Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alright! Let's all give some single phrases that you've either realized yourself or you've learned from philosophical teachings. Please also explain what you think the saying means & we can then discuss each phrase. Let me start off with this one. Don't know if it's something I realized myself or something I learned...


"The one thing in life that stays the same and you can always count on, is that everything changes."

At certain times in our lives, we may think that life is boring, repetitive & mundane - but that is because we fail to notice all the changes going on around us. Some changes are very small, some are very slow and take place over a long period of time. But the changes we notice the most is when it happens quickly and changes the way we live our lives. It's important to notice the little changes in life and realize they are happening to fully enjoy everything life has to offer. Dwelling on how mundane and boring life is only causes you to miss more of the exciting things that may be going on around you.

And in my experience, that is the one thing that has stayed the same and that ever will stay the same. And that is what gives humans that great fear of uncertainty. My name, friends, interests, foods, location, jobs, family, thoughts and moods are in a never ending flux. And I can always be reassured in the fact that things will not be the same. And the more I keep that in the front of my mind, the more I pay attention to life around me.

This especially became clear when I became a toy collector. You see toys at Target or Walmart today and don't think anything of them, because they're stupid and they're everywhere. BUT, toys do NOT stay on the shelves forever. Licenses do NOT last forever... and often times you realize that when it's too late. I'm sure everyone thought Dragon Ball Z would never go away, but in 5 years it will be a collective memory & in 10 years those same children who broke the toys will wish they had a brand new one again. Anyone with the forsight to see this can benefit from this with a little bit of money and a lot of patience.

Sorry if I rambled too much there. I'm excited to hear everyone else's "quotes."

"A garden can be best viewed from the center."

-Contemplation

Wow! That's a GREAT quote!!! I'll have to file that one away for future use... ha ha...

Okay, i have another phrase. I KNOW this one is from a philospher... but I don't know which one. cry I THINK it's Nietze, but can't say for sure. This is not his exact quote, but it is his idea:

No matter where I go, there I am.

Everywhere I go, my physical perspective remains the same - looking out from my eyes at the world around me. For all I know, this is a dream... or we're in a Matrix world for my sense may deceive me. I am always here, and everything is all around me. Or is it nothing all around me? ((spins in circles - wheeeeeee))

"That is my tank driving theme song."
-Contemplation

One I find pertinent to many discussions on philosophy in my experience:

"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who do not have it." George Bernard Shaw

"With great power comes great responsibility."

-Spider Man theme

Now that I have thought on it a little I can remember a few from my collection (on the other side of the world though it is):

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adaquately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor

"Skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found." - Miguel de Unamuno

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

"When men are most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken." - David Hume

"To rest one's case on faith means to concede that reason is on the side of one's enemies--that one has no rational arguments to offer." - Ayn Rand

"Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do." - Bertrand Russell

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Soren Kierkegaard

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." - Winston Churchill

"Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes." - John Dewey

"Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, and the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well." - Robert Heinlein

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." - William James

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." - Socrates

"One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything." (Occam's Razor) - William of Occam

I just found this one... and immediately thought it belonged here...

It's from Douglas Adam's "Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy"

Marvin the Paranoid Android tells Zem the mattress:


"I gave a speech once," he said suddenly and apparently unconnectedly. "You may not instantly see why I bring the subject up, but that is because my mind works so phenomenally fast, and I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number."
"Er, five," said the mattress.
"Wrong," said Marvin. "You see?"