“We colour and mould according to the wants within us whatever our eyes bring in.”— Thomas Hardy, amazon.com
“The theory of linguistic relativity posits that language itself — the specific tongue that we happen to speak — shapes our thoughts and perceptions. Those who believe in linguistic determinism, the strictest version, might argue that a culture that lacks a term for a certain emotion — a particular s…”— Emily Anthes, John Cassidy, newyorker.com
“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the co…”— Frantz Fanon, amazon.com
“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.”— C.G. Jung, amazon.com
“If you’re an artist there are always new modes of expression, new things to create and communicate. The world isn’t fixed, it’s always changing, so that means you have to create anew in light of the changes... I don’t think any good scientist thinks one day science will come to an end. Science is ab…”— Olivia Goldhill, qz.com
“Neuroscientist Jaak Panskepp argues that of seven core instincts in the human brain (anger, fear, panic-grief, maternal care, pleasure/lust, play, and seeking), seeking is the most important. All mammals have this seeking system, says Panskepp, wherein dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to reward a…”— Olivia Goldhill, qz.com
“I like the immaterial world. I like to live among thoughts and images of the past and the possible, and even of the impossible, now and then.”— Thomas Love Peacock, amazon.com
“Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, any depression, since after all you don't know what work these conditions are doing inside you? Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where all this is coming from and where it is going? Since you know, after a…”— Rainer Maria Rilke, amazon.com
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”— Rainer Maria Rilke, amazon.com
“If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.”— Marcus Aurelius, amazon.com
“Love is not the absence of logic but logic examined and recalculated heated and curved to fit inside the contours of the heart.”— Tammara Webber, amazon.com
“Yes, awe arises during the extraordinary: when viewing the Grand Canyon, touching the hand of a rock star like Iggy Pop, or experiencing the sacred during meditation or prayer. More frequently, though, people report feeling awe in response to more mundane things: when seeing the leaves of a Gingko t…”— Dacher Keltner, fulfillmentdaily.com
“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence le…”— Gary Provost, amazon.com
“All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks, in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity.”— Friedrich Nietzsche, amazon.com
“Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.”— Seneca, amazon.com
“We’re built of contradictions, all of us. It’s those opposing forces that give us strength, like an arch, each block pressing the next. Give me a man whose parts are all aligned in agreement and I’ll show you madness. We walk a narrow path, insanity to each side. A man without contradictions to bala…”— Mark Lawrence, amazon.com