Farida El-gueretly

Add friend

Farida’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (114)
currently-reading‎ (0)
read‎ (249)
did-not-finish‎ (0)

favorites‎ (36)
novels‎ (29)
history-and-culture‎ (13)
pop-science‎ (13)

memoirs‎ (9)
ethnographies‎ (8)
religion‎ (7)
2012-dec-nov‎ (3)

philosophy‎ (2)

Stats | More…

“With all this investment in our self-definition, we risk building our future on a very narrow sense of who we are - what we see as our strengths and weaknesses, our likes and dislikes. Many Chinese thinkers might say that in doing this, we are looking at such a small part of who we are potentially. We're taking a limited number of our emotional dispositions during a certain time and place and allowing those to define us forever. By thinking of human nature as monolithic, we instantly limit our potential.”
― Michael Puett, The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life

0 likes

“In children we often see this path to knowledge quite overtly. The child takes something apart, breaks it up in order to know it; or it takes an animal apart; cruelly tears off the wings of a butterfly in order to know it, to force its secret. The cruelty itself is motivated by something deeper: the wish to know the secret of things and of life.”
― Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

0 likes

“There is no ethical or moral framework that transcends context and the complexity of human life. All we have is the messy world within which to work and better ourselves. These ordinary as-if rituals are the means by which we imagine new realities over time construct new worlds. Our lives begin in the everyday and stay in the everyday. Only in the everyday can we begin to create truly great worlds.”
― Michael Puett, The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life

1 likes

“Confucius's disciples frequently asked him to define goodness. He would give each of them a different answer each time, depending on the situation. That's because Confucian goodness is not something you can define in the abstract. It's the ability to respond well to others; the development of a sensibility that enables you to behave in ways that are good for those around you and to draw out their own better sides.”
― Michael Puett, The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life

2 likes

“It is hardly necessary to stress the fact that the ability to love as an act of giving depends on the character development of the person. It presupposes the attainment of a predominantly productive orientation; in this orientation the person has overcome dependency, narcissistic omnipotence, the wish to exploit others, or to hoard, and has acquired faith in his own human powers, courage to rely on his powers in the attainment of his goals. To the degree that these qualities are lacking, he is afraid of giving himself - hence of loving.”
― Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

tags: love

3 likes

More of Farida’s quotes…