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Quotes about philosophy

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The world is unfathomable. And so are we, and so is every being that exists in this world.
CCCarlos Castaneda1925–1998The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe (1998), Quotations from “Tales of Power” (Chapter 10)
When lost in a forest go always down hill. When lost in a philosophy or doctrine go upward.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914Epigrams, p. 354
- Advice
Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.
David Hume1711–1776A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), Book 1: Of the understanding, Part 4, Section 7
- Religion
Can we actually “know” the universe? My God, it’s hard enough finding your way around in Chinatown.
Woody Allenborn 1935Getting Even (1971), “My Philosophy”
- Comedy
Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art; it arises in hypothesis and flows into achievement.
Will Durant1885–1981The Story of Philosophy (1926)
- Science
The problem inherent in the surface of things, and only in the surface of things, is the heart of things.
Leo Strauss1899–1973Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), p. 13
What you are basically, deep, deep down, far, far in, is simply the fabric and structure of existence itself.
Alan Watts1915–1973The Nature of Consciousness
It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Journal entry (1 May 1915)
It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
Denis Diderot1713–1784Elements of Physiology (1875), “Will, Freedom”
Science does not stand still, and neither does philosophy, although the latter has a tendency to walk in circles.
Peter Singerborn 1946The Expanding Circle (2011 edition), Afterword, p. 187
- Science
I am fascinated by the idea that our civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.
Werner Herzogborn 1942Herzog on Herzog (2002)
What if nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream? Or what’s worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
Woody Allenborn 1935Without Feathers (1975)
- Comedy
The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning — in other words, of absurdity — the more energetically meaning is sought.
Václav Havel1936–2011Disturbing the Peace (1986), Ch. 5
We do not belong to this material world that science constructs for us. We are not in it; we are outside. We are only spectators.
Erwin Schrödinger1887–1961Nature and the Greeks (1954)
- Science
True philosophy must start from the most immediate and comprehensive fact of consciousness: “I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live.”
Albert Schweitzer1875–1965Kulturphilosophie (1923), Vol. 2: Civilization and Ethics, Chapter 26 “The Civilizing Power of the Ethics of Reverence for Life”
- Life & Death