Quotes about Philosophy

The flesh endures the storms of the present alone, the mind those of the past and future as well.

I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven.

No consciousness that we would recognize as consciousness. Not awareness, as far as we can make out, of a self with a history. What I mind is what tends to come next. They have no consciousness therefore. Therefore what? Therefore we are free to use them for our own ends Therefore we are free to kill them? Why? What is so special about the form of consciousness that we recognize that makes killing a bearer of it a crime while killing an animal goes unpunished?

When did a sheep last die of old age? Sheep do not own themselves, do not own their lives. They exist to be used, every last ounce of them, their flesh to be eaten, their bones to be crushed and fed to poultry. Nothing escapes, except perhaps the gall bladder, which no one will eat. Descartes should have thought of that. The soul, suspended in the dark, bitter gall, hiding.

We partake of the ideal but we also make poo.

When all else fail, philosophize.

No matter what you do it's bound to be a waste of time in the end so you might as well go mad.

Mind is the Maker, for no reason at all, for all this creation, created to fall.

The truth of the matter is, you die, all you do is die, and yet you live, yes you live, and that's no Harvard lie.

And this is not the happiness of a magazine writer who sends in his gay little philosophy of life to the editor for the one paragraph spread in front of the magazine: This is a serious happiness full of doubts and strengths. I wonder if happiness is possible. It is a state of mind, but I'd hate to be a bore all my life, if only because of those I love around me. Happiness can change into unhappiness just for the sake of change.

Sometimes I'd yell questions at the rocks and trees, and across gorges, or yodel - What is the meaning of the void? The answer was perfect silence, so I knew.

All those Zen Masters throwing young kids in the mud because they can't answer their silly word questions That's because they want them to discover that mud is better than words, boy.