Susan Neiman quotes

“As long as your ideas of what's possible are limited by what's actual, no other idea has a chance.”
-- Susan Neiman

Source : Susan Neiman (2009). “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists”, p.153, Princeton University Press

#Philosophy Quotes #Ideas Quotes #Long Quotes

“Whatever else you may need to get clarity, you must start with open eyes.”
-- Susan Neiman

Source : Susan Neiman (2009). “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists”, p.430, Princeton University Press

#Eye Quotes #May Quotes #Needs Quotes

“One great function of the arts is to keep ideals alive in a culture that does not yet realize them.”
-- Susan Neiman

Source : Susan Neiman (2009). “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists”, p.159, Random House

#Art Quotes #Culture Quotes #Alive Quotes

“Human attempts to construct moral order are always precarious: If righteousness too often leads to self-righteousness, the demand for justice can lead to one guillotine or another.”
-- Susan Neiman

Source : Susan Neiman (2009). “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists”, p.430, Princeton University Press

#Self Quotes #Order Quotes #Justice Quotes

“You may substitute knowledge for superstition without satisfying the needs that drive people into superstition's arms.”
-- Susan Neiman

Source : Susan Neiman (2009). “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists”, p.132, Random House

#People Quotes #May Quotes #Arms Quotes

“In the most general terms, the Enlightenment goes back to Plato's belief that truth and beauty and goodness are connected; that truth and beauty, disseminated widely, will sooner or later lead to goodness. (While we're making at effort at truth and goodness, beauty reminds us what we're hold out for.)”
-- Susan Neiman

#Plato Quotes #Effort Quotes #Enlightenment Quotes

“If a musician wants to blossom into a full-fledged person, it's not enough if he knows only classical music; nor it is enough if he's well-versed only in raagas and techniques. Instead, he should be a knowledgeable person interested in life and philosophy. In his personal life there should be, atleast in some corner of his heart, a tinge of lingering sorrow.”

“The philosophy of the school was quite simple - the bright boys specialised in Latin, the not so bright in science and the rest managed with geography or the like.”

“As a system of philosophy it is not like the Tower of Babel, so daring its high aim as to seek a shelter against God's anger; but it is like a pyramid poised on its apex.”

“A false idea is not only one which is absolutely subjective but one which is absolutely objective.”

“Once I went to bed in Orlando and I woke up in Atlanta. I have no idea how that happened.”

“My idea of the perfect bottom would be nice, bubbly, curvy, firm, maybe a little bit bouncy.”

“How long does getting thin take?”

“Oh, Eeyore, you are wet!” said Piglet, feeling him. Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to Piglet what happened when you had been inside a river for quite a long time.”

“The Baptists' basic theology is that if you hold someone under water long enough, he'll come around to your way of thinking. It's a ritual known as 'Bobbing for Baptists.'”

Source : A. Whitney Brown (1991). “The Big Picture: An American Commentary”, Harper Perennial

“A human lifespan is less than a thousand months long. You need to make some time to think how to live it.”

Source : "This much I know". Interview with Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. July 4, 2009.