Personal Philosophy Quotes

“Κι αν δεν μπορείς να κάμεις την ζωή σου όπως την θέλεις,
τούτο προσπάθησε τουλάχιστον
όσο μπορείς: μην την εξευτελίζεις.”
― Κ. Π. Καβάφης, Άπαντα τα δημοσιευμένα ποιήματα

“If there is something, though, if there is...well, I believe in the things I love...the feel of a good horse under me, the blue along those mountains over yonder, the firm, confident feel of a good gunbutt in my hand, the way the red gold of your hair looks against your throat.
The creak of a saddle in the hot sun and the long riding, the way you feel when you come to the top of a ridge and look down across miles and miles of land you have never seen, or maybe no man has ever seen. I believe in the pleasant sound of running water, the way the leaves turn red in the fall. I believe in the smell of autumn leaves burning, and the crackle of a burning log. Sort of sounds like it was chuckling over the memories of a time when it was a tree.
I like the sound of rain on a roof, and the look of a fire in a fireplace, and the embers of a campfire and coffee in the morning. I believe in the solid, hearty, healthy feel of a of a fist landing, the feel of a girl in my arms, warm and close. Those are the things that matter.”
― Louis L'Amour, Westward the Tide

“Nothing human disgusts me . . . unless it's cruel, violent. (spoken by the character Hannah Jelkes)”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“Great fiction is the art of a soul.”
― Douglas Christiansen

“I am not a wishing well with legs.
(Paraphrasing Babylon 5's Londo Mollari, repeately, when asked to perform hacking functions for strangers.)”
― Adrian Lamo

“if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.”
― Bukowski Charles

“The first thing he did was to attempt to analyse a mental device he was in the habit of resorting to - a device that supplied him with the secret substratum of his whole life. This was a certain trick he had of doing what he called 'sinking into his soul’. This trick had been a furtive custom with him from very early days. In his childhood his mother had often rallied him about it in her light-hearted way, and had applied to these trances, or these fits of absent-mindedness, an amusing but rather indecent nursery name. His father, on the other hand, had encouraged him in these moods, taking them very gravely, and treating him, when under their spell, as if he were a sort of infant magician.
It was, however, when staying in his grandmother's house at Weymouth that the word had come to him which he now always used in his own mind to describe these obsessions. It was the word ‘mythology’ ; and he used it entirely in a private sense of his own.”
― John Cowper Powys, Wolf Solent

“So what I think at this point is that I'm aiming too high, that maybe nothing is too much, to begin with. Maybe for now I should just try, each day, to be a little less than I usually am.”
― Lydia Davis, New Year’s Resolution

“I'd say "what are the odds?", but I don't believe in odds anymore. I believe in a universe with a very specific and occasionally cruel sense of humor. But its cruelty is refining, if you survive it.
(Upon learning a housemate was related to Guy Fawkes)”
― Adrian Lamo

“I have a simple philosophy: whenever possible, help those who need it the most.”
― Debasish Mridha

“Christina is one of those people swamped by her emotions, clouded by what Jung might call "anima moods"...unable to breath and see the greater picture of her life, a way of understanding events, and a list of priorities --- her own livable value system. Such a philosophy of life would be a spiritual achievement for her. Just as a formal religion might offer a bigger picture, a personal philosophy can also help.”
― Thomas Moore, A Religion of One's Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World

“Why?’ is the reason it matters to try something in the first place.”
― Saidi Mdala, Know What Matters

“A person desires more out of life than simply makeshift survival. How does a person live sensationally? Must we pursue pleasure wherever and however we can find it? Alternatively, must a person suppress or at least check some of their instinctive, beastly desires to forge a quality state of happiness? Arguably, a majority of people benefit when each person labors to control their personage. On the other hand, perchance the Ancient Romans were correct openly to embrace the notion that humankind’s base nature demands that all full-bodied persons act to satiate their rapacious lust. Perhaps various religious doctrines and philosophical grumps were correct to embrace an alternative creed that personal happiness and stable community relationships are dependent upon conditioning the masses to exercise self-discipline. Perhaps other thinkers who advocate living passionately devoted to achieving virtuous goals while resisting a path of debauchery present the most gallant argument how to live brilliantly in the face of absurdity. Perchance the test of any ethical code governing how we should live must begin by questioning whether living in accordance with the prescribed guidelines assist us achieve emotional equanimity? Does our lifestyle choice bring harmony to the mind and body? Does our personal protocol facilitate carefree immersion in daily affairs? Does our code of conduct allow us to transcend the impoverishment, corruption, and brutality of our times? Does our moral etiquette enable us to glean satisfaction in the commonplace acts of living carefully? Does our philosophical and ethical methodology allow us to strain the innermost contentment and joy from the purity of nature’s bounty?”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

“She shared a personal philosophy of Vic’s. You must recognize your limitations. We all have them. Accept them that you may compensate or improve.”
― Jerry Gill, Vic: Mystery & Magic

“I don't know everything, but I'm working on it.”
― Don Rittner

“To live without love is not to live at all.”
― No clue. I have been saying this for over 20 years.

“I used to think honesty lived in the mind..
A principle, a decision, something sharpened by logic.

But here’s the catch: when I try to be honest,
I notice it asks for more than logic.
It asks me to stay real, even when it hurts.

It asks the heart to stop editing itself.
It urges the soul to stand without disguise.

It isn’t a rule one follows.
It is a courage one becomes.

Its arrival does not announce a victory.
Sometimes, it offers nothing in return.
It simply lets us meet ourselves.”
― Monika Ajay Kaul