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Consciousness quotes

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“Even sleepers and dreamers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the universe.” Heraclitus, “On Nature” - c. 535 – c. 475 BCE

“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.” Bruce Lee, “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” - 1975

“I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness—a real thorough-going illness.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Notes from Underground” - 1864

“Nothing in the real world is as beautiful as the illusions of a person about to lose consciousness.” Haruki Murakami, “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” - 2007

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except through human consciousness.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it.” H. G. Wells, “The Time Machine” - 1895

“Examples of truths known to us by immediate consciousness, are our own bodily sensations and mental feelings. I know directly, and of my own knowledge, that I was vexed yesterday, or that I am hungry to-day.” John Stuart Mill, “A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive” - 1843

“Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic ; its inner nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of consciousness as is the external world...” Sigmund Freud, “The Interpretation of Dreams” - 1899

“In certain diseased conditions consciousness is a mere spark, without memory of the past or thought of the future, and with the present narrowed down to some one simple emotion or sensation of the body.” William James, “The Varieties of Religious Experience” - 1902

“It is that our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.” William James, “The Varieties of Religious Experience” - 1902

“For instance, men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are conditioned.” Baruch Spinoza, “Ethics” - 1677

“Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings to man the consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are non-existent, that their promises are null and void, since they can be fulfilled only through man's subordination.” Emma Goldman, “Anarchism and Other Essays” - 1910

“He was conscious of nothing except the blankness of the page in front of him, the itching of the skin above his ankle, the blaring of the music, and a slight booziness caused by the gin.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is improbably biased toward consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed.” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

“There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

Related topics

reality mind reason truth God knowledge time beauty feelings freedom age imagination dreams senses memory intelligence writing work politics rebellion

Related authors

George Orwell (4)
John Green (2)
William James (2)
Heraclitus (1)
H. G. Wells (1)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
John Stuart Mill (1)
Sigmund Freud (1)
Haruki Murakami (1)
Bruce Lee (1)
Baruch Spinoza (1)
Emma Goldman (1)

Related sources

1984 (4)
The Fault in Our Stars (2)
The Varieties of Religious Experience (2)
On Nature (1)
The Time Machine (1)
A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive (1)
The Interpretation of Dreams (1)
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1)
Ethics (1)
Anarchism and Other Essays (1)
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (1)
Notes from Underground (1)