Purpose quotes

Purpose

3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

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Purpose quotes (page 31 of 149)

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Friedrich Nietzsche Philosopher, Writer
Purpose

"One should not wrongly reify 'cause' and 'effect,' as the natural scientists do (and whoever, like them, now 'naturalizes' in his thinking), according to the prevailing mechanical doltishness which makes the cause press and push until it 'effects' its end; one should use 'cause' and 'effect' only as pure concepts, that is to say, as conventional fictions for the purpose of designation and communication-not for explanation."

Thinking Purpose Communication
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Fyodor Dostoevsky Novelist, Philosopher
Purpose

"... the more I learned, the more conscious did I become of the fact that I was ridiculous. So that for me my years of hard work at the university seem in the end to have existed for the sole purpose of demonstrating and proving to me, the more deeply engrossed I became in my studies, that I was an utterly absurd person"

Years Hard Work Purpose
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Purpose

"War is in truth a disease in which the juices that serve health and maintenance are used for the sole purpose of nourishing something foreign, something at odds with nature."

War Purpose Odds
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Joseph Franklin Rutherford Religious Leader
Purpose

"The Bible shows the clear statement of God's purposes concerning the earth, and man once made its prince. Its opening chapters show that it was intended for man's instruction."

Men Earth Purpose
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Meister Eckhart Theologian, Philosopher
Purpose

"The man who has submitted his will and purposes entirely to God, carries God with him in all his works and in all circumstances."

Men God Purpose
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Moliere Playwright, Actor
Purpose

"As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt."

Men Purpose Vices
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Edgar Allan Poe Poet, Writer
Purpose

"With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence: they must not they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind."

Eye Passion Purpose
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Edward de Bono Psychologist
Purpose

"The purpose of science is not to analyze or describe but to make useful models of the world. A model is useful if it allows us to get use out of it."

Purpose Knowledge Learning
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Erich Fromm Psychologist, Philosopher
Purpose

"We are all equal in the sense that no man must mean - must be - the means for the purposes of another man; but each individual is an end in itself."

Men Mean Purpose
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Dante Alighieri Poet, Philosopher
Purpose

"The purpose of the whole [the Comedy] and of this portion [the Paradiso] is to remove those who are living in this life from the state of wretchedness, and to lead them to the state of blessedness."

Life Purpose Work
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Diana Rowland Author
Purpose

"You're pretty smart for a Fed." "I missed a bunch of questions on the entrance exam on purpose so that I could get into the agency."

Purpose Smart Agency
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Chinua Achebe Novelist, Poet
Purpose

"It is as though the ancestors who made language and knew from what bestiality its use rescued them are saying to us: Beware of interfering with its purpose! For when language is seriously interfered with, when it is disjoined from truth, be it from mere incompetence or worse, from malice, horrors can descend again on mankind."

Use Purpose Language
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