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1 " It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable. "
― Maya Angelou
2 " I see prisoners; those whose minds have been caged by people's ideologies of how they should liveInternally displaced persons who have settled for a lot in life that isn't there'sTell me, how powerful is this fear that you surrender even before the war has beganHow minute is this belief in yourself that you look in the mirror and dare to tell the person on the other side you won't amount to anything?Shame!Set yourself free; rise above your fears and fight. Look in that mirror and declare woe unto those who venture to stand in your way. this is your life, yours alone, use it wisely "
3 " When you are open and aware, it allows for all magical possibilities! We, here in the forest, can see all that goes on in our environment on the surface; but we have true awareness that sees beyond the shallow! This belief comes from the depths of wisdom that there is more than meets the eyes!”Den the Wise Oak Tree, See the Little People…An Enchanting Adventure "
― Chris DiSano-Davenport , See the Little People... An Enchanting Adventure
4 " Reason, Observation and Experience — the Holy Trinity of Science — have taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of, nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel. Until then, let us stand erect. "
― Robert G. Ingersoll , On the Gods and Other Essays
5 " Lines Written In Early SpringI heard a thousand blended notes,While in a grove I sate reclined,In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughtsBring sad thoughts to the mind.To her fair works did Nature linkThe human soul that through me ran;And much it grieved my heart to thinkWhat man has made of man.Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;And 'tis my faith that every flowerEnjoys the air it breathes.The birds around me hopped and played,Their thoughts I cannot measure:--But the least motion which they madeIt seemed a thrill of pleasure.The budding twigs spread out their fan,To catch the breezy air;And I must think, do all I can,That there was pleasure there.If this belief from heaven be sent,If such be Nature's holy plan,Have I not reason to lamentWhat man has made of man? "
― William Wordsworth
6 " Belief in immortality is harmful because it is not in our power to conceive of the soul as really incorporeal. So this belief is in fact a belief in the prolongation of life, and it robs death of its purpose. "
― Simone Weil , Gravity and Grace
7 " When a person believes that a God is truly concerned about the well-being of life on earth, and especially of human life, the belief adorns that person with various positive psychological elements such as emotional stability, in times of distress and a highly functional moral compass. Here this belief has nothing to do with reality whatsoever, rather it serves the evolutionary purpose of self-preservation. "
― Abhijit Naskar
8 " In older myths, the dark road leads downward into the Underworld, where Persephone is carried off by Hades, much against her will, while Ishtar descends of her own accord to beat at the gates of Hell. This road of darkness lies to the West, according to Native American myth, and each of us must travel it at some point in our lives. The western road is one of trials, ordeals, disasters and abrupt life changes — yet a road to be honored, nevertheless, as the road on which wisdom is gained. James Hillman, whose theory of 'archetypal psychology' draws extensively on Greco–Roman myth, echoes this belief when he argues that darkness is vital at certain periods of life, questioning our modern tendency to equate mental health with happiness. It is in the Underworld, he reminds us, that seeds germinate and prepare for spring. Myths of descent and rebirth connect the soul's cycles to those of nature. "
― Terri Windling
9 " We believe that it is possible for scientific work to gain some knowledge about the reality of the world, by means of which we can increase out power and in accordance with which we can arrange our life. If this belief is an illusion, then we are in the same position as you. But science has given us evidence by its numerous and important successes that it is no illusion. "
― Sigmund Freud , The Future of an Illusion
10 " Parents like to think of themselves as Batmans, and of their children as Gotham Cities. Gotham City depends on Batman for its survival, and Batman delivers. This belief prevents parents from letting those young adults actually live their lives. "
― Lukasz Laniecki , You Have The Right Not To Make Your Parents Proud. A Book Of Quotes
11 " Positive belief in yourself will give you the energy needed to conquer the world and this belief is the power behind all creation. "
― Stephen Richards , Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free
12 " I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition.... we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world. "
― John C. Eccles
13 " Common people tend to term any kind of bizarre phenomenon as “paranormal” or “supernatural”. They often exaggerate it as the work of the Gods. Behind this belief is nothing but primitive ignorance. Social progress means that people must (a necessity, not a luxury) align their beliefs and behavior to new knowledge and understanding of nature. "
14 " [Tolstoy] denounced [many historians'] lamentable tendency to simplify. The experts stumble onto a battlefield, into a parliament or public square, and demand, " Where is he? Where is he?" " Where is who?" " The hero, of course! The leader, the creator, the great man!" And having found him, they promptly ignore all his peers and troops and advisors. They close their eyes and abstract their Napoleon from the mud and the smoke and the masses on either side, and marvel at how such a figure could possibly have prevailed in so many battles and commanded the destiny of an entire continent. " There was an eye to see in this man," wrote Thomas Carlyle about Napoleon in 1840, " a soul to dare and do. He rose naturally to be the King. All men saw that he was such." But Tolstoy saw differently. " Kings are the slaves of history," he declared. " The unconscious swarmlike life of mankind uses every moment of a king's life as an instrument for its purposes." Kings and commanders and presidents did not interest Tolstoy. History, his history, looks elsewhere: it is the study of infinitely incremental, imperceptible change from one state of being (peace) to another (war).The experts claimed that the decisions of exceptional men could explain all of history's great events. For the novelist, this belief was evidence of their failure to grasp the reality of an incremental change brought about by the multitude's infinitely small actions. "
15 " When you are open and aware, it allows for all magical possibilities! We, here in the forest, can see all that goes on in our environment on the surface; but we have true awareness that sees beyond the shallow! This belief comes from the depths of wisdom that there is more than meets the eyes!”Den the Wise Oak Tree, Meet the Little People…An Enchanting Adventure "
16 " The Elven people believe that preservation of the land and all that lives and grows upon it, plant and animal alike, is a moral responsibility. They have always held this belief foremost in their conduct as creatures of the earth. In the old world, they devoted the whole of their lives to caring for the woodlands and forests in which they lived, cultivating its various forms of vegetation, sheltering the animals that it harbored. Of course, they had little else to concern them in those days, for they were an isolated and reclusive people. All that has changed now, but they still maintain a belief in their moral responsibility for their world. Every Elf is expected to spend a portion of his life giving back to the land something of what he has taken out of it. By that I mean every Elf is expected to devote a part of his life to working with the land–to repairing damage it may have suffered through misuse or neglect, to caring for its animals and other wildlife, to caring for its trees and smaller plants where the need to do so is found. "
― Terry Brooks , The Elfstones of Shannara (The Original Shannara Trilogy, #2)
17 " Our musicians in residence carry this belief into the classroom. They don't think of children's self-esteem as so fragile that it will be shattered by the suggestion that the child guessed wrong or jumped to an invalid conclusion. They make corrections matter-of-factly, with no feeling that a chid is a failure because she has made an error, but with ocnfidence that the feedback will help the child learn and be accurate the next time. "
18 " I believe you to be Filidor Vesh," said the dwarf." You are entitled to your beliefs, however ill-founded," Filidor replied. " No doubt you will wish to search further for this Vesh, rather than impose your presence upon a man called hence by urgent affairs." The dwarf transferred his grip from Filidor's mantle to his arm. His gaze swept quickly over the young man's features. " This belief is supported by the evidence, since you answer to a point the description furnished me." " You are plainly the dupe of some prankster, who abuses the dignity of your years by sending you on a fool's errand," said Filidor. " Were I you, I would seek out the rascal and thrash him. "
19 " Just as verbally and physically abused children internalize blame, so do incest victims. However, in incest, the blame is compounded by the shame. The belief that ‘it’s all my fault’ is never more intense than with the incest victim. This belief fosters strong feelings of self-loathing and shame. In addition to having somehow to cope with the actual incest, the victim must now guard against being caught and exposed as a ‘dirty, disgusting’ person "
― Susan Forward , Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life
20 " Our democratic societies rest on a meritocratic worldview, or at any rate a meritocratic hope, by which I mean a belief in a society in which inequality is based more on merit and effort than on kinship and rents. This belief and this hope play a very crucial role in modern society, for a simple reason: in a democracy, the professed equality of rights of all citizens contrasts sharply with the very real inequality of living conditions, and in order to overcome this contradiction it is vital to make sure that social inequalities derive from rational and universal principles rather than arbitrary contingencies. Inequalities must therefore be just and useful to all, at least in the realm of discourse and as far as possible in reality as well. "
― Thomas Piketty , Capital in the Twenty-First Century
