Quotes & Sayings About Kurtz

How unlucky she was--born with adventurous hooves that were stuck inside a pen. But she wasn't giving up. If there was a way out, Flora said to herself, she would find it. — Chris Kurtz

12/18/89 Calvin asks Hobbes if he'll help him write a book. Calvin says this book will be like historical fiction. He's writing a fictional autobiography. He tells Hobbes it's the story of his life with a lot of parts completely made up. Hobbes asks why he'd want to make up his whole life. Calvin replies that in his book, he has a flame thrower. — Steve Kurtz

The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It's a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It's natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that's not the best thing for making quality films. — Gary Kurtz

Human life has no meaning independent of itself. There is no cosmic force or deity to give it meaning or significance. There is no ultimate destiny for man. Such a belief is an illusion of humankind's infancy. The meaning of life is what we choose to give it. Meaning grows out of human purposes alone. Nature provides us with an infinite range of opportunities, but it is only our vision and our action that select and realize those that we desire. — Paul Kurtz

Secular humanism proposes ... the complete implementation of the agenda of modernism ... what is necessary for it to occur is a ... New Enlightenment. — Paul Kurtz

The beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny. Human beings can achieve this good life, but it is by the cultivation of the virtues of intelligence and courage, not faith and obedience, that we will most likely be able to do so. — Paul Kurtz

The first thing I ask when I'm offered a part is, Who's the director? which is something they never understand in Los Angeles. — Swoosie Kurtz

Secular humanism is avowedly non-religious. It is a eupraxsophy (good practical wisdom), which draws its basic principles and ethical values from science, ethics, and philosophy. — Paul Kurtz

There are so many opportunities where people are thirsting: young people who are preparing for Confirmation, young adults who are searching, people of every age. There's a great thirst, I think, of people to come to understand and to belong to the Church of Christ. — Joseph Edward Kurtz

Hakomi is a path taken by those who work to go beyond the half remembered hurts and failed beliefs that linger unexamined in the mind and body, hurts that act through barely conscious habits and reactions. This work is a part of that heroic labor, a cousin to sitting meditation, to singing bowls and chanting monks. — Ron Kurtz

Sigh, and then my heart stood still, stopped dead short by an exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable triumph and of unspeakable pain. 'I knew it - I was sure!' ... She knew. She was sure. I heard her weeping; she had hidden her face in her hands. It seemed to me that the house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon my head. But nothing happened. The heavens do not fall for such a trifle. Would they have fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justice which was his due? Hadn't he said he wanted only justice? But I couldn't. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark - too dark altogether ... Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved — Joseph Conrad

To succeed, this movement will have to change our ideals in fundamental ways. It will have to kill off the traditional American dream, the idea of constant striving for a better future, symbolized by the middle-class goal of a rising income and the purchase of a little house with a yard - not to mention the freedom to move where you please, run your life, and govern your town with your neighbors when you get there. Greg Galluzzo, Obama's mentor and the man who created the grassroots crusade that inspired Building One America, dismisses the American dream as a sham. What really makes Americans move to the suburbs, says Galluzzo, is 'racism and greed. — Stanley Kurtz

The horror! The horror! — Joseph Conrad

There is a hidden epidemic threatening the lives of millions of Americans ... hunger. In this land of plenty, it is unthinkable that fellow citizens are going hungry. Included among these millions are children who, due to malnourishment, are not developing to their full potential intellectually, emotionally or behaviorally. The fortunate must provide for the unfortunate ... — Swoosie Kurtz

The first half of Vietnam was fought to win the war, and the second half of Vietnam was soldiers going haywire without a mission, getting further and further towards our friend, Captain Kurtz and our friends at 'Apocalypse Now.' — Dylan Ratigan

How can you measure the contribution that artists make to society? — John Kurtz

Many humanists have argued that happiness involves a combination of hedonism and creative moral development; that an exuberant life fuses excellence and enjoyment, meaning and enrichment, emotion and cognition. — Paul Kurtz

There are a lot of things that manage to get broken in a life, most of them never to be put back together again. — Don Kurtz

No one is infallible, and no one can claim a monopoly on truth or virtue. It would be contradictory for skepticism to seek to translate itself into a new faith. — Paul Kurtz

We cannot remain silent when someone of the Pope's stature and credibility confuses religious principles for science — Paul Kurtz

The dismissive notion that conservatives leak to outlets on the right for ideological reasons ignores the fact that liberals often do the same thing with news organizations that are either left-of-center or likely to be sympathetic to the message being peddled. — Howard Kurtz

A Conrad student informed me in Scotland that Africa is merely a setting for the disintegration of the mind of Mr. Kurtz.
Which is partly the point. Africa as setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril. Can nobody see the preposterous and perverse arrogance in thus reducing Africa to the role of props for the break-up of one petty European mind? But that is not even the point. The real question is the dehumanization of Africa and Africans which this age-long attitude has fostered and continues to foster in the world. And the question is whether a novel which celebrates this dehumanization, which depersonalizes a portion of the human race, can be called a great work of art. — Chinua Achebe

Keep track of your soul, Madison. Never compromise. Or you'll live the rest of your life regretting it--until it consumes you. — B.J. Kurtz

I used to be a fool ... A stubborn fool. I didn't know enough to stand by my friends. Now I'm just stubborn. — Chris Kurtz

Within the context of listening and understanding and walking with people together, we discover anew what were the teachings of Jesus, what he presented to us. — Joseph Edward Kurtz

Our Holy Father ... is very clear that, of course, the teachings of the Church must be preserved and passed on. However, we need to do this in a way that the Holy Father says is creative. We need to do it in a way that we look for new strategies that address the hearts of people. — Joseph Edward Kurtz

The stars were extra bright tonight, and they shone and glimmered as if each one had something it wanted to say. — Chris Kurtz

Vibration is at the heart of nature. Music allows us to feel it. — Glenn Kurtz

Limitation is the condition of our lives. What matters - what allows us to reach beyond ourselves, as we are, and push at the boundaries of our ability - is that we continue. But then everything depends on how we practice, what we practice. — Glenn Kurtz

But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad. — Joseph Conrad

Humanists hold that ethical values are relative to human experience and need not be derived from theological or metaphysical foundations. — Paul Kurtz

This was a cruel world she had been born into, all pink and squirming. She'd never wanted to see reality. Now, like the cold, it was impossible to ignore. — Chris Kurtz

Baseball teaches that errors are part of the game. — Ernest Kurtz

We have never denied that it is possible, indeed probable, that other forms of life, even intelligent life, exist in the universe. But this is different from the belief that we are now being visited by extraterrestrial beings in spacecraft, that they are abducting people, and the there is a vast government cover-up. — Paul Kurtz

Homo religiosus invents religious symbols, which he venerates and worships to save him from facing the finality of his death and dissolution. He devises paradise fictions to provide succor and support ... In acts of supreme self-deception, at various times and in various places he has been willing to profess belief in the most incredible myths because of what they have promised him. — Paul Kurtz

Only a fool of a scientist would dismiss the evidence and reports
in front of him and substitute his own beliefs in their place. — Paul Kurtz

You don't have to look for trouble. It will find you. And when that happens"--Luna disappeared, but her voice continued--"keep up that great spirit and make a plan, because nine lives is just a state of mind. — Chris Kurtz

You'll never make it out there. You weren't made for South Pole adventures."
Flora gave her an icy look. "I think I know by now what I was made for. — Chris Kurtz

A great yellow circle above the cornfield had slipped out from behind some clouds. The moon. It was the first moon Flora had ever seen. Her heart filled with the beauty of it, and she made a promise to herself. I will be prepared. And I won't live forever inside this pen. — Chris Kurtz

Free inquiry entails recognition of civil liberties as integral to its pursuit, that is, a free press, freedom of communication, the right to organize opposition parties and to join voluntary associations, and freedom to cultivate and publish the fruits of scientific, philosophical, artistic, literary, moral and religious freedom. — Paul Kurtz

If we learn to accept our imperfections with humor, as the reflection of our very humanity, we will experience humility and tolerance, we will understand that we are already filled with forgiveness, we will see the gift of our lives, the chains will fall away, and we will be free
free not so much from fear or 'dependence,' but free for love, for life itself. — Ernest Kurtz

To deny our errors is to deny ourself, for to be human is to be imperfect, somehow error - prone. To be human is to ask unanswerable questions, but to persist in asking them, to be broken and ache for wholeness, to hurt and to try to find a way to healing through the hurt...Spirituality accepts that "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. — Ernest Kurtz

Kurtz had been watching Andy quietly as she moved around her kitchen. "You've found her, haven't you?" Kurtz said with a gentleness Andy didn't think she'd ever heard before. She'd seen it, though. It was evident every time Kurtz looked at Tara. "Yes," Andy said, and a deep sense of rightness filled her entire body. "It's amazing, isn't it?" Andy smiled. "Yes, it is. — Jessica L. Webb

Nobody gets everything they want. There will always be something. New problems arise. Instead of striving for perfection, strive for contentedness. Find a way to be happy what you already have & you'll always have exactly what you need. — Adam J. Kurtz

Kurtz pulled the glove compartment open and handed a set of thermal-imaging goggles to Aleks. He pulled his own pair on over his face. "You get smarter every day: It's light outside, comrade space cadet. — Jack Silkstone

Mistah Kurtz--he dead. — Joseph Conrad

Secular humanism does not have the essential attributes of a religion: belief in a deity, the wish for some sort of afterlife, sacred dogma or texts, or an absolutist moral creed. Instead, it expresses a philosophical and ethical point of view, and it draws upon the scientific method in formulationg its naturalistic view of the nature. — Paul Kurtz

UFO mythology is similar to the message of the classical religions where God sends his Angels as emissaries who offer salvation to those who accept the faith and obey his Prophets. Today, the chariots of the gods are UFOs. What we are witnessing in the past half century is the spawning of a New Age religion. — Paul Kurtz

But that night in her dream she flew high above the earth in a moonless sky. Behind her, like a falling star, sailed a silver sled. — Chris Kurtz

The theist can only find meaning by leaving this life for a transcendental world beyond the grave. The human world as he finds it is empty of 'ultimate purpose' and hence meaningless. Theism thus is an attempt to escape from the human condition; it is a pathetic deceit. — Paul Kurtz

It was as though an animated image of death carved out of old ivory had been shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men made of dark and glittering bronze. — Joseph Conrad

I am heartbroken that this movie would cause anyone pain. It should be a source of joy. The story is a metaphor about how we try to stay in our own little bubbles, we don't let life in, we don't take the journey. — Swoosie Kurtz

The skeptic has no illusions about life, nor a vain belief in the promise of immortality. Since this life here and now is all we can know, our most reasonable option is to live it fully. — Paul Kurtz

My heart was beating out of my chest. — Swoosie Kurtz

Spirituality points, always, beyond: beyond the ordinary, beyond possession, beyond the narrow confines of the self, and - above all - beyond expectations. Because "the spiritual" is beyond our control, it is never exactly what we expect. — Ernest Kurtz

I believe that a person should take an affirmative outlook. There are always problems in life, old and new, uncertainties, and unexpected contingencies. The optimal way to deal with this is not to give up in despair, but to move ahead using the best intelligence and resources that we have to overcome adversity. — Paul Kurtz

She looked all around. It was so strange to feel trapped in the middle of so much open space. But that was exactly how she felt. — Chris Kurtz

You read the Company's confidential correspondence?' I asked. He hadn't a word to say. It was great fun. 'When Mr. Kurtz,' I continued severely, 'is General Manager, you won't have the opportunity.' He blew the candle out suddenly, and we went outside. The moon had risen. Black — Joseph Conrad

Cats may have nine lives, but pigs . . . don't . . . give . . . up. — Chris Kurtz

It is not the courage to be that we must develop as much as the courage to become. We are responsible for our destiny. The meaning of life is not located in some hidden crevice in the womb of nature but is created by free persons, who are aware that they are responsible for their own futures and have the courage to take this project into their own hands. — Paul Kurtz

The enemy hides in Shadow, Master of the Hunt. Therefore be as wise as a serpent, having seen the face of the Adversary. — Katherine Kurtz, Deborah T. Harris

Prior to Flew, major apologies for atheism were those of Enlightenment thinkers (David Hume, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Friedrich Nietzsche).

Major philosophers of Flew's generation who were atheists: W. V. O. Quine and Gilbert Ryle. But none took the step of developing book-length arguments to support their personal beliefs.

In later years, atheist philosophers who critically examined and rejected the traditional arguments for God's existence: Paul Edwards, Wallace Matson, Kai Nielsen, Paul Kurtz, J. L. Mackie, Richard Gale, Michael Martin. But their works did not change the agenda and framework of discussion the way Flew's innovative publications did. — Antony Flew

I want to be Ruler of the Exumas. I like the sound of it. I want to become Kurtz and live like in 'Lord of the Flies.' — Johnny Depp

The field was covered with ice crystals sticking up like a garden of little diamonds. Sophia was beside her now, and the two animals walked slowly into the crystal blossoms. Flora was enchanted.

For a moment she forgot she was hungry, tired, and ill-equipped to make this journey. She forgot to worry about Oscar. She forgot to worry that there would never be a useful job for her. She kicked up her front hooves with each step and watched the ice crystals scatter in front of her. — Chris Kurtz

Arrested me, and he stood by civilly, holding a half-pint champagne bottle (medical comforts) with the candle stuck in it. To my question he said Mr. Kurtz had painted this - in this very station more than a year ago - while waiting for means to go to his trading-post. 'Tell me, pray,' said I, 'who is this Mr. Kurtz? — Joseph Conrad

I love to be directed, and I can glean something from almost anyone. — Swoosie Kurtz

It had been a bad trip ... fast and wild in some moments, slow and dirty in others, but on balance it looked like a bummer. On my way back to San Francisco, I tried to compose a fitting epitaph. I wanted something original, but there was no escaping the echo of Mistah Kurtz' final words from the heart of darkness: The horror! The horror! ... Exterminate all the brutes! — Hunter S. Thompson

Artists are always searching for beauty - and when they find it and fashion it in their own unique way - it does not seem too important to analyze how it came about. — John Kurtz

To make Hakomi effective a practitioner must be more than just someone who knows a method. The practitioner must be someone whose very presence can be healing, a person who has all the qualities needed to support emotional healing in another. — Ron Kurtz

Mastery is the natural result of mindfulness. — Ron Kurtz

It's great that I don't have to apologize about being over 26. — Swoosie Kurtz

Good point." Sophia said at last. "I'm not very good at saying sorry, but I apologize. — Chris Kurtz

Life, when fully lived under a variety of cultural conditions, can be euphoric and optimistic; it can be a joy to experience and a wonder to behold. — Paul Kurtz

I think these are terrible times to be anything in. — Swoosie Kurtz

Cats are good at keeping clean [ ... ] Dogs are good at running forever without getting tired. And I think that pigs are good at being optimistic and not giving up even when things are really bad. So today we're going to do things the pig way, okay? — Chris Kurtz

To acknowledge, to accept, and to forgive one's parents - both what they gave and what they did not give, both one's dependence upon them and one's independence of them - is the ultimate hallmark of maturity: a perception as valid for institutions as for individuals. — Ernest Kurtz

To me, getting notes, honing the part, and refining the role is the real fun of the play. — Swoosie Kurtz

The government doesn't have to solve everyone's problem here. — Paul Kurtz

If only there were a river of courage, - Rahel whispered. I would bend down, cup the water in my hand and drink. — Jane Kurtz

The meaning of life is not to be discovered only after death in some hidden, mysterious realm; on the contrary, it can be found by eating the succulent fruit of the Tree of Life and by living in the here and now as fully and creatively as we can. — Paul Kurtz

If you can observe your own experience with a minimum of interference, and if you don't try to control what you experience, if you simply allow things to happen and you observe them, then you will be able to discover things about yourself that you did not know before. You can discover little pieces of the inner structures of your mind, the very things that make you who you are. — Ron Kurtz

Journalism seems to have recovered its reason for being. — Howard Kurtz

The question "Who am I?" really asks, "Where do I belong or fit?" We get the sense of that "direction" -- the sense of moving toward the place where we fit, or of shaping the place toward which we are moving so that it will fit us -- from hearing how others have handled or are attempting to handle similar (but never exactly the same) situations. We learn by listening to their stories, by hearing how they came (or failed) to belong or fit. — Ernest Kurtz

Everyone who gives up a serious childhood dream
of becoming an artist, a doctor, an engineer, an athlete
lives the rest of their life with a sense of loss, with nagging what ifs, — Glenn Kurtz

Artists never seem to get bored with life. — John Kurtz

Three key humanist virtues are courage, cognition, and caring - not dependence, ignorance, or insensitivity to the needs of others. — Paul Kurtz

Skepticism is essential to the quest for knowledge, for it is in the seedbed of puzzlement that genuine inquiry takes root. Without skepticism, we may remain mired in unexamined belief systems that are accepted as sacrosanct yet have no factual basis in reality. — Paul Kurtz

The tragedy of contemporary philosophy is that it has been castrated. — Paul Kurtz

[A] journey becomes a pilgrimage as we discover, day by day, that the distance traveled is less important than the experience gained. — Ernest Kurtz

Flora threw herself forward at the signal, and the men standing nearby cheered. Two of them ran alongside for a few steps, waving their hats. "Go, pig! Pull, pig! — Chris Kurtz

Man. I nearly burst into a laugh. 'Do you read the Company's confidential correspondence?' I asked. He hadn't a word to say. It was great fun. 'When Mr. Kurtz,' I continued — Joseph Conrad

Would get angry through the greatness of his thirst, and take a terrible vengeance. So he sweated and fired up and watched the glass fearfully (with an impromptu charm, made of rags, tied to his arm, and a piece of polished bone, as big as a watch, stuck flatways through his lower lip), while the wooded banks slipped past us slowly, the short noise was left behind, the interminable miles of silence - and we crept on, towards Kurtz. — Joseph Conrad

No diety will save us; we must save ourselves. — Paul Kurtz

I keep both of my Tonys on my mantle. They're in front of a mirror so if you look at just the right angle, it looks like I have four! — Swoosie Kurtz

Our Holy Father says every one of us is in need of conversion, beginning with ourselves. We are all in need of the grace of Jesus Christ to receive the Gospel. — Joseph Edward Kurtz

In this age of Twitter and Snark every misstep gets posted online in twelve seconds. — Howard Kurtz

Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books. Instant information is not for me. I prefer to search library stacks because when I work to learn something, I remember it. And, Oprah, can you imagine curling up in bed to read a computer? Weeping for Anna Karenina and being terrified by Hannibal Lecter, entering the heart of darkness with Mistah Kurtz, having Holden Caulfield ring you up - some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal. — Harper Lee

Working with a great director is like getting a master class in acting. — Swoosie Kurtz

Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn't touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror
of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision
he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath:
The horror! The horror! — Joseph Conrad

I wanted to tell you something, she says, but it slipped under a chair. — Swoosie Kurtz