HISTORICAL & CURRENT QUOTES RELATED to this System … first listed here 5-1-13 (from the “International Thesaurus Of Quotations”)
The “International Thesaurus of Quotations” (originally written in the early 19th Century, by Peter Mark Rojet)–its 3rd edition was revised, added to, updated, and copyrighted in 1996; (it was compiled then by Eugene Ehrlich and Marshall De Bruhl). Occasionally, historical quotes were read in that book which related somewhat to the elements of the divine “System” described in this website … so some of those quotes (in related subjects) are below.
The reason these quotes (among the thousands which were in that more-than 1,000-pages book) are being included here is to illustrate the connection between this Simple System–and some of the things formerly said or written during history on Earth.
Subject–Charity: This following, almost-3-century-old-quote matches the idea in this website that this is a reasonable time for a switch from emphasis on beliefs to emphasis on charitable, helpful acts; it recognizes the many previous different-beliefs worldwide … to the similarity of worldwide-recognition now of charitable, helpful acts: “In faith and hope the world will disagree/, But all mankind’s concern is charity.” Alexander Pope, An Essay On Man (1733-34) Subject–Goodness: “It is easy to perform a good action, but not easy to acquire a settled habit of performing such actions.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, (4th C. B.C.), Tr. J.A.K. Thomson. … if a switch gradually occurs worldwide from beliefs-emphasis to helpful acts-emphasis, the habit described in this previous quote will become much easier nowadays than it was back in the 4th Century B.C. “Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (2nd C.), Tr. Maxwell Staniforth … The first sentence in this 1800-year-old quote definitely correlates with the shorter human-lifespan which provides the much-briefer ability for people to have the energy to provide helpful-acts to others. “It is a hard thing for a man / to be righteous, if the unrighteous man is to have the greater right.” Hesiod, Works and Days (8th Century-B.C.), Tr. Richmond Lattimore The reason this quote was included here is the fact that its 2800-year-old description reflects an ancient awareness of less harmfulness & more kindness–That occurred over many centuries-previously here on Earth.
Subject–Action: “In the arena of human life the honours and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.” Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, (4th Century B.C.) translated by J.A.K. Thomson. “Action will remove the doubt that theory cannot solve.” Tehyi Hsieh, Chinese Epigrams Inside Out And Proverbs (1948) “In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.” Dag Hammerskjold “1955,” Markings (1964) translated by Leif Sjorberg and W.H. Auden “The great end of life is not knowledge but action.” Thomas Henry Huxley, “Technical Education” (1877)
Subject–Faith: : “… faith is the conviction about the not yet proven …” Erich Fromm, The Revolution of Hope (1968) This partial-quote coincides with the recently-recognized difference between many beliefs and faiths–that many beliefs & non-beliefs can be evidenced, but faiths are not (this factor is brought up in Attachment #1a). “Faith without works is dead.” Bible, James 2:26 This 1900-year-old-quote correlates with this recent statement by the 21st-Century Dalai Lama (which is in the Introduction on this Website): “It’s not enough to be compassionate–you must act.”
Subject–Certainty & Uncertainty: “There is one thing certain, namely, that we can have nothing certain;” Samuel Butler (died 1902) Notebooks (1912) … This partial quote supports the idea that the divine System was originally set up with much UN-certainty. This factor backs up the idea that “helpful acts” would eventually provide much more of the CERTAINTY which people greatly desire. … the following quote clearly indicates the reality humans have faced in the past: “A reasonable probability is the only certainty.” Edgar Watson Howe, County Town Sayings (1911) “To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.” Joseph Conrad, The Mirror Of The Sea (1906) This quote reflects the strong human desire for certainty (which the System-description indicates can be largely-achieved through helpful ACTS). “Certainties are arrived at only on foot.” Antonia Porchia, (1968) translator W.S. Merlin … Because foot-walking is the same world-wide, this quote reflects the visible and simple obviousness for all people of engaging in helpful ACTS. “Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.” Erich Fromm, Man For Himself (1947) … this quote indicates the reason it would be advantageous for humans to use their energy to help-out others. “We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.” Pascal, Pensees, (1670) Translated by W.F. Trotter … This quote–along with the previous one– expresses the preference for more certainty in humans.
Subject–Doubt, Religious: This next quote is being included here because it reflects a supposed-movement in consciousness now from the thousands of years in which humanity relied on religious-beliefs to reduce the “uncertainty” aspect in human life: “In the present age doubt has become immune to faith and faith has dissociated itself from doubt.” Gabriel Vehanian, The Death Of God, (1962)
Subject–Belief: “The belief that becomes truth for me … is that which allows me the best use of my strength, the best means of putting my virtues into action.” André Gide, The Counterfeiters (1925) translated by Dorothy Bussy … This quote is connected to the importance of ACTION–the use of one’s BELIEF to lead to action. “Much of human history can, I think, be described as a gradual and sometimes painful liberation from provincialism; the emerging awareness that there is more to the world than was generally believed by our ancestors.” Carl Sagan, Broca’ s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1979) This previous quote reflects the transition nowadays from the previous reliance on beliefs (for thousands of years) to much more observable evidence.
Subject–Unbelief: “There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave.” Louis Kronenberger, THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE, Company Matters (1954) This quote corresponds to the very possible disadvantage of an atheistic belief expressed earlier in this website: “1st, The Initial Explanation Of The Likely Universal System”.
Subject–Creation and Creativity: This single negative quote is being included because it illustrates the great, human dislike of the appearance of some realities on this planet of what’s called on the website the “Automatic Motion Machine” in the initial Briefly-Explained Universal System”-description, which led to many atheistic beliefs: “God was satisfied with his own work, and that is fatal.” Samuel Butler (died 1902), Note-Books (1912)
Subject–Kindness: “One who knows how to show and to accept kindness / will be a friend better than any possession.” Sophocles, Philoctetes (409 B.C.) This quote was included because it reflects the fact that even anciently the benefit of kindness-acts already had appreciation. “That best portion of a good man’s life, / His little, nameless, unremembered acts / Of kindness and of love.” William Wordsworth, “Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” (1798)
Subject–Ideas: “Old ideas give way slowly; for they are more than abstract logical forms and categories. They are habits, predispositions, deeply ingrained attitudes of aversion and preference.” John Dewey, “The Influence Of Darwinism On Philosophy” (1909) This quote provides some major details about why the System explained on this website could take up to a couple of centuries to be accepted-largely around the entire planet. “Every action is an idea before it is an action … and every idea rests upon other ideas that have preceded it in time.” Wallace Stegner, “A Capsule History Of Conservation,” When The Bluebird Sings In The Lemonade Springs (1992) These two-thirds of this quote reflects the gradual switch on Earth nowadays from beliefs-emphasis to actions-emphasis.
Subject–Life: “Men cling to life even at the cost of enduring great misfortune.” Aristotle, Politics (4th Century B.C.), 3.6, Tr. Benjamin Jowett. This ancient quote indicates that many humans exist in a way that they often go on through their lives facing various negative experiences resulting from what’s called in this System as “automatic justice.” “Life is fleeting–and therefore endurable.” Alexander Chase, Perspectives (1966). This quote backs up the idea that people throughout history will–after death–eternally-exist in a non-physical situation. “Our life seems cursed to be a wiggle merely, and a wandering without end.” Annie Dillard, “Sojourner,” Teaching A Stone To Talk (1982) This quote reflects the “What’s Going On?” question that humans have faced about their lives on Earth. “I’d like to know / what this whole show / is all about / before it’s out.” Piet Hein, in “I’d Like–“, Grooks (1966) This quote also reflects the “What’s Going On?” question … which this System’s explanation provides a logical answer to. “It is the acme of life to understand life.” George Santayana, Little Essays (1920) This is another quote which also strongly reveals the desire to know “What’s Going On?” The definition of “acme: is this: “The highest point, as of perfection.” (Well, once again, this System-description isn’t perfect, because “perfection is God’s business”–but this System [and it’s supports] is described here because it’s “close enough.”) “Life’s neither a good nor an evil; it’s a field for good and evil..” Seneca, Letters To Lucilius (1st Century) 99.12 Tr. E. Phillips Barker This ancient quote describes the provision in human-life of both helpful-acts and harmfulness. (There are 136 quotes listed in the book in this Subject “Life”, in the book “International Thesaurus Of Quotations.” Most of those quotes describe assumptions about life by those 2 authors.)
Subject–Life And Death: (November 2013) “A good life fears not life nor death.” Thomas Fuller, M.D. Gnomologia (1732), 1348 This quote indicates the benefit of a life of many “helpful acts.”
Subject–Mind: “… the mind wants to know all the world, and all eternity, and God.” Annie Dillard, “Total Eclipse,” Teaching A Stone To Talk (1982)
Subject–Mysticism: “Mystics always hope that science will some day overtake them.” Booth Tarkington, Looking Forward To The Great Adventure (1926) This quote indicates that author’s mention of what we now see was a big advance of scientific-discoveries over the next half–dozen decades
Subject–Death: “Perhaps the best proof of the Almighty’s existence is that we never know when we are to die.” Joseph Brodsky, Watermark (1992) … “We never know we go when we are going—” Emily Dickinson, Poem (c. 1881)
Subject–Evil: “God may still be in his Heaven, but there is more than sufficient evidence that all is not right with the world.” Irwin Edman, “How to be Sweet Though Sophisticated,” Adam, The Baby, And The Man From Mars (1929) This quote correlates with the increasing-information about the planet Earth–and humans there– in the 20th century (the availability of that information has greatly increased in the early 21st-Century, which has lead to even more atheism worldwide).
Subject–Evolution: “Natural selection operates according to immediate circumstances and toward a long-term goal. Homo sapiens did eventually evolve as a descendant of the first humans, but there was nothing inevitable about it.” Richard Leakey, The Origin Of Humankind (1994)
Subject–Freedom: (November 2013) “The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.” Hegel, Introduction To Philosophy Of History (1832), Tr. John Sibree–This quote was included because it reflects the gradual advance of human-civilization.
Subject–Future: “People live for the morrow, because the day-after-to-morrow is doubtful.” Nietzsche, The Will To Power (1888), Tr. Anthony M Ludovici–This quote illustrates the UN-Certainty about the length of each human-existence.
Subject–Happiness: “Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (4th Century B. C., 1.8, Tr. J. A. K. Thomson “Happiness lies in the fulfillment of the spirit through the body.” Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave (1945) The two previous quotes explains to an extent the benefit and purpose of helpful-actions by the physical parts of humans.
Subject–The Heavens: “Apparently, a great deal of dark, unseen material exists, whose gravitational pull is responsible for the motions of the stars and galaxies that we see.” John D. Barrow, The Origin Of The Universe (1994) The main reason this quote (which has a largely-scientific nature) was included is because its beginning word “Apparently” indicates that evidence acquired so far cannot provide definite-ness about this; this correlates with the idea that humans face a certain amount of “UN-certainty” in areas of their lives. “Many billions of years will elapse before the smallest, youngest stars complete their nuclear burning and shrink into white dwarfs. But with slow, agonizing finality perpetual night will surely fall.” Paul Davies, The Last Three Minutes (1994) This quote is being included because it contains a larger sense of surety than the first one–they both were written the same year. (The second one does not contain the word “Apparently”–its author indicates a sure-ness about the length of time the process will take, and exactly what would occur by then [based on what has appeared to have happened–and what has been observed by scientific-examination–up till now]. But it’s impossible to know for sure what’s going to happen in the very-distant future) ; This reminds one of the “certainty”-issue that humans have sought both before and after the beginning of Science–back in the 16th and 17th centuries. A somewhat-similar conclusion (resulting from just what can be currently observed) is reflected in the next quote: “Comets are the nearest thing to nothing that anything can be and still be something.” National Geographic Society, Press Release, March 31, 1955.
Subject–Kindness: “The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them; the prosperous need people to be kind to.” Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics (4th Century B.C., 9.9,Tr. J.A.K. Thomson This previous, very-ancient quote illustrates the “makes sense” aspect of the “perpetual-motion machine” resulting from the “automatic justice”-method applied to harmful-behaviors by some previous physical humans. “The best portion of a good man’s life, / His little, nameless, unremembered acts / Of kindness …” William Wordsworth, “Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” (1798)
Subject–Truth: “Say not ‘I have found the truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found a truth’.” Kahlil Gibran “On Self-Knowledge,” The Prophet (1923) (The words “the” and “a” in the previous quote emphasize the certainty-vs.-uncertainty idea.) “To believe fully and at the same moment to have doubts is not at all a contradiction: …” Rollo May, The Courage To Create (1975) … These two previous quotes (especially the first one) are reflective of the existence of both certainty & UN-certainty in the likely divine set-up.
Subject–Truth and Falsehood: “Would that I could discover truth as easily as I can uncover falsehood.” Cicero, De Natura Deorum (44 B.C.) This quote clearly indicates a source of human UN-certainty even in ancient history.
Subject–Universe: These next three quotes focus on the fact that our universal reality is not obvious to humans: “Law rules throughout existence, a Law which is no intelligent but Intelligence. ” Emerson, “Fate,” The Conduct Of Life (1860) “The whole visible world is only an imperceptible atom in the amble bosom of nature. No idea approaches it.” Pascal, Pensées (1670) (the concept of “No idea approaches it” made sense back in 1670, but now this System’s concept of the universe DOES make sense. “The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?” Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History Of Time (1988) (This answer to the final question in the previous quote “makes sense”: the universe exists to provide the eternal souls inside intelligent creatures the ability to eventually be inside the very-occasional bodies of intelligent-creatures which can practice “Helpful Acts” toward others.) Subject–Mortality: One thing is certain and the rest is Lies; / The Flower that once has blown forever dies.” Omar Khayyám, Rubáiyát (11th-12th Century), translated by Edward Fitzgerald. “Old and young, we are all on our last cruise.” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Crabbed Age And Youth,” Virginibus Puerisque (1881) This previous quote reflects the temporary existence on Earth of each human’s PHYSICAL being–plus the common idea that all the human being’s content (both the physical-part, plus one’s possibly-existing, eternal soul) are BOTH here only temporarily–the soul is also temporary, and always ONLY inside the same temporary physical being. (The belief that after this life on Earth is that one would exist in a non-physical way forever. That belief is partly-correct, because the time-limit of physical life has been–for thousands of years–very obvious. But this system indicates a logical belief that one’s eternal soul might return inside a different, (non-eternal) physical being.
Subject–Immortality: “Should this my firm persuasion of the soul’s immortality prove to be a mere delusion, it is at least a pleasing delusion, and I will cherish it to my latest breath.” Cicero, De Senectute (44 B.C.) This previous quote describes the soul’s immortality (which is suggested in this divine System as a sensible aspect–due to the factor of UN-certainty), but also indicates the advantage of that concept for humans (who like certainty).
Here’s a quote which backs up the logical factor of UN-certainty in the System: “If life were eternal all interest and anticipation would vanish. It is uncertainty which lends its fascination.” Yoshida Kenko, “Man the Ephemera,” The Harvest Of Leisure (Tsure-Zure Gusa , circa 1330-35), translated by Ryukichi Kurata
Subject–Nature: This quote by Aristotle about 2400 yrs. ago in a mailed AD from “nature.org” was included in this list on 4/21/2014 because it states what is true for mostr humans across Earth: “In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.” It reflects an ancient-realization.
Subject–God: “The mind of man, cleansed of secondary and merely temporal concerns, beholds with the radiance of a cleansed mirror a reflection of the rational mind of God.” Joseph Campbell, The Power Of Myth (1988) This previous quote–with its mentioned focus about God’s connection to rationality provides some support for the idea that the time has arrived now for the switch to a rational helpful-ACTS system throughout the entire world. “It is fear that first brought gods into the world.” Petronius, Satyricon (1st. C.) … This quote is related to the idea that BELIEF in God (in this case, “gods”) has existed for thousands of years (that “belief” has provided a sense of certainty in many humans). This next quote is humorous–it’s related to the idea that there is an All-Knowing God with an eternally-present reality: “Before the world was made, when it was only darkness and mist and waters, God was well aware of Lake Wobegon, my family, our house, and He had me all sketched out down to what size my feet would be (big), which bike I would ride (Schwinn), and the five ears of corn I’d eat for supper that night.” Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days (1985)
Subject–Mistaken Quotes About God: These next quotes were in the same book in the same group as the quotes in the previous “Subject”–a few are being included here (they’re were hundreds of those quotes) because they illustrate some of the common beliefs in history about God that we now know are incorrect (or include beliefs which can’t be proven [such as that God is all-knowing], but make sense now as part of the System since scientific-inquiries have revealed a number of factors about our Universe that CAN be proven now.
Subject–Good and Evil: This next quote is being included because it reflects the simplicity of helpful acts vs. harmfulness … “The meaning of good and bad. of better and worse, is simply helping or hurting.” Emerson, Journals, 1836
Subject–Reason: (12-3-13) These next 3 quotes refer to the importance of logic behind the “helpful-acts” approach: “Logic is the art of making truth prevail.” La Bruyere, Characters, (1688), 1.55, Tr. Henry Van Laun “Reason also is choice.” Milton, Paradise Lost (1667), 3.108 “We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as a our guide.” Samuel Johnson, Letter to James Boswell, C. March 15, 1774, Quoted in Boswell’s “Life Of Samuel Johnson.”
Subject–Play: (12-19-13) Here’s a repeat (first inserted in the very beginning of this website) of the partial-quote by G.K. Chesterton in his 1908 book All Things Considered: “Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.” Its statement about heaven (back in 1908) is understandably a belief, but a reasonable one–it’s not about two opposites, like heaven and hell. Earth is called a garden–like a garden, Earth has many positive and beautiful aspects … but it also has tasks; whereas the “playground” is just a stress-free, pain-free, uncertainty-free place. The length of time one’s soul is able to stay in that stress-free place seems related in this system to the helpfulness toward others exhibited during one’s previous soul-existence (or earlier existences-(?)… only God knows) in the “task garden.”
Subject–Time: (6-25-13) A few of the dozens of quotes throughout human history about “time” (listed in the quotations book) reflect the switch in the past half-century from the previous, common concept that the universe is eternal–to the scientific explanation in the 2nd half of the 20th Century that the universe actually began about 13.7 billion years ago. Here are those quotes: “There was no “before” the beginning of the universe, because once upon a time there was no time.” John D. Barrow, The Origin of the Universe, (1994) This quote bluntly indicates the idea of an “outside-of-time” (eternal) God. “Time is an abstraction which, on earth, exists only for the human brain it has evolved.” Charles A. Lindbergh Autobiography of Values, (1978) “The laws of science do not distinguish between the past and the future.” Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time, (1988) An interesting aspect of this previous quote is that (while it is about a somewhat different aspect of the scientific level of understanding about past and future of this following Einstein quote (roughly 35 years before the previous quote) in the book “Helpful Acts In New Phase”: “People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”), it reflects the 1950’s beginning of the switch from the previously accepted concept that the universe is eternal … to the newer, 1960’s idea that the inside-time “Big Bang” of the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago. (Here’s an older quote about “time”. Along with many of the other older quotes in the quotations-book, this one reflects the conception that it was formerly thought that the universe was eternal): “Time and space are fragments of the infinite; for the time of finite creatures.” Henri Frédéric Amiel, Journal, (1864) translated by Mrs. Humphrey Ward
Subject–Temperament: “There is no harbor of peace / From the changing waves of joy and despair”–Euripides, Ion, 421-08 B.C. translated by Ronald F. Willetts … this quote reflects the UN-certainty faced in life by humans.
Subject–Theology: “The most tedious of all discourses are on the subject of the Supreme Being”–Emerson, Journals, 1836. This quote is in agreement with this item on p.5 in the book-text: “In order for this helpful simple system to spread across and be embraced by lots of people worldwide in different cultures, it has to leave out mysterious details about God’s nature–since those rely on beliefs, not ACTIONS … and beliefs vary so much; whereas actions are either good or bad for everyone, in all cultures.”
Subject–Assistance: “ ‘Tis not enough to help the feeble up, / But to support him after.” Shakespeare, Timon Of Athens (1607-08)
Subject–Deeds: “We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (4th Cent. B.C.), 2.1, translated by J.A.K. Thomson
“All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.” James Russell Lowell, Rousseau and the Sentimentalists (1870)
Subject–Goodness: “A good man has more hope in his death than a wicked man in his life.” Thomas Fuller, M. D. Gnomologia, (1732) This quote reflects the “automatic justice” assumption described in the System, the 2011 Book, and the 2012 Essay.
Subject–Transience: (7-19-13) These next quotes on this subject are included because they indicate the human desire for certainty … “Would that life were like the shadow cast by a wall or a tree, but it is like the shadow of a bird in flight.” Haggadah, Palestinian Talmud (4th Century)
“We are things of a day. What are we? What are we not? The shadow of a dream / is man, no more.” Pindar, Odes (5th Century B.C.), Pythia 8, translated by Richmond Lattimore
“We are not sure of sorrow / And joy was never sure; / Today will die tomorrow / Time stoops to no man’s lure.” Algernon Charles Swinburne, “The Garden of Proserpine,” Poems and Ballads: First Series (1866)
Subject–Wealth: “Many a man has found the acquisition of wealth only a change, not an end of miseries.” Seneca, Letters To Lucilius, (1st Century), 17.11, Translator E. Phillips Barker. This old quote brings up the fact that even the accumulation of much money does not eliminate the uncertainty which humanity has to face. A key word is the first one “Many” (rather than “ALL” men): The use of that word implies that–while the majority of wealthy men experience much uncertainty regardless of their money– there are occasionally individuals who have a greater sense of personal “certainty” as a result of their wealthiness … it also somewhat implies that, generally, the ownership of some money helps most individuals have a bit more sense of comfort in their lives.
Subject–Women (9-15-13) This subject is being included because the 4 quotes are illustrative of a recent transition in the U.S.A.to greater equality for this gender (relative to the “Why Now?” aspect in the 2011 Book, which stated that in the later 1960’s there began the women’s-liberation movement). Most of the other 150 quotes in this subject were worldwide, & dated over thousands of years … and were mainly by males, & negative. “In the nineteenth century, government agencies in Washington had, almost without exception, flatly refused to hire even one female.” David Brinkley, Washington Goes To War (1988) “The women of today are in a fair way to dethrone the myth of femininity; they are beginning to affirm their independence in concrete ways; …” Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1953) “Women are equal because they are not different anymore.” Erich Fromm, The Art Of Loving (1956) “My gosh, if I’d just read about one-tenth of what that woman’s read and forgotten, I’d be happy. I mean she’s taught, she’s worked on a newspaper,she designs her own clothes, she does every single bit of her own housework.” J.D. Salinger, Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters (1963)