All Quotes By Tag: Paradox

“Getting divorced just because you don’t love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do. ”

“Men have two greatest fears: the first fear is the fear of being needed, and the second fear is the fear of not being needed.”

“Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.”

“From time to timeI once wondered how one wanders from time to timeAnd think up the paradox lineSpeak of Epoch’s crimeOh I lied, it hasn’t happened yetBut bet you better believe it’s such a habit thatI just said that in a past mindset”

“Ah, it is impossible.””No, it is only very difficult – so very difficult that I shall be sure to accomplish it!”

“When you perceive a truth, look for the balancing truth.”

“There is a beauty in paradox when it comes to talking about things of ultimate concern. Paradox works against our tendency to stay superficial in our faith, or to rest on easy answers or categorical thinking. It breaks apart our categories by showing the inadequacy of them and by pointing to a reality larger than us, the reality of gloria, of light, of beyond-the-beyond. I like to call it paradoxology—the glory of paradox, paradox-doxology—which takes us somewhere we wouldn’t be capable of going if we thought we had everything all wrapped up, if we thought we had attained full comprehension. The commitment to embracing the paradox and resisting the impulse to categorize people (ourselves included) is one of the ways we follow Jesus into that larger mysterious reality of light and love.”

“Here is the paradox of the thing we call freedom: the farther we wander from God and the more we try to break free from him, the more enchained we become. Every step we take away from Him leads us farther from the freedom of Jesus and closer to the cruelty of Cain.”

“It is so difficult – at least, I find it difficult – to understand people who speak the truth.”

“Man has 2 common problems with God: the one is that there is evil in the world; the other is that free will is limited. The one, he is charging that the world is too evil; the other is that it is not evil enough.”

“No one knows for sure that that tomorrow won’t come, but most people assume that tomorrow will still exist as usual. This is Toba’s Paradox, which means, hope overcomes doubt.”

“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself — that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink.”

“Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.”

“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.”

“Omnipotent-benevolent simply means that God is all-powerful and well-meaning.”I understand the concept. It’s just . . . there seems to be a contradiction.”Yes. The contradiction is pain. Man’s starvation, war, sickness . . .”Exactly!’ Chartrand knew the camerlengo would understand. ‘Terrible things happen in this world. Human tragedy seems like proof that God could not possibly be both all-powerful and well-meaning. If He loves us and has the power to change our situation, He would prevent our pain, wouldn’t He?’The camerlengo frowned. ‘Would He?’Chartrand felt uneasy. Had he overstepped his bounds? Was this one of those religious questions you just didn’t ask? ‘Well . . . if God loves us, and He can protect us, He would have to. It seems He is either omnipotent and uncaring, or benevolent and powerless to help.”Do you have children, Lieutenant?’Chartrand flushed. ‘No, signore.”Imagine you had an eight-year-old son . . . would you love him?”Of course.”Would you let him skateboard?’Chartrand did a double take. The camerlengo always seemed oddly “in touch” for a clergyman. ‘Yeah, I guess,’ Chartrand said. ‘Sure, I’d let him skateboard, but I’d tell him to be careful.”So as this child’s father, you would give him some basic, good advice and then let him go off and make his own mistakes?”I wouldn’t run behind him and mollycoddle him if that’s what you mean.”But what if he fell and skinned his knee?”He would learn to be more careful.’The camerlengo smiled. ‘So although you have the power to interfere and prevent your child’s pain, you would choose to show your love by letting him learn his own lessons?”Of course. Pain is part of growing up. It’s how we learn.’The camerlengo nodded. ‘Exactly.”