately

Those who are not true leaders will just affirm people at their own immature level. ~ Richard Rohr

I was too young and naive then to link up the meaning of those ridiculingly defunct tennis shoes that I was forced to wear with the reality that we were on Welfare and Welfare was not designed to provide a child with any pride in its existence. ~ Richard Brautigan

Shut the F--- up and create your f---ing art. ~ Garrett Robinson

In the case of Stalinism, people actually distorted science because it was for the good of the Communist Party. ~ Richard Dawkins

Stubbs may have envisaged the skeleton inside the horse, but most of us do not ~ Richard Adams

If the king had given me for my own
Paris, his citadel,
And I for that must leave alone
Her whom I love so well,
I'd say then to the Crown
Take back your glittering town
My darling is more fair, I swear.
My darling is more fair. ~ Richard Wilbur

I think the humor of double puns is incredible. ~ Richard Lederer

Civilized yards are all alike. Every wild yard is wild in its own way. ~ Richard Powers

It's said that we can all choose our own destiny. But sometimes, for a special few, destiny has no choice but to choose for you. ~ Steve M. Robinson Jr.

Religion has been a powerful weapon in the hands of governments, in the hands of priests, in the hands of kings who have used it as a weapon to keep down the populace. It is a wonderful way of disciplining people and making them do what you want, to tell them that if they don't do what you want they will, for example, go to Hell. ~ Richard Dawkins

Rockets fired by the Taliban generally aren't guided. ~ Richard Engel

Nature's heart beats strong amid the hills. ~ Richard Monckton Milnes Houghton

I'm a fan of Hugh Kenner, Richard Ellman, Lionel Trilling and Frank Kermode. All these people have taught me how to read - but perhaps, above all literary critics, I'm indebted to Wayne Booth (several people have suggested to me that I'm trying to reinvent "ethical criticism"). ~ Philip Kitcher

In 1969 the Khmer Rouge numbered only about 4,000. By 1975 their numbers were enough to defeat the government forces. Their victory was greatly helped by the American attack on Cambodia, which was carried out as an extension of the Vietnam War. In 1970 a military coup led by Lon Nol, possibly with American support, overthrew the government of Prince Sihanouk, and American and South Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia.

One estimate is that 600,000 people, nearly 10 per cent of the Cambodian population, were killed in this extension of the war. Another estimate puts the deaths from the American bombing at 1000,000 peasants. From 1972 to 1973, the quantity of bombs dropped on Cambodia was well over three times that dropped on Japan in the Second World War.

The decision to bomb was taken by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger and was originally justified on the grounds that North Vietnamese bases had been set up in Cambodia. The intention (according to a later defence by Kissinger's aide, Peter W. Rodman) was to target only places with few Cambodians: 'From the Joint Chiefs' memorandum of April 9, 1969, the White House selected as targets only six base areas minimally populated by civilians. The target areas were given the codenames BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER, SUPPER, SNACK, and DESSERT; the overall programme was given the name MENU.' Rodman makes the point that SUPPER, for instance, had troop concentrations, anti-aircraft, artillery, rocket and mortar positions, ~ Jonathan Glover

I discovered that being someone you are not is often easier than living with the person you are. ~ Richard Wagamese

I wish I could be an example to you ... "
I knew that I had conquered him, had rid myself of him mentally and emotionally; but I wanted to be sure.
"You are not an example to me; you could never be," I spat at him. "You're a warning. ~ Richard Wright

Whether he'll follow some gaudy, hysterical leader who'll promise rashly to fill the void in him, or whether he'll come to an understanding with the millions of his kindred fellow workers under trade-union or revolutionary guidance depends upon the future drift of events in America. But, ~ Richard Wright

Richard knew he was fighting for his life, and he was terribly happy. ~ Ellen Kushner

And they were deeply moved not so much by the poetry as by their sensitivity to poetry; not so much by the genius of the poem as by their wisdom in understanding the poem; not in knowing the poem but in knowing the poem demonstrated the higher side of themselves and of the Japanese spirit - ~ Richard Flanagan

I'm dying to do something sci-fi! I would love to be on a spaceship and firing a laser gun! Something like that would be really awesome. Or something with dinosaurs. Or preferably both at once. ~ Richard Madden

That's why you aren't hearing from anyone out there. That's why the great silence persists. There are many other living intelligences out there, no doubt, but they can't leave their home planets any more than we can, because life is a planetary expression, and can only survive on its home planet." "But ~ Kim Stanley Robinson

The price of gaining such an accurate theory has been the erosion of our common sense. ~ Richard Feynman

She [Susan Lucci] was extraordinary. She wouldn't look at the scene until you walked in to rehearse it. It was amazing to me. That's the impression I got anyway. ~ Richard Masur

I admire Calvin more than I do any of the Calvinists, Edwards included. ~ Marilynne Robinson

There has to be a womp on the side of the head that defeats and undercuts this game of performance. It has to fall apart. Now unfortunately, that very often does not happen until what I call the second half of life, when there's been enough death in the family and you start experiencing your own physical deterioration. ~ Richard Rohr

Destiny knows no compromise, only consequences. ~ Eliza Serena Robinson

Richard couldn't adorn David's ears with jewels and doubted very much he'd want them. Even the plainest gifts would be attention-grabbing, inappropriate, dangerous. Richard would just have to give his valet the world instead. ~ K.J. Charles

And Sarah still looked like the sexiest librarian on earth, which is as those of you who frequent libraries know means very sexy indeed, but with that added owlish touch that drives you wild. ~ Kim Stanley Robinson

Our experience is fragmentary. Its parts don't add up. They don't even belong in the same calculation. Sometimes it is hard to believe they are all parts of one thing. Nothing makes sense until we realize that experience does not accumulate like money, or memories, or like years and frailties. ~ Marilynne Robinson

Even an unsuccessful Olympic bid can be the source of change within a city if organizers adhere to their vision. ~ Richard Attias

In quiet moments when you think about it, you recognize what is critically important in life and what isn't. Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential. ~ Richard G. Scott

If we don't want temptation to follow us, we shouldn't act as if we are interested. No one ever fell over a precipice who never went near one. ~ Richard L. Evans

Always strive to excel, but only on weekends. ~ Richard M. Rorty

I've been a teenager. I even feel like I've been a 16-year-old girl. So I have a lot of voices inside my head! ~ Richard LaGravenese