Michael > Michael's Quotes

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#1

“One of the great self-deceptions--and one of the great foolishnesses--is to tell yourself, Only I will know. Only you will know that you are a liar; only you will know you deal unethically with people who trust you; only you will know you have no intention of honoring your promise. Whose knowledge or judgment do you imagine is more important? It is precisely your own ego from which there is no escape.”
― Nathaniel Branden

tags: psychology, responsibility, self-esteem, self-knowledge, self-respect

12 likes

#2

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
― Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

tags: fear, freedom, responsibility

1783 likes

#3

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

tags: freedom, humanity, mistakes

5695 likes

#4

“Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

tags: control, defeat, humanity, life

2215 likes

#5

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
― Coco Chanel

tags: courage, dignity, empowerment, freedom, independence, individuality, judgment, self-determination, speaking-out, thought

7229 likes

#6

“I'd rather die my way than live yours.”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

tags: independence, lena-holoway, self-determination, self-reliance

2798 likes

#7

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.”
― Harvey Fierstein

tags: be-yourself, identity, individuality, inspirational, life, self-determination, self-esteem, self-expression

2940 likes

#8

“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.”
― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

tags: atheism, existentialism, follow-your-bliss, self-actualization, self-determination

1486 likes

#9

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

tags: accomplishment, attributed-no-source, be-yourself, conformity, individuality

69679 likes

#10

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
― Mark Twain

tags: individuality, majority, minority, pause, reflect, wisdom

43887 likes

#11

“I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said 'I want to be let alone!' There is all the difference.”
― Greta Garbo, Garbo

tags: dignity, freedom, privacy, respect, solitude

427 likes

#12

“Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion — and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion… while truth again reverts to a new minority.”
― Soren Kierkegaard

tags: minority

400 likes

#13

“The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.”
― Mahatma Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas

tags: conscience, courage, majority, minority, truth

158 likes

#14

“It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
― Samuel Adams

tags: activism, minority

171 likes

#15

“Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.”
― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

tags: do-wrong, love, trust, wrong

37063 likes

#16

“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Confession

tags: conscience, majority, right-and-wrong, truth, wrong

1602 likes

#17

“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.”
― Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals

tags: belief, bertrand, evidence, foolish, majority, opinion, russell

292 likes

#18

“I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.

Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period.”
― Michael Crichton

tags: 9-11, bisphenol-a, bpa, consensus, darwinism, dr-jack-cohen-podiatrist, evolution, excitotoxins, fluoride, global-warming, id, intelligent-design, macro-evolution, macroevolution, majority, majority-view, man-made-global-warming, manmade-global-warming, minority, minority-view, monosodium-glutamate, msg, science, scientific-discovery, scientific-inquiry, scientific-method, scientific-process, scientific-research, scientific-revolution, scientific-theory, september-11-attacks

118 likes

#19

“When faith in our freedom gives way to fear of our freedom, silencing the minority view becomes the operative protocol.”
― Joel Salatin, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front

tags: freedom, minority, philosophy

53 likes

#20

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
― Anne Frank, Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex: A Collection of Her Short Stories, Fables, and Lesser-Known Writings

tags: activism, life, optimism, philosophy, world

13373 likes

#21

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

tags: attitude, choice, giving, happiness, inspirational, kindness, life-and-living, life-lessons, motivational, positive-affirmation

9955 likes

#22

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.”
― A.A. Milne

tags: live-in-the-moment, optimism

3104 likes

#23

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

tags: appreciation, awe, beauty, life, optimism, positivity, sense-of-wonder, stars

5314 likes

#24

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”
― James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion

tags: optimism, pessimism

2215 likes

#25

“Der Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will.

Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms

tags: determinism, free-will, idealism, pessimism

814 likes

#26

“Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn't see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love.

Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will.
At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby

tags: comercials, consumerism, free-will, god, goddess, greek, p20

423 likes

#27

“Every instinct that is found in any man is in all men. The strength of the emotion may not be so overpowering, the barriers against possession not so insurmountable, the urge to accomplish the desire less keen. With some, inhibitions and urges may be neutralized by other tendencies. But with every being the primal emotions are there. All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.”
― Clarence Darrow, The Story of My Life

tags: classic-insult, death, determinism, free-will, humor, instinct, personality, science, temperament, tendencies, urges

306 likes

#28

“You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.”
― Sam Harris, Free Will

tags: brain, free-will, mind

114 likes

#29

“You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”
― Malcolm X, By Any Means Necessary

tags: philosophy, politics

4311 likes

#30

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

tags: elections, hg2g, politics, rulers

2907 likes

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