B3nth Quotes & Sayings

The historian, like everyone else, is forever trapped in the egocentric predicament, and 'presentism' is his original sin. — Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

How little we have, I thought, between us and the waiting cold, the mystery, death
a strip of beach, a hill, a few walls of wood or stone, a little fire
and tomorrow's sun, rising and warming us, tomorrow's hope of peace and better weather ... What if tomorrow vanished in the storm? What if time stood still? And yesterday
if once we lost our way, blundered in the storm
would we find yesterday again ahead of us, where we had thought tomorrow's sun would rise? — Robert Nathan

A mind does not receive truth as a chest receives jewels that are put into it, but as the stomach takes up food into the system. It is no longer food, but flesh, and is assimilated. The appetite and the power of digestion measure our right to knowledge. He has it who can use it. As soon as our accumulation overruns our invention or power to use, the evils of intellectual gluttony begin, - congestion of the brain, apoplexy and strangulation. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

The nights I don't sleep it's because there's a higher calling telling me to stand guard. — Charlie Sheen

The more you limit your choices, thereby limiting thought, the more you can simplify your life and focus your energy elsewhere. — Cory Booker

I've always loved painting and drawing. I wish I'd developed it more and exhibited. — Mary Quant

When the Buddha declares there is escape from sorrow, the escape is Nirvana, which is not a place, like heaven, but a psychological state of mind in which you are are released from desire and fear. And your life becomes harmonious, centered and affirmative. Even with suffering.

The Buddhists speak of the bodhisattva - the one who knows immortality, yet voluntarily enters into the field of the fragmentation of time and participates willingly and joyfully in the sorrows of the world. — Joseph Campbell

May the blind see the forms,
May the deaf hear sounds.

May the naked find clothing,
The hungry find food;
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks.

May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy;
May the forlorn find new hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.

May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed;
May the powerless find power,
And may the people think of benefiting one another — Santideva

The best introduction to the psychological world of one of the most important and gifted writers of our time. — Italo Calvino

No. The dream was just my subconscious mind's way of drawing attention to something I'd seen without perceiving its significance. — Jonathan L. Howard

The twilight that surrounds the border-land of old romance. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Due to the reliance on the old heavy industries in many parts of the country, it makes perfect sense that we need to spend more money per head of population on welfare support in Scotland. — Iain Duncan Smith

At present, [in the desert] an exasperating clarity reigns. The sky has become less visible than water in a jar. Black peaks, spines of granite, a twisted tree are sculpted in this atmosphere basted with reflections. All that remains: a countryside of imperishable contours. — Mohammed Dib

Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it. — Leon Trotsky