Being Human Quotes - Page 3

• Silence kills the soul; it diminishes its possibilities to rise and fly and explore. Silence withers what makes you human. The soul shrinks, until it's nothing.

  Marlon Riggs

  Gay, Justice, Diversity

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• We know story collections end when they end, as well - the pages serving as a countdown - but nevertheless the standard story anthology hews closer to what makes being human so hard: it reminds you with each story how quickly everything we are, everything we call our lives can change, can be upended, can disappear. Never to return.

  Junot Diaz

  Stories, Pages, Return

  Interview with Gina Frangello, therumpus.net. September 30, 2012.

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• Positivity psychology is part and parcel of psychology. Being human includes both ups and downs, opportunities and challenges. Positive psychology devotes somewhat more attention to the ups and the opportunities, whereas traditional psychology - at least historically - has paid more attention to the downs.

  Barbara Fredrickson

  Positivity, Opportunity, Psychology

  "Barbara Fredrickson Talks About…". Interview with Seph Fontane Pennock, positivepsychologynews.com. January 20, 2015.

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• The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals.

  George Orwell

  Love, Loyalty, Essence

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.357, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I try to give myself passionately, totally, to whatever I'm observing, with as much affectionate curiosity as I can muster, as a means of understanding a little better what being human is.

  Diane Ackerman

  Passion, Mean, Giving

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• Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the true worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul... You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

  Adrian Tan

  Love Is, Loving Someone, Inspire

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• If we human beings rely only on material development, we can’t be sure of a positive outcome. Employing technology motivated by anger and hatred is likely to be destructive. It will only be beneficial if we seek the welfare of all beings. Human beings are the only species with the potential to destroy the world. Because of the risks of unrestrained desire and greed we need to cultivate contentment and simplicity.

  Dalai Lama

  Technology, Hatred, Greed

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• We talked about how easy it was to make the mistake of anthropomorphizing animals, and projecting our own feelings and perceptions on to them, where they were inappropriate and didn't fit. We simply had no idea what it was like being an extremely large lizard, and neither for that matter did the lizard, because it was not self-conscious about being an extremely large lizard, it just got on with the business of being one. To react with revulsion to its behavior was to make the mistake of applying criteria that are only appropriate to the business of being human.

  Douglas Adams

  Mistake, Animal, Self

  "Last Chance to See". Book by Douglas Adams, 1990.

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• One of the penalties of being a human being is other human beings.

  Christopher Morley

  Humanity, Penalties, Humans

  Christopher Morley (1920). “Hide and Seek”

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• I'm being sincere and I'm being human. I'm making mistakes or I'm doing things correctly, but I'm being human regardless. I'm talking about my pain and my joy, and I'm not saying it with words but mainly with colors and shapes. That's what I tried to do with the utmost sincerity and humility of a child.

  Alex Abreu

  Children, Pain, Mistake

  Source: blogs.indiewire.com

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• I've known great happiness in my life along with great darkness, and a question that has repeatedly entered my poetry has been, how do we use the direct experience of happiness that may be given us, whether of love and sexuality or creativity or the sense of connectedness with other beings, human and otherwise?

  Adrienne Rich

  Creativity, Darkness, Use

  Source: criticalflame.org

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• As the conceptual, material world increases its hold on us, and inanimate objects become more lifelike, we humans must become more human. Open hearts, kindness and care-these are our most precious gifts.

  Sakyong Mipham

  Buddhist, Kindness, Heart

  Sakyong Mipham (2013). “The Shambhala Principle: Discovering Humanity's Hidden Treasure”, p.41, Harmony

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• I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

  David Benioff

  Inspirational, Life, Beauty

  "Troy". www.imdb.com. 2004.

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• Man is a multi-sensorial being. Occasionally he verbalizes … and we must seriously examine the implications of the fact that man does not communicate by word alone.

  Ray Birdwhistell

  Communication, Being Alone, Men

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• We are all musicians in a great human orchestra, and it is now time to play the Save the World Symphony. You are not required to play a solo, but you are required to know what instrument you hold and play it as well as you can. You are required to find your place in the score. What we love we must protect. That’s what love means. From the right to know and the duty to inquire flows the obligation to act.

  Sandra Steingraber

  Love, Time, Responsibility

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• The great advantage of being human is that we can employ rational thought and resolve to change our circumstances.

  Mariella Frostrup

  Advantage, Circumstances, Resolve

  "Will underachieving and being directionless alienate me from people?" by Mariella Frostrup, www.theguardian.com. November 24, 2012.

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• To shut your mind, heart, imagination to the sufferings of others is to begin slowly but inexorably to die. It is to cease by inches from being human, to become in the end capable of nothing, generous or unselfish; or sometimes capable of anything, however terrible.

  John Austin Baker

  Heart, Suffering Of Others, Imagination

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• Over the years I have come to believe that life is full of unchosen circumstances, that being human has to do with the evolution of our individual consciousness and with it, responsibilities for choice. Pain and joy both come with life. I believe that how we respond to what happens to us and around us shapes who we become and has to do with the psyche or the soul's growth.

  Jean Shinoda Bolen

  Pain, Believe, Responsibility

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• Being human, we can only receive infinite truth in finite doses

  Norman Grubb

  Truth, Infinite, Humans

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• For me, philosophy is an activity of thought that is common to human beings. Human beings at their best.

  Simon Critchley

  Philosophy, Common, Humans

  Simon Critchley, Carl Cederstr?m, Todd Kesselman (2013). “Impossible Objects”, p.33, John Wiley & Sons

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• Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance.

  Jane Jacobs

  Dream, Cities, People

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• Life becomes precious and more special to us when we look for the little everyday miracles and get excited about the privileges of simply being human

  Tim Hansel

  Miracle, Everyday, Special

  Tim Hansel (1995). “Keep on Dancin': Daily Readings to Celebrate Life”, Chariot Family Pub

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• Being human means asking the questions of one's own being and living under the impact of the answers given to this question. And, conversely, being human means receiving answers to the questions of one's own being and asking questions under the impact of the answers.

  Paul Tillich

  Mean, Impact, Asking Questions

  Paul Tillich (2012). “Systematic Theology”, p.62, University of Chicago Press

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• Being is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Self, Mind, Trying

  Eckhart Tolle (2001). “Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now”, p.16, New World Library

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• Being human, at times, is very painful, and that leads us to reawakening.

  Suzanne Giesemann

  Painful, Humans

  Source: www.edgemagazine.net

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