96 ideas
19608 | Wisdom is just the last gasp of a dying civilization [Cioran] |
23064 | So-called wisdom is just pondering things instead of acting [Cioran] |
19624 | Intelligence only fully flourishes at the end of a historical period [Cioran] |
19599 | Ideas are neutral, but people fill them with passion and weakness [Cioran] |
19631 | The history of ideas (and deeds) occurs in a meaningless environment [Cioran] |
19645 | Some thinkers would have been just as dynamic, no matter when they had lived [Cioran] |
19629 | A nation gives expression to its sum of values, and is then exhausted [Cioran] |
5300 | Philosophers have interpreted the world, but the point is to change it [Marx] |
19618 | I abandoned philosophy because it didn't acknowledge melancholy and human weakness [Cioran] |
19621 | Originality in philosophy is just the invention of terms [Cioran] |
19607 | The mind is superficial, only concerned with the arrangement of events, not their significance [Cioran] |
19638 | Metaphysics is a universalisation of physical anguish [Cioran] |
19620 | Great systems of philosophy are just brilliant tautologies [Cioran] |
23072 | Systems are the worst despotism, in philosophy and in life [Cioran] |
23075 | A text explained ceases to be a text [Cioran] |
5297 | Whether human thinking can be 'true' must be decided in practice, not theory [Marx] |
19630 | No great idea ever emerged from a dialogue [Cioran] |
19636 | Truth is just an error insufficiently experienced [Cioran] |
19642 | Eventually every 'truth' is guaranteed by the police [Cioran] |
23066 | Negation doesn't arise from reasoning, but from deep instincts [Cioran] |
19632 | An axiom has no more authority than a frenzy [Cioran] |
23077 | The word 'being' is very tempting, but in fact means nothing at all [Cioran] |
23068 | People who really believe anti-realism don't bother to prove it [Cioran] |
23073 | Convictions are failures to study anything thoroughly [Cioran] |
23078 | Opinions are fine, but having convictions means something has gone wrong [Cioran] |
19626 | Our instincts had to be blunted and diminished, to make way for consciousness! [Cioran] |
22598 | The authentic self exists at the level of class, rather than the individual [Marx, by Dunt] |
23076 | If people always acted without words we would take them for robots [Cioran] |
19633 | We use concepts to master our fears; saying 'death' releases us from confronting it [Cioran] |
23065 | If only we could write like a reptile, of endless sensations and no concepts! [Cioran] |
19615 | I want to suppress in myself the normal reasons people have for action [Cioran] |
23071 | We could only be responsible if we had consented before birth to who we are [Cioran] |
23070 | We morally dissolve if we spend time with excessive beauty [Cioran] |
19628 | At a civilisation's peak values are all that matters, and people unconsciously live by them [Cioran] |
5298 | The human essence is not found in individuals but in social relations [Marx] |
23874 | Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong [Marx, by Weil] |
19646 | Values don't accumulate; they are ruthlessly replaced [Cioran] |
19614 | Lovers are hateful, apart from their hovering awareness of death [Cioran] |
19634 | Man is never himself; he always aims at less than life, or more than life [Cioran] |
19619 | To live authentically, we must see that philosophy is totally useless [Cioran] |
19622 | The pointlessness of our motives and irrelevance of our gestures reveals our vacuity [Cioran] |
19617 | Evidence suggests that humans do not have a purpose [Cioran] |
19612 | The universe is dirty and fragile, as if a scandal in nothingness had produced its matter [Cioran] |
19604 | Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature [Cioran] |
19606 | We can only live because our imagination and memory are poor [Cioran] |
19601 | Life is now more dreaded than death [Cioran] |
23074 | In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need [Cioran] |
19640 | No one is brave enough to say they don't want to do anything; we despise such a view [Cioran] |
19602 | You are stuck in the past if you don't know boredom [Cioran] |
19641 | If you lack beliefs, boredom is your martyrdom [Cioran] |
23062 | It is better to watch the hours pass, than trying to fill them [Cioran] |
23069 | Fear cures boredom, because it is stronger [Cioran] |
19644 | History is the bloody rejection of boredom [Cioran] |
19613 | It is pointless to refuse or accept the social order; we must endure it like the weather [Cioran] |
22001 | The real will of the cooperative will replace the 'will of the people' [Marx] |
19627 | Opportunists can save a nation, and heroes can ruin it [Cioran] |
21991 | The middle class gain freedom through property, but workers can only free all of humanity [Marx, by Singer] |
21990 | Theory is as much a part of a revolution as material force is [Marx] |
22971 | In moving from capitalism to communism a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is needed [Marx] |
18662 | Liberal freedom is the right to be separate, and ignores the union of man with man [Marx] |
23372 | Liberals want the right to be separate, rather than for people to be united [Marx] |
20576 | Early Marx anticipates communitarian objections to liberalism [Marx, by Oksala] |
21989 | Man is dominated by money, which is the essence of his alienation [Marx] |
22000 | From each according to his ability, to each according to his need [Marx] |
23862 | By saying the material dialectic of history aspires to the best, Marx agreed with capitalism [Weil on Marx] |
21999 | False consciousness results from concealment by the superstructure [Marx, by Singer] |
23875 | Marx says force is everything, and that the weak will become strong, while remaining the weak [Weil on Marx] |
21995 | Must production determine superstructure, or could it be the other way round? [Singer on Marx] |
18653 | Marx rejected equal rights because they never actually treat people as equals [Marx, by Kymlicka] |
20577 | Even decently paid workers still have their produce bought with money stolen from them [Marx] |
22969 | People who only have their labour power are the slaves of those permitting them to work [Marx] |
21996 | Freedom only comes when labour is no longer necessary [Marx] |
22970 | Freedom is making the state subordinate to its society [Marx] |
21994 | The handmill gives feudalism, the steam mill capitalism [Marx] |
20958 | Capitalism changes the world, by socialising the idea of a commodity [Marx, by Bowie] |
23876 | The essence of capitalism is the subordination of people to things [Marx, by Weil] |
20960 | Marx thought capitalism was partly liberating, and could make labour and ownership more humane [Marx, by Bowie] |
22972 | Bourgeois 'freedom of conscience' just tolerates all sorts of religious intolerance [Marx] |
20519 | Marxists say liberal rights are confrontational, and liberal equality is a sham [Marx, by Wolff,J] |
20930 | The existence of law is one thing, its merits and demerits another [Austin,J] |
19625 | The ideal is to impose a religion by force, and then live in doubt about its beliefs [Cioran] |
19605 | Despite endless suggestions, no one has found a goal for history [Cioran] |
19637 | History is wonderfully devoid of meaning [Cioran] |
19610 | Religions see suicide as insubordination [Cioran] |
19611 | No one has ever found a good argument against suicide [Cioran] |
19609 | If you have not contemplated suicide, you are a miserable worm [Cioran] |
23067 | Suicide is pointless, because it always comes too late [Cioran] |
19639 | We all need sexual secrets! [Cioran] |
19603 | Why is God so boring, and why does God resemble humanity so little? [Cioran] |
19616 | As the perfect wisdom of detachment, philosophy offers no rivals to Taoism [Cioran] |
7128 | Religion is the opium of the people, and real happiness requires its abolition [Marx] |
5299 | Religious feeling is social in origin [Marx] |
19600 | When man abandons religion, he then follows new fake gods and mythologies [Cioran] |
19643 | A religion needs to motivate killings, and cannot tolerate rivals [Cioran] |
23063 | The first man obviously found paradise unendurable [Cioran] |
19623 | Circles of hell are ridiculous; all that matters is to be there [Cioran] |