A recluse without books and ink is already in life a dead man.
Alfred NobelRead
I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results.
Interpretation
Alfred Nobel expresses his intention to support peace initiatives, while simultaneously questioning their effectiveness.
In this quote, Alfred Nobel reflects on his desire to contribute to the promotion of peace even after his death through a financial legacy. However, he conveys a sense of skepticism regarding the actual impact that such efforts will have, highlighting a common ambivalence about the effectiveness of philanthropic endeavors in addressing complex social issues.
In practice
During a speech on philanthropy, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of contributing to noble causes despite uncertainties.
A recluse without books and ink is already in life a dead man.
Justice is to be found only in the imagination.
Second to agriculture, humbug is the biggest industry of our age.
The savants will write excellent volumes. There will be laureates. But wars will continue just the same until the forces of the circumstances render them impossible.
I regard large inherited wealth as a misfortune, which merely serves to dull men's faculties. A man who possesses great wealth should, therefore, allow only a small portion to descend to his relatives. Even if he has children, I consider it a mistake to hand over to them considerable sums of money beyond what is necessary for their education. To do so merely encourages laziness and impedes the healthy development of the individual's capacity to make an independent position for himself.
A heart can no more be forced to love than a stomach can be forced to digest food by persuasion.
Under conditions of peace the warlike man attacks himself.
There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.
People assume that they perceive reality as it is, that our senses accurately record the outside world. Yet the science suggests that, in important ways, people experience reality not as it is, but as they expect it to be.
Mind is repetitive, mind always moves in circles. Mind is a mechanism: you feed it with knowledge, it repeats the same knowledge, it goes on chewing the same knowledge again and again. No-mind is clarity, purity, innocence. No-mind is the real way to live, the real way to know, the real way to be.
Karma means your have to live with the consequences of the actions you have taken in the past. Whatever you put out is coming back.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.