All Quotes By Tag: Paradox
“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.”
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“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.”
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“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.”
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“Philosophers, for example, often fail to recognize that their remarks about the universe apply also to themselves and their remarks. If the universe is meaningless, so is the statement that it is so.”
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“Nobody comes here anymore, its too crowded”
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“I am Dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it.”
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“He hoped and prayed that there wasn’t an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn’t an afterlife.”
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“Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.”
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“If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?”
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“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
“The Universe is very, very big.It also loves a paradox. For example, it has some extremely strict rules.Rule number one: Nothing lasts forever.Not you or your family or your house or your planet or the sun. It is an absolute rule. Therefore when someone says that their love will never die, it means that their love is not real, for everything that is real dies. Rule number two: Everything lasts forever.”
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“Two wrongs don’t make a right, but don’t three lefts make a right? Two wrongs don’t make a right, but don’t two negatives make a positive?”
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“Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.”
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