User:BurningLibrary/Inbox/Archive

A page for archived quotes, which is reset from time to time. According to Wikiquote:User page, users "can create subpages … by adding a slash (/) and the name of the subpage after [their] username". This is such a page.

Quotes

Wisdom

אַל־תְּהִי חָכָם בְּעֵינֶיךָ
Do not be wise in your own eyes.
- Proverbs 3:7 (JPS translation)

And the signs of a person making progress: he never criticizes, praises, blames or points the finger, or represents himself as knowing or amounting to anything.
- Epictetus: The Enchiridion, ch. 48 (Robert Dobbin translation)

Thought

ἕκαστον γὰρ δένδρον ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου καρποῦ γινώσκεται· οὐ γὰρ ἐξ ἀκανθῶν συλλέγουσιν σῦκα, οὐδὲ ἐκ βάτου σταφυλὴν τρυγῶσιν.
For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
- Luke 6:44 (KJV translation)

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.
- James Allen: As a Man Thinketh, "Effect of Thought on Circumstances"

Language

True words aren't eloquent;
eloquent words aren't true.
Wise men don't need to prove their point;
men who need to prove their point aren't wise.
- Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, ch. 81 (Stephen Mitchell translation)

"The students cheated" presupposes that the students exist and claims openly that they cheated. "The students' cheating distressed the faculty" presupposes the existence of the cheating and claims only that it distressed the faculty. This is an ancient technique of the political speech, the propaganda message, and the sales pitch, and you need to recognize it when it's coming at you, even if it goes by very fast.
- Suzette Haden Elgin: The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense, p. 115

My Copenhagen Thetan had been playing what I call "Virkelighetsleken" (The Reality Game). Her (perception of) reality was that I had to get her to understand that I didn't want the book or I would have to buy it. My (perception of) reality was that she had to get me to understand that I wanted it or she would have to keep it.
- Ray: "The Art of Handling Thetans" (archived)

Fraud

Thieves, the goddamn lot of you! Thieves and leeches! Fucking vampires sucking the will from people whose only goddamn crimes were to be frightened and tired! And you don't help them! You don't listen to them! They get no truth from you! All you do is scare them with stories of something that doesn't exist! And you bastards are winning! Hundreds more of you every day!
- Spider Jerusalem, in Transmetropolitan #6

Guru

Which brings me to my point. With each of your support and assistance, I will succeed where they failed. People are looking for a savior now more than ever! I can see a future where we can deliver them that savior. And with it, spoils that will surpass those of any other religion! Be prosperous, my children. I'll join you again on thursday to outline our strategy for the next quarter.
- D. Gavin Taylor, in Witchblade #22

Thomas: Shouldn't you feed the lepers, Supply Side Jesus?
Supply Side Jesus: No, Thomas. That would just make them lazy.
James: Then shouldn't you at least heal them, Supply Side Jesus?
Supply Side Jesus: No, James. Leprosy is a matter of personal responsibility. If people knew I was healing the lepers, there would be no incentive to avoid leprosy.
- Al Franken: The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus

Religion

Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.
- David Hume: A Treatise of Human Nature