P. W. Singer Quotes
Somebody who eats twice as much factory-farmed products as he or she needs to is clearly doing twice as much damage to the planet. From a utilitarian point of view, that's twice as bad.
It's also much clearer how much damage the occupation of Iraq is doing to America's reputation and prestige around the world; and that's just starting now to hit home in the United States.
If we can put a man on the moon and sequence the human genome, we should be able to devise something close to a universal digital public library.
I don't think nationalism is alone holding the field; it's in contention with a lot of different things.
I don't think there's anything in the compromise that means that there's a clash of ethics.
If you go back in time you'll find tribes that were essentially only concerned with their own tribal members. If you were a member of another tribe, you could be killed with impunity.
Dabbling in astrology is like carrying a lucky rabbit's foot as an omen of good luck which costs us very little and might have some beneficial effects.
Actually, the true story of a person's life can never be written. It is beyond the power of literature. The full tale of any life would be both utterly boring and utterly unbelievable.
Some of my cronies call me a pessimist and a decadent, but there is always a background of faith behind resignation.
I feel that one of the most important lessons that can be learned is that what we "see" may be different than what is actually in front of us.
If we all think only of our own interests, we are headed for collective disaster - just look at what we are doing to our planet's climate.
Science does not stand still, and neither does philosophy, although the latter has a tendency to walk in circles.
So why don't we make ourselves the last generation on earth? If we would all agree to have ourselves sterilized then no sacrifices would be required - we could party our way into extinction!
Grain that is used to feed animals that end up on our tables as turkeys and hams could have gone to feed starving people.
If we are prepared to take the life of another being merely in order to satisfy our taste for a particular type of food, then that being is no more than a means to our end.
We wait until Pandora's box is opened before we say, "Wow, maybe we should understand what's in that box." This is the story of humans on every problem.
I believe in God but people are liars. It's those people who say they are appointed by God who I don't believe in.
God gave us so many emotions, and so many strong ones. Every human being, even if he is an idiot, is a millionaire in emotions.
No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world.
There is a plan to this universe. There is a high intelligence, maybe even a purpose, but it's given to us on the installment plan.
Whatever doesn't really happen is dreamed at night. It happens to one if it doesn't happen to another, tomorrow if not today, or a century hence if not next year.
It seems that the analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. And literature does it, unlike gossip, without mentioning names.
What happened was no accident. Everything was preordained. True, the will was free, but heaven also made its ordinances.
It is written, better to be a fool all your days than for one hour to be evil. You are not a fool. They are the fools. For he who causes his neighbor to feel shame loses Paradise himself.
When literature becomes overly erudite, it means that interest in the art has gone and curiosity about the artist is what's important. It becomes a kind of idolatry.
When the time comes I will go joyfully. Whatever may be there, it will be real, without complication, without ridicule, without deception.
The characters have their own lives and their own logic, and you have to act accordingly.
A story to me must have some surprise...I must have a passion to write the story.
Those who run around with women don't walk tightropes. They find it hard enough to crawl on the ground.
What's the good of not believing? Today it's your wife you don't believe; tomorrow it's God Himself you won't take stock in.
It is a fact that the classics of Yiddish literature are also the classics of the modern Hebrew literature.
The pessimism of the creative person is not decadence but a mighty passion for the redemption of man.
As much as I can give of myself I give of myself. There's no reason why not. And when I have to hide something, I let the character speak.
The New England conscience doesn't keep you from doing what you shouldn't - it just keeps you from enjoying it.
We write not only for children but also for their parents. They, too, are serious children.
Every body resisted (the slaughterer) in its own fashion, tried to escape and seemed to argue with the Creator to its last breath.
The genuine writer cannot ignore the fact that the family is losing its spiritual foundation.
If there were a ritual dance of the androgyne, Tai chi as performed by this master could be that dance. It is neither a masculine dance nor a feminine dance. It has the strength and grace of both.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No furniture, no light fittings, no carpet, no bodies. Not a single body. Nothing but the million ducks, the three million ducklings and a window.