Sublime quotes
278 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside sublime — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you."
"The human race may be compared to a writer. At the outset a writer has often only a vague general notion of the plan of his work, and of the thought he intends to elaborate. As he proceeds, penetrating his material, laboring to express himself fitly, he lays a firmer grasp on his thought; he finds himself. So the human race is writing its story, finding itself, discovering its own underlying purpose, revising, recasting a tale pathetic often, yet none the less sublime."
"Beauty presents an indeterminate concept of Understanding, the sublime an indeterminate concept of Reason."
"The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting for this representation."
"What believer sees a disturbing omission or infelicity? The text, whether of prophet or of poet, expands for whatever we can put into it, and even his bad grammar is sublime."
"The life of great geniuses is nothing but a sublime storm."
"All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive."
"We are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us. We can never have enough of nature."
"What give all that is tragic, whatever its form, the characteristic of the sublime, is the first inkling of the knowledge that the world and life can give no satisfaction, and are not worth our investment in them. The tragic spirit consists in this. Accordingly it leads to resignation."
"I know of nothing sublime which is not some modification of power."
"Men are not on such intimate terms with the sublime that they really can believe in it"
"In all legends men have thought of women as sublime separately but horrible in a herd."
"At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitment may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing."
"There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime"
"Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths."
"Peter Martin’s artistry is nothing short of extraordinary. To sing with him is sublime – to listen to him play is a transcendent experience."
"in prosperity prayers seem but a mere medley of words, until misfortune comes and the unhappy sufferer first understands the meaning of the sublime language in which he invokes the pity of heaven!"
"One source of the sublime is infinity."
"Nothing so effectually deadens the taste of the sublime as that which is light and radiant."
"Die, very good, but do not make others die. Suicides like the one which is about to take place here are sublime, but suicide is restricted, and does not allow of extension; and so soon as it affects your neighbors, suicide becomes murder."
