No one should approach the temple of science with the soul of a money changer.
Thomas BrowneRead
Were the happiness of the next world is as closely apprehended as the felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that if the happiness of the afterlife were as tangible and real as the joys of this life, then living in the present would be a form of suffering.
Thomas Browne's quote reflects on the human condition concerning the balance between earthly joys and spiritual aspirations. He implies that if we were to truly comprehend the bliss of the afterlife as vividly as we experience the pleasures of our current existence, the yearning for that transcendent happiness might render our lives here burdensome, akin to martyrdom. This thought-provoking statement encourages reflection on our priorities and the nature of happiness itself.
Themes
HappinessLifeAfterlifeSufferingJoyPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussion about the meaning of life and happiness.
More from Thomas Browne
All quotes βContent may dwell in all stations. To be low but above contempt may be high enough to be happy.
Thomas BrowneRead
Thus there are two books from whence I collect my Divinity; besides that written one of God, another of his servant Nature, that universal and public Manuscript, that lies expans'd unto the eyes of all; those that never saw him in the one, have discovered him in the other.
Thomas BrowneRead
To be content with death may be better than to desire it.
Thomas BrowneRead
Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living.
Thomas BrowneRead
The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying.
Thomas BrowneRead
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The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It is by the real that we exist; it is by the ideal that we live.
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In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve others better, one has to hold them at a distance for a time. But where can one find the solitude necessary to vigor, the deep breath in which the mind collects itself and courage gauges its strength? There remain big cities.
Albert CamusRead
The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens.
Nicolaus CopernicusRead
Triviality is evil - triviality, that is, in the form of consciousness and mind that adapts itself to the world as it is, that obeys the principle of inertia. And this principle of inertia truly is what is radically evil.
Theodor AdornoRead