The self-surmounter can never put up with the man who has ceased to be dissatisfied with himself. Colin Wilson More Quotes by Colin Wilson More Quotes From Colin Wilson It seemed perfectly possible that, in spite of my certainty of my own genius, I might die of some illness, or perhaps even in a street accident, before I had ever glimpsed the meaning of life. My moods of happiness and self-confidence convinced me that I had a "destiny" to become a famous writer, and to be remembered as one of the most important thinkers of the century. Colin Wilson self-confidencedestinyimportant The mystical impulse in men is somehow a desire to possess the universe. In women, it's a desire to be possessed. Colin Wilson mysticaldesiremen I've always believed that a writer has got to remain an outsider. If I was offered anything like the Nobel Prize for Literature, I'd find it an extremely difficult conflict because I'd be basically disinclined to accept. Colin Wilson outsidersconflictliterature Now individual consciousness, as typified in human beings, has great advantages and great disadvantages. Individuality means a narrowing, and narrowness can be useful. It is good for close-up work. We have invented the magnifying glass and the microscope to narrow our vision, because narrowness makes for precision. But narrowness also makes for a failure of purpose, for exhaustion of the will; for purpose depends upon a broad vision, a clear sight of one's objective. Colin Wilson glassessightmean A symphony is a stage play with the parts written for instruments instead of for actors. Colin Wilson symphonyactorsplay Man is brilliant at solving problems; but solving them only makes him the victim of his own childishness and laziness. It is this recognition that has made almost every major philosopher in history a pessimist. Colin Wilson recognitionlazinessmen If I'd stayed on in London and carried on going to literary parties, it would have wrecked me as a writer. Colin Wilson londonpartyifs Being very famous is not the fun it sounds. It merely means you're being chased by a lot of people and you lose your privacy. Colin Wilson funmeanpeople If you asked me what is the basis of all my work, it's the feeling there's something basically wrong with human beings. Colin Wilson basesworking-itfeelings I'm basically a writer of ideas, and the English aren't interested in ideas. The English, I'm afraid, are totally brainless. Colin Wilson brainlessideas Religion, mysticism and magic all spring from the same basic 'feeling' about the universe: a sudden feeling of meaning, which human beings sometimes 'pick up' accidentally, as your radio might pick up some unknown station. Poets feel that we are cut off from meaning by a thick, lead wall, and that sometimes for no reason we can understand the wall seems to vanish and we are suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of the infinite interestingness of things. Colin Wilson wallcuttingspring The outsider is not sure who he is. He has found an “I”, but it is not his true “I”.’ His main business is to find his way back to himself. Colin Wilson outsidersfoundway If you can train your senses to perceive the movement of the minute hand of a clock, what is to stop you for training them to 'slow down' when you look at a tree or a puddle? Colin Wilson trainingtreehands No matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true objectivity. Expressed in a sentence, Fort 's principle goes something like this: People with a psychological need to believe in marvels are no more prejudiced and gullible than people with a psychological need not to believe in marvels. Colin Wilson objectivitybelievethinking Faculty X is a sense of reality of other places and other times, and it is the possession of it—fragmentary and uncertain though it is—that distinguishes man from all other animals. Colin Wilson animalmenreality In the civilisation a new law of hostility prevails. And to call it the law of the jungle is unfair to the jungle. Colin Wilson The mind has exactly the same power as the hands not merely to grasp the world, but to change it. Colin Wilson When I was a teenager I was a total romantic escapist. My world was books. Colin Wilson totalbooksromanticworld What I wanted to do was to try to create a philosophy upon a completely new foundation. Colin Wilson newtryfoundationphilosophy Whereas in the past optimism had been regarded as rather shallow - because 'oh well, it's just your temperament, you happen to be just a cheerful sort of person' - what I wanted to do was to establish that in fact it is the pessimists who are allowing all kinds of errors to creep into their work. Colin Wilson youryouworkpast
