Tags Existentialism Quotes

But there was never any knowing or any certitude; the time to come always had more than one possible direction. One could not even give up hope. The wind would blow, the sand would settle, and in some as yet unforeseen manner time would bring about a change which could only be terrifying, since it would not be a continuation of the present. ~ Paul Bowles

We have an infinite supply of information and yet we cannot read. ~ R.F. Georgy

Peter Koestenbaum also elaborated on the importance of others, particularly romantic lovers, in the existential context. Love is the choice to create and reflect each other mutually, verifying and illuminating each other's uniqueness because this is how we learn that we exist and who we are. A key theme of authentic love is resistance between, but welcoming of, two independent consciousness acting like positive and negative magnets within a single magnetic field. ~ Skye Cleary

Biology is run by intricate cellular mechanisms. Cellular mechanisms are run by Nature. Thus, the more we attempt to understand Nature, the more we get closer to our existential properties. ~ Abhijit Naskar

No more Guernicas, no more Auschwitzes, no more Hiroshimas, no more Setifs. Hooray! But what about the impossibility of living, what about this stifling mediocrity and this absence of passion? What about the jealous fury in which the rankling of never being ourselves drives us to imagine that other people are happy? What about this feeling of never really being inside your own skin? ~ Raoul Vaneigem

Afternoon experience: autographing exposed legs, outstretched in lines like matchsticks.
Afternoon epiphany: Those with smooth, hairless legs would soon lose all evidence of my contact when the sweat causes the ink from the marker to run. I am ephemeral. Skepticism would be the reaction to those with thick leg hair, as their curls frazzle the lines of my name outward illegibly. Among the scaly-legged, I flaked off immediately, like I never was at all. ~ Benson Bruno

The tragedy is not that we are alone, but that we cannot be. At times I would give anything in the world to no longer be connected by anything to this universe of men. ~ Albert Camus

If I live to be sixteen, I shall never fully understand the rich complexities of human nature. Not sure that I want to, either. It would be a lifetime's work, and brooding over the mysteries of existence is bad for your health. Look what happens to philosophers. Most of them end up barking mad, taking to the bottle, or becoming professors of existentialism at obscure universities. ~ Peter Mayle

This characteristic of Dasein's being this "that it is" is veiled in its "whence" and "whither. ~ Martin Heidegger

What are all the thoughts rattling in your mind when you're not listening to the answers to questions you ask?
-Jo, Boom ~ Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

Sooner or later we all lose our loved ones. We all have to suffer, every last one of us. ~ Tom Perrotta

There's no death, there's no existence. It's all crock. ~ Supreeth Mithunkul

Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society. ~ Anita Brookner

We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snow and blinding mist, through which we get glimpses now and then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? 'Be strong and of a good courage.' Act for the best, hope for the best, and take what comes ... If death ends all, we cannot meet death better. ~ Fitzjames Stephen

How recognisable, how familiar to us, is the man so beautifully portrayed in the 'groundwork', who confronted even with Christ turns away to consider the judgement of his own conscience and to hear the voice of his own reason...This man is with us still, free, independent, lovely, powerful, rational, responsible, brave, the hero of so many novels and books of moral philosophy. The raison detre of this attractive but misleading creature is not far to seek. He is the offspring of the age of science, confidently rational, and yet increasingly aware of his alienation from the material universe which his discoveries reveal... his alienation from the material universe which his discoveries reveal..his alienation is without cure... It is not such a long step from Kant to Neitzsche to existentialism, and the Anglo-Saxon ethical doctrines which in some ways closely resemble it.... In fact, Kant's man had already received a glorious incarnation nearly a century earlier in the work of Milton: his proper name is Lucifer. ~ Iris Murdoch

I took a test in Existentialism. I left all the answers blank and got 100. ~ Woody Allen

Good is god and discrimination is demon. ~ Abhijit Naskar

This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression - and with all this yet to die. ~ Ernest Becker

I know by my own experience how, from a stranger met by chance, there may come an irresistible appeal which overturns the habitual perspectives just as a gust of wind might tumble down the panels of a stage set - what had seemed near becomes infinitely remote and what had seemed distant seems to be close. ~ Gabriel Marcel

Influence is like the tide. Sometimes it goes, sometimes, however, it comes. ~ Constantina Maud

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth. ~ Umberto Eco

In comparison with capitalism, which reconstituted man as an economic animal; in comparison with Marxism, which found man an object made up of organized matter; in comparison with catholicism, which saw him as the unwitting plaything of an imperious unseen power (the Divine Will); in comparison with dialectical materialism, which saw him as unwitting plaything of the deterministic evolution of the means of production- existentialism made man a god ~ Ali Shariati

Concerning Existentialism, I've heard many persuasive arguments; however with infinity in every direction, including time, what I don't understand is why I won this crapshoot. ~ Hank Bracker

It came without ribbions, It cames without tags, It came without packages, boxes, or bags. Christmas can't be bought from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more ... ~ Dr. Seuss

I found earthquakes, even when I was in them, deeply satisfying, abruptly revealed evidence of the scheme in action. That the schemes could destroy the works of man might be a personal regret but remained, in the larger picture I had come to recognize, a matter of abiding indifference. No eye was on the sparrow. No eye was watching me. ~ Joan Didion

No! No! I refuse to believe it. I'm sure you've often wished there was an after-life.'

Of course I had, I told him. Everybody has that wish at times. But that had no more importance than wishing to be rich, or to swim very fast, or have a better-shaped mouth. ~ Albert Camus

Names didn't matter; names were for toe tags and arrest warrants, not for revenge. ~ Chris Leek

I started out a human being. But pretty much had all the humanity wrung out of me after passing the Bar and practicing law for ten years. Not sure what I am now. ~ Jeffrey Rasley

If Los Angeles is a woman reclining billboard model and the San Fernando Valley is her teenybopper sister, then New York is their cousin. Her hair is dyed autumn red or aubergine or Egyptian henna, depending on her mood. Her skin is pale as frost and she wears beautiful Jil Sander suits and Prada pumps on which she walks faster than a speeding taxi (when it is caught in rush hour, that is). Her lips are some unlikely shade of copper or violet, courtesy of her local MAC drag queen makeup consultant. She is always carrying bags of clothes, bouquets of roses, take-out Chinese containers, or bagels. Museum tags fill her pockets and purses, along with perfume samples and invitations to art gallery openings. When she is walking to work, to ward off bums or psychos, her face resembles the Statue of Liberty, but at home in her candlelit, dove-colored apartment, the stony look fades away and she smiles like the sterling roses she has brought for herself to make up for the fact that she is single and her feet are sore. ~ Francesca Lia Block

I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted. ~ Jack Kerouac

Surprising condition, this, of our existence! To live is to feel ourselves fatally obliged to exercise our liberty, to decide what we are going to be in this world. Not for a single moment is our activity of decision allowed to rest. Even when in desperation we abandon ourselves to whatever may happen, we have decided not to decide. ~ Ortega Y Gasset

Both Bratva and thieves in law would like to call themselves nihilists and anarchists because they don't support the established government, but they govern nonetheless, and you can't be an anarchist unless you follow its rule. Crime and anarchy are no more synonymous than nihilism and existentialism, or fatalism and determinism; so many isms there was bound to be a schism. ~ Tanya Thompson

The most intelligent people disguise the fact that they are intelligent. Wise men do not wear name tags. The more people talk about their own skills, the more desperate they are - their work should speak for itself. ~ Tsugumi Ohba

The cultural problem was 'the fallacy of insignificance', and it was a philosophical form of this fallacy that had somehow landed existentialism in a cul de sac. ~ Colin Wilson

We filled out emergency 'next-of-kin notification' forms and were issued metal dog tags attached to a chain to be worn around the neck. Legal officers assisted each of us in drafting a last will and testament and power of attorney." (Page 135) ~ David B. Crawley

How hollow to have no secrets left; you shake yourself and nothing rattles. You're boneless as an anemone. ~ Andrew Sean Greer

Mystics would tell you, you are not your body - materialists would tell you, you are only your body - whereas the existential fact of human life is that, you are not your body - you are not your mind - you are nothing - for there is nothing constant about you at any given moment that you can say that you are that - your mind is constantly changing - your body is constantly changing - you as a bio-psychological creature are constantly evolving - if there is anything that's constant about you, it's change itself - therefore, what you really are, is an eternal force of change. ~ Abhijit Naskar

I implore, make it clear to me
Just once -
Should you be only
mind, intellect, and soul
where should I go
if I wanted
to merge with you? ~ Suman Pokhrel

We were curious. We went seeking our tribe. And yes, I know there are people who'll say I'm crazy. But just look at those people. Rag, Tag & Bobtail to a man. I'll tell you about them, shall I? They're victims of a conditioning in which authority figures such as parents, teachers, the media, religious leaders, politicians and even their mates – especially their mates actually - define what they think. Their cultural values define their beliefs and ultimately the way they perceive themselves, and so when they call me crazy, I take it as quite a compliment.

My mind, trust me, is deeper than most Rag Tags would ever dare to swim. ~ Karl Wiggins