Irrational Quotes - Page 22

• As long as men are free to speak, a small, rational minority will always prevail over an irrational majority.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Long, Majority

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• I knew my affection for the Philippines was equally as telling: a democracy on paper, apparently well ordered, regularly subverted by irrational chaos. A place where I'd felt instantly at home.

  Alex Garland

  Home, Democracy, Paper

  Alex Garland (2005). “The Beach”, p.155, Penguin

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• For the emergent process, as noted by the geneticist Theodore Dobzhansky, is neither random nor determined but creative. Just as in human order, creativity is neither a rational deductive process nor the irrational wandering of the undisciplined mind but the emergence of beauty as mysterious as the blossoming of a field of daisies out of the dark Earth.

  Thomas Berry

  Beauty, Creativity, Dark

  Thomas Berry (2011). “The Great Work: Our Way into the Future”, p.31, Crown

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• All "public interest' legislation (and any distribution of money taken by force from some men for the unearned benefit of others) comes down ultimately to the grant of an undefined undefinable, non-objective, arbitrary power to some government officials. The worst aspect of it is not that such a power can be used dishonestly, but that it cannot be used honestly. The wisest man in the world, with the purest integrity, cannot find a criterion for the just, equitable, rational application of an unjust, inequitable, irrational principle.

  Ayn Rand

  Integrity, Taken, Men

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.161, Penguin

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• The most central and irrational faith among people is the faith in technology and economical growth. Its priests believe until their death that material prosperity bring enjoyment and happiness - even though all the proofs in history have shown that only lack and attempt cause a life worth living, that the material prosperity doesn't bring anything else than despair. These priests believe in technology still when they choke in their gas masks.

  Pentti Linkola

  Believe, Technology, People

  "Rating humanity" by Brendan O'Neill, www.theguardian.com. November 14, 2007.

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• Any irrational fears?no, i'm quite a rationalist. i'm not superstitious, i think life is too full of natural wonders and logical complexities to worry about illogical things.

  Benedict Cumberbatch

  Thinking, Worry, Irrational Fear

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• A very faithful drawing may actually tell us more about the model but despite the promptings of our critical intelligence it will never have the irrational power of the photograph to bear away our faith.

  Andre Bazin

  Drawing, Faithful, May

  André Bazin (2005). “What is Cinema?”, p.14, Univ of California Press

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• If worldviews or metanarratives can be compared to lenses, which of them brings things into the sharpest focus? This is not an irrational retreat from reason. Rather, it is about grasping a deeper order of things which is more easily accessed by the imagination than by reason.

  Alister E. McGrath

  Order, Imagination, Focus

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• Love: I recognize the emotion for what it is, an irrational self-destructive impulse, which is disguised as joy.

  Nikola Tesla

  Self, Joy, Sanctuary

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• Maybe she still was a pretty-head, making up irrational stories about the empty forest. The longer she stayed alone out here, the more Tally understood why the Rusties and their predecessors had believed in invisible beings, praying to placate spirits as they trashed the natural world around them.

  Scott Westerfeld

  Stories, World, Forests

  Scott Westerfeld (2008). “Pretties”, p.253, Simon and Schuster

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• They did it for love, and sometimes love makes us do the irrational .. even the inexcusable.

  Melissa de la Cruz

  Sometimes, Sometimes Love

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• Our enemy is fear. Blinding, reason-killing fear. Fear consumes the truth and poisons all the evidence, leading us to false assumptions and irrational conclusions.

  Rick Yancey

  Enemy, Poison, Assumption

  "The Monstrumologist". Book by Rick Yancey, September 22, 2009.

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• The modern habit of saying "This is my opinion, but I may be wrong" is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion. The modern habit of saying "Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me" – the habit of saying this is mere weak-mindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Philosophy, Moon, Men

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• For that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency. If something is irrational, that means it won't work. It's usually unrealistic. People don't just get upset. They contribute to their upsetness. People have motives and thoughts of which they are unaware. Rational beliefs bring us closer to getting good results in the real world. Self-esteem is the greatest sickness known to man or woman because it's conditional. The art of love is largely the art of persistence.

  Albert Ellis

  Art, Real, Self Esteem

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• Kestilan?" There was that name again. Oliver fought down an irrational surge of jealousy for this mysterious being who took up so much of Petunia's attention.

  Jessica Day George

  Names, Attention, Mysterious

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• There are many things that can keep you in a relationship," I say. "Fear of being alone. Fear of disrupting the arrangement of your life. A decision to settle for something that's okay, because you don't know if you can get any better. Or maybe there's the irrational belief that it will get better, even if you know he won't change.

  David Levithan

  Decision, Get Better, Belief

  David Levithan (2013). “Every Day”, p.48, Egmont UK

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• I survive by finding the sweet spot between reason and unreason, between the rational and irrational.

  Dean Koontz

  Sweet, Balance, Reason

  Dean Koontz (2014). “The Odd Thomas Series 7-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd”, p.564, Bantam

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• I was angry with myself because I still loved her, or at least I loved that dream of our togetherness. My feelings were unreasonable, irrational, and I couldn't change them. That hurt.

  Abraham Verghese

  Dream, Hurt, Feelings

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• People are generally irrational, unreasonable and selfish. They deserve to be loved, anyway.

  Mother Teresa

  Selfish, People, Family Reunion

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• When...did it become irrational to dislike religion, any religion, even to dislike it vehemently? When did reason get redescribed as unreason? When were the fairy stories of the superstitious placed above criticism, beyond satire? A religion was not a race. It was an idea, and ideas stood (or fell) because they were strong enough (or too weak) to withstand criticism, not because they were shielded from it. Strong ideas welcomed dissent.

  Salman Rushdie

  Strong, Race, Fairy Stories

  Salman Rushdie (2012). “Joseph Anton”, p.345, Random House

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• To criticize a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous, but to criticize their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom. The freedom to criticize ideas, any ideas - even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. A law which attempts to say you can criticize and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed.

  Rowan Atkinson

  Religious, Race, Law

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Most of the time common stocks are subject to irrational and excessive price fluctuations in both directions as the consequence of the ingrained tendency of most people to speculate or gamble... to give way to hope, fear and greed.

  Benjamin Graham

  Hope, Time, Money

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• At that moment, she cannot think of a more reckless, irrational thing than choosing to become a parent.

  Khaled Hosseini

  Thinking, Parent, Moments

  Khaled Hosseini (2013). “And the Mountains Echoed”, p.225, A&C Black

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• I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.

  Graeme Simsion

  Love, Mind, Want

  Graeme Simsion (2014). “The Rosie Project: A Novel”, p.283, Simon and Schuster

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• My parents had irrational fears of Mexico and assumed that once you crossed the border, drug runners made you swallow a heroin balloon and then within the hour you were in a bathtub full of ice and they were harvesting your kidneys.

  Justin Halpern

  Ice, Parent, Drug

  Justin Halpern (2010). “Shit My Dad Says”, p.111, Pan Macmillan

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