The flesh endures the storms of the present alone; the mind, those of the past and future as well as the present. Gluttony is a lust of the mind.
Interpretation
The body withstands only current challenges, while the mind grapples with the past and future. Excessive desire and indulgence stem from mental cravings.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes reflects on the nature of human experience, emphasizing that while our physical existence is limited to the present moment, our mental faculties are burdened with memories of the past and anxieties about the future. He suggests that gluttony, or overindulgence, is not merely a physical craving but fundamentally a mental obsession that distracts us from the realities of the present.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of human suffering and desire at a philosophical gathering.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
Never say you know the last word about any human heart.
Every individual needs revolution, inner division, overthrow of the existing order, and renewal, but not by forcing them upon his neighbors under the hypocritical cloak of Christian love or the sense of social responsibility or any of the other beautiful euphemisms for unconscious urges to personal power.
An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed in retaliation.
Some of the qualities of #β God must _x000D_ be merged into us before our _x000D_ #β prayers can be fit for His _x000D_ acceptance.
How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.
We are living in a world of fear. The life of man today is corroded and made bitter by fear: fear of the future, fear of the hydrogen bomb, fear of ideologies. Perhaps this fear is a greater danger than the danger itself because it is fear, which drives men to act thoughtlessly, to act dangerously.
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