"I would, like any other scientist, willingly change my mind if the evidence led me to do so. So I care about what's true, I care about evidence, I care about evidence as the reason for knowing what is true. It is true that I come across rather passionate sometimes and that's because I am passionate about the truth. ... I do get very impatient with humbug, with cant, with fakery, with charlatans."

-- Richard Dawkins

#Knowing Quotes #Mind Quotes #Atheism Quotes

“Ask of Her, the mighty Mother. Her reply puts this other Question: What is Spring?- Growth in every thing - Flesh and fleece, fur and feather, Grass and green world all together, Star-eyed strawberry breasted Throstle above Her nested Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin Forms and warms the life within, And bird and blossom swell In sod or sheath or shell.”
“Once we overcome our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe that utterly dwarfs â€” in time, in space, and in potential â€” the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.”
“The mind must become the servant of the intellect, not the slave of the senses. It must discriminate and detach itself from the body. Like the ripe tamarind fruit, which, becomes loose inside the shell, it must be unattached to this shell, this casement called body.”
“Design needs to be plugged into human behavior. Design dissolves in behavior.”
“Thereâ€™s no tipping point where you become what you are. Character development starts when youâ€™re growing up. Your socioeconomic background contributes. The attitude that gets you through some communities doesnâ€™t work in corporate America. Itâ€™s not an excuse, but it does help explain”
“All you need are the words I give you here and your own honest efforts.”
“Any good movie is filled with secrets. If a director doesn't leave anything unsaid, it's a lousy picture. If a picture's unsaid, it's a lousy picture. If a picture is good, it's mysterious, with things unsaid.”
“Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery.”

Source : Annie Dillard (2011). “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”, p.145, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd

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