Quote Of The Week

Quote of the Week 12 “ The 'yes' needs the 'no' in order to hold up against the 'no'.” ―  Jürgen Habermas  (paraphrased)     Original German  paraphrase : “ Das Ja braucht das Nein, um gegen das Nein bestehen zu können. ”   The Power of the Productive "No" At first glance, this quote by the influential German philosopher  Jürgen Habermas  might sound like a riddle. However, it captures the heartbeat of a healthy democracy and meaningful conversation. For Habermas, a "Yes" (agreement) only has value if the person saying it had the genuine freedom to say "No" (dissent). If you aren't allowed to disagree, your agreement isn't a choice—it’s just submission. In his theory of  Communicative Action , Habermas argues that: True Consensus  must be "stress-tested" by counter-arguments. The "No"  acts as a filter that strains out weak ideas. The "Yes"  that emerges is stronger because it "held up...

Quote of the Week 4 “ We both step and do not step into the same river, we both are and are not.” ― Heraclitus Triggered by the reference to a variation of the quote in WDR 5 - Das philosophische Radio Podcast with  Heinz-Michael Bartling: Weisheit und Wandel   (01/05/2026) . Related (see Wikipedia for details): You cannot step into the same river twice Since Plato, Heraclitus's theory of flux has been associated with the metaphor of a flowing river, which cannot be stepped into twice. [ 57 ] [ as ]  This fragment from Heraclitus's writings has survived in three different forms: [ 56 ] "On those who step into the same rivers, different and different waters flow" –  Arius Didymus , quoted in  Stobaeus [ at ] "We both step and do not step into the same river, we both are and are not" –  Heraclitus Homericus ,  Homeric Allegories [ au ] "It is not possible to step into the same river twice" –  Plutarch ,  On the E at Delphi [ av ] The classicis...

Quote of the Week 52 " You have power over your mind - not outside events.   Realize this, and you will find strength. " ―  Marcus Aurelius , Meditations

Quote of the Week 29 “ Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” ―   Simone Weil  

Quote of the Week 27 “ We don't really want what we think we desire.” ― Slavoj Žižek Triggered by  thephilosophyquote on  Instagram: Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an Ein Beitrag geteilt von Promoting the world through books (@indieauthorshowcase) As quoted on Goodreads  and BigThink : “ We don't really want to get what we think that we want. I am married to a wife and relationship with her are cold and I have a mistress. And all the time I dream oh my god if my wife were to disappear - I'm not a murderer but let us say- that it will open up a new life with the mistress.Then, for some reason, the wife goes away, you lose the mistress. You thought this is all I want, when you have it there, you turn out it was a much more complex situation. It was not to live with the mistress, but to keep her as a distance as on object of desire about which you dream. This is not an excessive example, I claim this is how things function.  We don't really w...

Quote of the Week 25 “ What can be shown cannot be said.” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein   Triggered by  Hartmut Esslinger 's comment on Apple's "Liquid Glass" UI. From the  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy : Wittgenstein does not, however, relegate all that is not inside the bounds of sense to oblivion. He makes a distinction between saying and showing which is made to do additional crucial work. “What can be shown cannot be said,” that is, what cannot be formulated in sayable (sensical) propositions can only be shown. This applies, for example, to the logical form of the world, the pictorial form, etc., which show themselves in the form of (contingent) propositions, in the symbolism, and in logical propositions. Even the unsayable (metaphysical, ethical, aesthetic) propositions of philosophy belong in this group—which Wittgenstein finally describes as “things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical”. “ Was gezeigt werden...

Quote of the Week 12 “ Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.” ― Henri Bergson “ Man muss wie ein denkender Mensch handeln und wie ein handelnder Mensch denken. ” “ Il faut agir en homme de pensée et penser en homme d'action. ” ―  Henri Bergson ,  Message au Congrès Descartes , IXe Congrès international de philosophie (1937) Triggered by further reflection on last week's quote " Thought is the enemy of flow " and the related idea that " Thought kills action ". " For Bergson, the action is the lowest sphere of the spirit, where it touches the physical mechanism, whereas it reaches its climax in the mere speculative freedom of the dream. " From X/Grok3: The popular English version of Henri Bergson's quote, "Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought," reverses the sequence compared to the original French, "Il faut agir en homme de pensée et penser en homme d'action" (directly translated as ...

Quote of the Week 17 " What you can imagine depends on what you know. " ―  Daniel Dennett ( ✝ April 19, 2024) Full quote: “What you can imagine depends on what you know. Philosophers who know only philosophy consign themselves to a janitorial role in the great enterprises of exploration that are illuminating the mysteries of our lives.”

Quote of the Week 12 " The idea of the future, pregnant with an infinity of possibilities, is thus more fruitful than the future itself, and this is why we find more charm in hope than in possession, in dreams than in reality. " ―   Henri Bergson The search for this quote was triggered by a recent visit to Bergson Kunstkraftwerk  still under construction. Another quote attributed to Bergson for which I could not find the original source: " New ideas, in most cases, are the children of old thoughts. "

Quote of the Week 2 "The demand to give up the illusions about its condition is the demand to give up a condition that needs illusions." ― Karl Marx   " Die Forderung, die Illusionen über seinen Zustand aufzugeben, ist die Forderung, einen Zustand aufzugeben, der der Illusionen bedarf . " ― Karl Marx   Triggered by reading up on " Religion is opium of / for the people ". From his 1843 Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering.  Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.  It is the opium of the people.  The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.  To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. ___ Da...

Quote of the Week 27 " You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. " ― Ryan Holiday ( The Daily Stoic ) A variation of: " You don’t control the situation, but you control what you think about it. " ― Ryan Holiday   See also: “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude  toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather  than allowing it to master you.”  ―  Brian Tracy " It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. " ―  Epictetus Triggered by the use of a variant of the quote in a recent Daily Stoic  tweet : You don’t control the situation, but you control what you think about it. — Daily Stoic (@dailystoic) June 29, 2023 Related: " Between stimulus and response lies a space. In that space lie our freedom and power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness. " ― Viktor Frankl