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“Nous n’avons besoin de morale que faute d’amour.” — André Comte-Sponville
“Stanley Kubrick on Life
Playboy: If life is so purposeless, do you feel its worth living?
Kubrick: Yes, for those who manage somehow to cope with our mortality. The very meaninglessness of life forces a man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre (a keen enjoyment of living), their idealism - and their assumption of immortality.
As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong - and lucky - he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan (enthusiastic and assured vigour and liveliness).
Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining.
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death - however mutable man may be able to make them - our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”
— Stanley Kubrick in interview for Playboy, Stanley Kubrick Interviews, University Press of Mississippi, 2001, p.73 (via amiquote)
“Love me when I least deserve it,
because that’s when I really need it.”
— Swedish proverb
“I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.” — Ludwig van Beethoven
“Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.” — Hasidic Saying
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“A friend is one to whom you can pour out the contents of your heart, chaff and grain alike. Knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”
Interesting blog on the subject of contemplation and how it relates to our modern computing habits.
“We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to create impressions that won’t last on people we don’t care about.” — Tim Jackson, professor of sustainable development at the University of Surrey