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We live in a nightmare of falsehoods, and there are few who are sufficiently awake and aware to see things as they are. Our first duty is to clear away illusions and recover a sense of reality.

— Nikolai Berdyaev Political Testament (1949)

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More quotes by Nikolai Berdyaev

The new religious consciousness rises up against the nihilistic attitude towards the world and mankind.

For the new religious consciousness the declaration of the will of God is together with this a declaration of the rights of man, a revealing of the Divine within mankind.

There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism.

Slavery and Freedom (1939)

No one today likes truth: utility and self interest have long ago been substituted for truth.

Political Testament (1949)

Ethics occupies a central place in philosophy because it is concerned with sin, with the origin of good and evil and with moral valuations.

The Destiny of Man (1931)

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Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjiev, Krishnamurti.

Henry Miller My Bike & Other Friends (1977)

Utu, shepherd of the land, father of the black-headed, when you go to sleep, the people go to sleep with you; youth Utu, when you rise, the people rise with you.

Lugalbanda

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me.

L. Frank Baum Introduction to The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

Religion in so far as it is a source of consolation is a hindrance to true faith; and in this sense atheism is a purification.

Simone Weil

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nikolai Berdyaev (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.