5
" Some years ago, there was a lovely philosopher of science and journalist in Italy named Giulio Giorello, and he did an interview with me. And I don’t know if he wrote it or not, but the headline in Corriere della Sera when it was published was " Sì, abbiamo un'anima. Ma è fatta di tanti piccoli robot – " Yes, we have a soul, but it’s made of lots of tiny robots." And I thought, exactly. That’s the view. Yes, we have a soul, but in what sense? In the sense that our brains, unlike the brains even of dogs and cats and chimpanzees and dolphins, our brains have functional structures that give our brains powers that no other brains have - powers of look-ahead, primarily. We can understand our position in the world, we can see the future, we can understand where we came from. We know that we’re here. No buffalo knows it’s a buffalo, but we jolly well know that we’re members of Homo sapiens, and it’s the knowledge that we have and the can-do, our capacity to think ahead and to reflect and to evaluate and to evaluate our evaluations, and evaluate the grounds for our evaluations.It’s this expandable capacity to represent reasons that we have that gives us a soul. But what’s it made of? It’s made of neurons. It’s made of lots of tiny robots. And we can actually explain the structure and operation of that kind of soul, whereas an eternal, immortal, immaterial soul is just a metaphysical rug under which you sweep your embarrassment for not having any explanation. "
9
" When I was in Piazza di Spagna, in Rome, I watched (along with others) how many locals came to drink water from the fountain there. The people beside me said to each other " Oh my goodness, how disgusting, people just drink water from anywhere," while the whole time, I was thinking " Oh my goodness, how wonderful, people can drink water from anywhere." We can be in the exact same place, looking at the exact same thing, but see that thing in a completely different way. You can go around the world, and go to all the beautiful places, but never be happy, because happiness is something that you bring inside of you, it is not where you are or what you are looking at, but it is how you are and how you look at. "
12
" Lei stesso" , Malaussène, " lei stesso" ! L'" identità" , cos'è questo snobismo? Crede che siamo " noi stessi" intorno a questo tavolo? Essere " se stesso" , signore, significa essere il cavallo giusto, al momento giusto, sulla casa giusta della scacchiera giusta! O la regina, o l'alfiere, o l'ultimo dei pedoni!Ma mi sento già rispondere a Julie, con un filo di voce velenosa che, appunto, non è la mia voce:-Ah, sì? Perché io non sono me stesso? "
20
" One factor that makes human being reluctant to have hope is the fear of disappointment.
Do not be afraid of disappointment! The more you afraid of it, the smaller your expectation.
Face and overcome the disappointment, even though it felt bitter in soul and pain in body.
If you go through and pass it, then your soul and body will be stronger than previous level.
When hope emerged, change will occur because of that, both in your soul and in your body.
Fear of disapointment is a main enemy of good hope and great change within the human being.
Only by facing and overcoming the fear of disapointment, man will become stronger and wiser.
~
Salah satu faktor yang membuat manusia enggan untuk berharap adalah rasa takut akan kecewa.
Jangan takut dengan kekecewaan! Semakin engkau takut menghadapinya, semakin kecil pengharapanmu.
Hadapi dan lawanlah rasa kecewa, meskipun terasa pahit di jiwa dan terasa sakit di tubuh.
Jika engkau mampu dan lulus, maka jiwa dan tubuhmu akan lebih kuat dari kondisi sebelumnya.
Ketika harapan muncul, perubahan akan terjadi, baik dalam jiwa maupun dalam tubuh manusia.
Rasa takut akan kecewa adalah musuh utama pengharapan yang baik dan perubahan yang agung dalam diri manusia.
Hanya dengan menghadapi dan melalui rasa takut akan kecewa, seseorang dapat menjadi lebih kuat dan bijaksana. "
― Toba Beta , Master of Stupidity