it is better to be a diamond with a flaw 

than a pebble without

 

The only thing standing between you and your dreams is reluctance

 

It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it.

 That is beyond their will; 

and, however little they acknowledge it, one later discovers that they were among the most powerful promoters of decadence.

 

Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind; 

it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us. 

one should always talk of philosophy with a smile.

Atheism

 

Atheism is not a philosophy; 

it is not even a view of the world;

 it is simply an admission of the obvious.

 In fact, 'atheism' is a term that should not even exist.

No one needs to identify himself as a 'non-astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist.' 

We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and cattle. 

Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs

 

If a man has character, he has also his typical experience, which always recurs

 

Those who know that they are profound strive for clarity. 

Those who would like to seem profound to the crowd strive for obscurity.

 For the crowd believes that if it cannot see to the bottom of something it must be profound.

 It is so timid and dislikes going into the water

 

Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, 

that a vast, perhaps the larger, portion of truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant

 

Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing

 for the known way is an impasse

 

There is no justice in the laws of nature, no term for fairness in the equations of motion. 

The Universe is neither evil, nor good, it simply does not care. 

The stars don't care, or the Sun, or the sky.

 

Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. 

That’s where the most important things come from, 

where you yourself came from,

 and where you will go

 

We do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art

--we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones.

 

Under every deep 

A lower deep opens 

 

Which way I fly is hell; 

myself am hell; 

And in the lowest deep a lower deep, 

Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide, 

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.

 

The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself

Solopsism

 

I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; 

I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me.

I think I have no senses. 

I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions

. What is there then that can be taken as true? 

Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain

 

No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy? 

The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything.

 If we ask that question, it means we want to find out what makes us happy. 

If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, 

then we must either change once and for all 

or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy

 

 It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no god. 

It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg