Oliver Benjamin > Quotes

“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. —Bertrand Russell”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Outside of severe hallucinogens like PCP, by far the most “dangerous” drug of all is alcohol, and aside from the fistfights, car accidents and karaoke it causes, society still celebrates it.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. —Steven Wright”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“The 20th century linguistic revolution is the recognition that language is not merely a device for communicating ideas about the world, but rather a tool for bringing the world into existence in the first place. —Misia Landau”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. —Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“It’s not that the Dude believes in nothing—he’s no nihilist. It’s just that he entertains ideas so gingerly. Since he’s never angling from any fixed position, he can examine each new conceptual element without trying to chisel it into some concrete pillar of belief. Taoism calls this approach the “state of the uncarved block.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. —Frank Zappa”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell. —Bertrand Russell”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“In the split second where you understand a joke you experience a moment of “enlightenment.” This cannot be achieved by “explaining” the joke, i.e. by intellectual analysis. This must be well known to enlightened men and women, since they almost invariably show a great sense of humor. In the Tao Te Ching we read, “If it were not laughed at it would not be sufficient for the Tao.” —Fritjov Capra, The Tao of Physics”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Beware of the pursuit of the Superhuman: it leads to an indiscriminate contempt for the Human. To a man, horses and dogs and cats are mere species, outside the moral world. Well, to the Superman, men and women are mere species too, also outside the moral world. —George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“practice is just another word for “play.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski

“The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“The world is every bit stupefying, But it’s far fucking out. Am I wrong?”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Dude De Ching: A Dudeist Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching

“Erik Erikson coined the term “pseudo-speciation” to describe our xenophobic instinct. It is as if we rejected out of hand the unity of the species, setting up in its place a thousand egregious dichotomies. —Melvin Konner, Why the Reckless Survive”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Forgive me my nonsense as I forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense. —Robert Frost”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“My choice is what I chose to do And if I’m causing no harm, it shouldn’t bother you. Your choice is who you chose to be And if you’re causing no harm, then you’re alright with me. If you don’t like my fire, then don’t come around ‘Cause I’m gonna burn one down. —Ben Harper, “Burn One Down”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought. —Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“We don’t need to struggle to live, thrive and be happy psychologically. In fact it’s precisely our struggling that keeps us from doing so. Rather, the ideal Taoist outlook is to remain steadfast and still, letting the ups and downs of the world flow through and around us. The current of life is strong, so rather than struggling against it, we are advised to capitalize upon its transportive (and transformative) power.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao Te Ching: Annotated Edition

“While the process of evolution is often characterized in terms of dog-eat-dog competition and the “survival of the fittest,” this new research also reveals that, in fact, nice guys often finish first. Our species’ success over the eons is due to the fact that we are the most cooperative creatures on earth. —William Allman, The Stone Age Present”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. —Oscar Wilde”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Indeed it’s well known that many people don’t “get” The Big Lebowski because they find the plot wanting. Yet what makes the film such a treasure is not the story itself, nor even its characters, but the mind-blowing verbal pleasure they afford us.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense. —Mark Twain”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Temper your senses, Cultivate restraint, And you will enjoy a life of peace.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Jedi: The Tao Te Ching Meets Star Wars

“Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. —Henry Adams”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“Blessed are the goofballs, the crazies, for they refuse to take things seriously. —Rick Stanley”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“The three great American vices seem to be efficiency, punctuality, and the desire for achievement and success. They are the things that make the Americans so unhappy and so nervous. —Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“For some of us”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Dude De Ching: New Annotated Edition

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? —Epicurus”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Tao of the Dude: Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski

“As temptations avail themselves to you Can you remain steadfast as a mother bird in her nest? As you grow wise and knowledgeable about many things, Can you retain the modesty of an amateur?”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Dude De Ching: New Annotated Edition

“My mind is foolish, indeed rather vulgar. Aimless as the restless winds, I seem to have no direction at all. I suppose I am rather different from everyone else. Yet I am content. Everything I need is right here.”
― Oliver Benjamin, The Dude De Ching: A Dudeist Interpretation of the Tao Te Ching