Absurd Quotes - Page 2

• There is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Funny, Philosophical, Philosopher

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• First... a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.

  William James

  Science, Discovery, Important

  Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking Lecture 6 (1907)

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• Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war.

  Pope John Paul II

  Peace, War, Humanity

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• Only man can be absurd: for only man can be dignified.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Men, Absurdity, Fall Of Man

  "All Things Considered". Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton, 1908.

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• Refusal to believe until proof is given is a rational position; denial of all outside of our own limited experience is absurd.

  Annie Besant

  Believe, Ignorance, Denial

  Annie Besant (1890). “Why I Became a Theosophist”

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• L'absurde est la notion essentielle et la premie' re ve? rite? . The absurd is the fundamental idea and the first truth.

  Albert Camus

  Ideas, Fundamentals, Firsts

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• That is the great distinction between the sexes. Men see objects, women seetherelationship between objects? It is an extra dimension of feeling which we men are without and one that makes war abhorrent to all real women?and absurd.

  John Fowles

  Sex, Real, War

  1965 The Magus, ch.52.

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• The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning.

  Albert Camus

  Realization, Life Is, Ends

  Albert Camus (2012). “Lyrical and Critical Essays”, p.201, Vintage

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• In a world where everything is ridiculous, nothing can be ridiculed. You cannot unmask a mask.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  World, Ridiculous, Mask

  "The Comic Spirit of G.K. Chesterton: A Study of the Humor, Wit, and Satire in His Work". Book by Aileen Dorothy Lorberg, 1938.

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• Absurdism, like methodical doubt, has wiped the slate clean. It leaves us in a blind alley. But, like methodical doubt, it can, by returning upon itself, open up a new field of investigation, and in the process of reasoning then pursues the same course. I proclaim that I believe in nothing and that everything is absurd, but I cannot doubt the validity of my proclamation and I must at least believe in my protest.

  Albert Camus

  Believe, Doubt, Fields

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.10, Vintage

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• Everything is absurd.

  Fernando Pessoa

  "The Book of Disquiet". Book by Fernando Pessoa, p. 255, 1982.

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• I don't think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for.

  Norman Mailer

  Inspiring, Thinking, Purpose

  Interview with Divina Infusino, American Way Magazine, June 15,1995.

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• In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.

  Miguel de Cervantes

  Life And Love, Creativity, Impossible Things

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• To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.

  Woody Allen

  Loyalty, Atheist, Religion

  "Fictional character: Sandy Bates". "Stardust Memories", www.imdb.com. 1980.

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• I was exposed to a mix of cultures, lots of different religions and beliefs. I was a spiritual kid and went to Indian powwows and Buddhist temples. But over a period of time, with reading and thinking, I started to feel it was all so absurd: The whole idea of life after death is ridiculous.

  Harvey Fierstein

  Spiritual, Buddhist, Reading

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• Anyone who knows how difficult it is to keep a secret among three men - particularly if they are married - knows how absurd is the idea of a worldwide secret conspiracy consciously controlling all mankind by its financial power; in real, clear analysis.

  Oswald Mosley

  Real, Men, Ideas

  Oswald Mosley (2012). “My Life - Oswald Mosley”, p.361, Black House Publishing Ltd

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• Just because you're beautiful and perfect, it's made you conceited.

  William Goldman

  Love, Beauty, Beautiful

  William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.46, A&C Black

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• why shouldnt things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? they are so, and we are so, and they and we go together.

  George Santayana

  Together, Transitory

  George Santayana, William G. Holzberger (2002). “The Letters of George Santayana”, p.319, MIT Press

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• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Learning, Knowledge, Parenting

  Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

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• At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of these trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we had clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise . . . that denseness and that strangeness of the world is absurd.

  Albert Camus

  Beauty, Art, Lying

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays”, p.14, Vintage

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• The only thing I can recommend at this stage is a sense of humor, an ability to see things in their ridiculous and absurd dimensions, to laugh at others and at ourselves, a sense of irony regarding everything that calls out for parody in this world. In other words, I can only recommend perspective and distance.

  Vaclav Havel

  Distance, Laughing, Perspective

  "War Through a Poet's Lens" by Donald P. Kommers, www.americamagazine.org. April 22, 2000.

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• There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Cynical, Ridiculous, Philosopher

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• The world generally speaking is now drifting on a more and more devastating course towards the absurd target of extermination - or rather, to be more exact - of the northern hemisphere's towns, fields, and the people who have developed our civilization.

  Alva Myrdal

  Civilization, People, Target

  Alva Myrdal's Nobel Lecture in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 11, 1982.

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• To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely moral reason

  H. L. Mencken

  Peace, War, Moral

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• It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style.

  Oscar Wilde

  Hurt, Real, Style

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Joseph Bristow, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts”, p.78, Oxford University Press on Demand

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