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September 14, 2008

philosophy and religion

A little philosophy makes men aetheists: A great deal reconciles them to religion.

--Francis Bacon

Posted by ali at 12:29 PM | TrackBack

i asked for very little from life

I asked for very little from life, and even this little was denied me. A nearby field, a ray of sunlight, a little bit of calm along with a bit of bread, not to feel oppressed by the knowledge that I exist, not to demand anything from others, and not to have others demand anything from me - this was denied me, like the spare change we might deny a beggar not because we are mean-hearted but because we don't feel like unbuttoning our coat.

--Pessoa - The Book of Disquiet

Posted by ali at 12:28 PM | TrackBack

an atmosphere of silence

Every deed and every relationship is surrounded by an atmosphere of silence. Friendship needs no words- it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness.

--Dag Hammarskjöld

Posted by ali at 12:25 PM | TrackBack

September 5, 2008

boredom

That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy; that their satisfaction achieves nothing but a painless condition in which he is only given over to boredom; and that boredom is a direct proof that existence is in itself valueless, for boredom is nothing other than the sensation of the emptiness of existence.

--Schopenhauer, On the Vanity of Existence

Posted by ali at 11:20 PM | TrackBack