Finite Quotes

• All finite things have their roots in the infinite, and if you wish to understand life at all, you cannot tear out its context. And that context, astounding even to bodily eyes, is the heaven of stars and the incredible procession of the great galaxies.

  William Macneile Dixon

  Life, Stars, Eye

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• I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.

  Neil Armstrong

  Running, Believe, Exercise

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• Think of something finite molded into the infinite, and you think of man.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Men, Thinking, Infinite

  "Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms" by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, translated by Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, 1968.

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• And introduce an element of cynicism and darkness into it and just realize that we're all vulnerable. We are humans. There is a finite end to this life and we're all going to face it and a little silliness can help.

  Alan Thicke

  Darkness, Elements, Littles

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• Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• Wealth, in terms of dollars and so forth, could be counted up, because dollars were finite. It doesn’t make any difference how many dollars you have - at a certain point you only have dollars. You start with finite, you end with finite.

  Michael Nesmith

  Differences, Dollars, Wealth

  Interview with Ken Plume, asitecalledfred.com. May 2003.

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• Acceleration is finite, I think, according to some laws of physics.

  Terry Riley

  Thinking, Law, Physics

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• Language makes infinite use of finite media.

  Wilhelm von Humboldt

  Media, Use, Language

  Wilhelm von Humboldt, Wilhelm Humboldt (Freiherr von) (1972). “Linguistic variability & intellectual development”, Univ of Pennsylvania Pr

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• Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought-particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things.

  Woody Allen

  Funny, Humor, Science

  Woody Allen (2007). “The Insanity Defense: The Complete Prose”, Random House Incorporated

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• Thus it is necessary to commence from an inescapable duality: the finite is not the infinite.

  Hans Urs von Balthasar

  Infinite, Duality

  Hans Urs von Balthasar (1993). “My Work: In Retrospect”, p.99, Ignatius Press

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• In my case, I used the elements of these simple forms - square, cube, line and color - to produce logical systems. Most of these systems were finite; that is, they were complete using all possible variations. This kept them simple.

  Sol LeWitt

  Simple, Squares, Color

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• Everything that is, was, and will be, eternally IS, even the countless forms, which are finite and perishable only in their objective, not in their ideal Form.

  H. P. Blavatsky

  Objectivity, Form, Ideals

  H. P. Blavatsky (2008). “The Origins of Self-Consciousness in The Secret Doctrine”, p.71, Theosophy Trust Books

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• Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the purpose of life is to grasp as much as we can out of that infinitude.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Life, Math, Mind

  Alfred North Whitehead, Lucien Price (2001). “Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead”, p.160, David R. Godine Publisher

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• Between the finite and the infinite
  The missing link of Love has left a void.
  Supply the link, and earth with Heaven will join
  In one continued chain of endless life.

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  Life, Missing, Heaven

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox (2016). “Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)”, p.1367, Delphi Classics

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• Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Fun, Believe, Population Problem

  "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth" by Kenneth E. Boulding, 1966.

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• Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

  Frank Herbert

  Numbers, Space, Molecules

  Frank Herbert (2011). “Dune Messiah: The Second Dune Novel”, p.141, Hachette UK

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• But let us remember that we are dealing with infinities and indivisibles both of which transcend our finite understanding, the former on account of their magnitude, the latter because of their smallness.

  Galileo Galilei

  Understanding, Infinity, Imagine

  "On the loadstone and magnetic bodies".

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• I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street.

  Neil Armstrong

  Fitness, Running, Believe

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• Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.

  Emily Dickinson

  Inspirational, Motivational, Failure

  Emily Dickinson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Emily Dickinson (Illustrated)”, p.1120, Delphi Classics

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• Ask what Time is, it is nothing else but something of eternal duration become finite, measurable and transitory.

  William Law

  Christian, Religious, Time

  William Law (1740). “An earnest and serious answer to Dr. Trapp's Discourse of the folly, sin, and danger of being righteous over-much. An appeal to all that doubt, or disbelieve the truths of the Gospels”, p.110

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• Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite.

  Paul Tillich

  Faith, Spiritual, Infinite

  Paul Tillich, F. Forrester Church (1999). “The Essential Tillich”, p.22, University of Chicago Press

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• And when the world is created, it is created in such a way that those eternal objects of God's loving wisdom become actualities - interacting with one another, relating to God in the finite realm.

  Rowan Williams

  Wisdom, World, Way

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• Water is a finite resource that is essential in the advancement of agriculture, and is vital to human life.

  Jim Costa

  Agriculture, Water, Essentials

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• We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn't matter. Life is to be lived.

  Randy Pausch

  Long, Matter, Life Is

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• The tragedy of human life consists in our vain attempts to stretch the limits of things which can never become unlimited, to reach the infinite by absurdly adding to the rungs of the ladder of the finite.

  Rabindranath Tagore

  Tragedy, Ladders, Limits

  Rabindranath Tagore (2016). “SĀDHANĀ - The Realisation of life”, p.81, Rabindranath Tagore

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