"There are two kinds of existentialist; first, those who are Christian...and on the other hand the atheistic existentialists, among whom...I class myself. What they have in common is that they think that existence precedes essence, or, if you prefer, that subjectivity must be the turning point."
Thinking quotes
Thinking
95.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Thinking
Browse quotes that often appear alongside thinking — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Thinking quotes (page 159 of 4756)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"I think there is an enormous diference between speaking and writing. One rereads what one writes. But one might read it slowly or quickly. In other words, you do not know how long you will have to spend deliberating over a sentence. ... But if I listen to a tape recorder, the listening time is determined by the speed at which the tape turns and not by my own needs."
"Our children may save us if they are taught to care properly for the planet; but if not, it may be back to the Ice Age or the caves from where we first emerged. Then we'll have to view the universe above from a cold, dark place. No more jet skis, nuclear weapons, plastic crap, broken pay phones, drugs, cars, waffle irons, or television. Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea."
"And what does really matter? That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking--and these are the sum of all wisdom. . . . Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out."
"What you can do, or think you can, begin it."
"No prudent antagonist thinks light of his adversaries."
"To find Margo Roth Spiegelman, you must become Margo Roth Spiegelman. And I had done many of the things she might have done: I had engineered a most unlikely prom coupling. I had quieted the hounds of caste warfare. I had come to feel comfortable inside the rat-infested haunted house where she did her best thinking. I had seen. I had listened. But I could not yet become the wounded person."
"When I was about twelve I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody's noticed. If there is such a thing as a genius, I am one, and if there isn't I don't care."
"I cannot but think it an evil sign of a people when their houses are built to last for one generation only."
"I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts."
"When I think about country music, I think about America."
"I am not the 'illegal' you think I am, and immigration is not what you think it is."
"An egotist is not a man who thinks too much of himself; he is a man who thinks too little of other people."
"If you can't control what you think, you will not be able to control what you do."
"Some people think they have discernment when actually they are just suspicious. Suspicion comes out of the unrenewed mind; discernment comes out of the renewed spirit."
"The things that we want we willingly believe, and the things that we think we expect everyone else to think."
"I think if two people love each other, they should be able to get married. That's pretty much simple."
"I don't care what people think or say about me, I know who I am."
"All real and wholesome enjoyments possible to people have been just as possible to them since first they were made of the earth as they are now; and they are possible to them chiefly in peace. To watch the corn grow, and the blossoms set; to draw hard breath over plowshare or spade; to read, to think, to love, to hope: these are the things that make people happy."
"C. albus...I think the very loveliest of all the lily family - a spotless soul, plant saint, that every one must love and so be made better. It puts the wildest mountaineer on his good behavior. With this plant the whole world would seem rich though non other existed."