Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting. Aldous Huxley More Quotes by Aldous Huxley More Quotes From Aldous Huxley Death is the only thing we haven't succeeded in completely vulgarizing. Aldous Huxley atheism fear history I had to depend on Braille for my reading and guide for my walking...I am now wearing no glasses, reading and all without strain...by taking lessons in seeing...optometrists hate the method. Aldous Huxley hate reading dark For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. Aldous Huxley political doubt philosophy If humans were in fact the members of a truly social species, and if their individual differences were trifling and could be completely ironed out by appropriate conditioning, then, obviously, there would be no need for liberty and the State would be justified in persecuting the heretics who demanded it. Aldous Huxley individual-differences liberty would-be Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. Aldous Huxley brave-new-world misery looks The religions whose theology is least preoccupied with events in time and most concerned with eternity, have been consistently less violent and more humane in political practice. Unlike early Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism (all obsessed with time) Hinduism and Buddhism have never been persecuting faiths, have preached almost no holy wars and have refrained from that proselytizing religious imperialism which has gone hand in hand with political and economic oppression of colored people. Aldous Huxley buddhism religious war Reality cannot be ignored except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid. Aldous Huxley ignored ignorance reality If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do is to study the words of those who were. Aldous Huxley sage learning saint The Christian idea of a perfect heaven that is something other than a non-existence is a contradiction in terms. Aldous Huxley christian perfect ideas Family, monogamy, romance. Everywhere exclusiveness, a narrow channelling of impulse and energy. Aldous Huxley monogamy romance energy Happiness is a hard master, particularly other people's happiness. Aldous Huxley literature happiness people ...we were back at home, and I had returned to that reassuring but profoundly unsatisfactory state known as 'being in one's right mind. Aldous Huxley reassuring mind home The consistent thinker, the consistently moral man, is either a walking mummy or else, if he has not succeeded in stifling all his vitality, a fanatical monomaniac. Aldous Huxley vitality ethics men At any given moment, life is completely senseless. But viewed over a period, it seems to reveal itself as an organism existing in time, having a purpose, trending in a certain direction. Aldous Huxley moments purpose life The investigation of nature is an infinite pasture-ground where all may graze, and where the more bite, the longer the grass grows, the sweeter is its flavor, and the more it nourishes. Aldous Huxley flavor nature may Knowledge is an affair of symbols and is, all too often, a hindrance to wisdom, the uncovering of the self from moment to moment Aldous Huxley affair moments self For some strange reason murder has always seemed more respectable than fornication. Few people are shocked when they hear God described as the God of Battles; but what an outcry there would be if anyone spoke of him as the God of Brothels. Aldous Huxley battle would-be people In a few years, no doubt, marriage licences will be sold like dog licences, good for 12 months. Aldous Huxley doubt dog years Art is one of the means whereby man seeks to redeem a life which is experienced as chaotic, senseless, and largely evil. Aldous Huxley men mean art Cant is always rather nauseating; but before we condemn political hypocrisy, let us remember that it is the tribute paid by men of leather to men of God, and that the acting of the part of someone better than oneself may actually commit one to a course of behavior perceptibly less evil than what would be normal and natural in an avowed cynic. Aldous Huxley hypocrisy evil men
