Daniel > Daniel's Quotes

“Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination - stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one - million - year - old light. A vast pattern - of which I am a part... What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?”
― Richard Feynman

“profanity and obscenity entitle people who don't want unpleasant information to close their ears and eyes to you.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus

“There is a movement in our culture today that equates strength, especially but not only manly strength, with exploiting whatever power one has over others - be it physical strength, elite social standing, or financial prowess - at the expense of those who are weaker. This surely is a brutal morality - a "dog eat dog" attitude to life that ill becomes people or their canine friends.
But there is another concept of strength, and that is the power to help the weak - to support those who are less able to fend for themselves. I'm not a religious person but I honor and respect the great spiritual leaders who over the millennia have taught that we find our greatest strength when we aid the weakest among us.”
― Clive D.L. Wynne, Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You

“You know what truth is? [...] It's some crazy thing my neighbor believes. If I want to make friends with him, I ask him what he believes. He tells me, and I say, "Yeah, yeah - ain't it the truth?”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions