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Even if there were exceedingly few things in a finite space in an infinite time, they would not have to repeat in the same configurations. Suppose there were three wheels of equal size, rotating on the same axis, one point marked on the circumference of each wheel, and these three points lined up in one straight line. If the second wheel rotated twice as fast as the first, and if the speed of the third wheel was 1/π of the speed of the first, the initial line-up would never recur.

— Walter Kaufmann

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More quotes by Walter Kaufmann

The most obvious failure of organized religions is surely that almost all of them have made a mockery of what their founders taught.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Faith means intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Renouncing false beliefs will not usher in the millennium.

The Faith of a Heretic (1959)

Faith means not wanting to know what is true.

paraphrasing Nietzsche, The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

The notion that only what is new and young is beautiful poisons our relationship to the past and to our own future.

Time is an Artist (1978)

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One country, one constitution, one destiny.

Daniel Webster

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

John Lewis

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

Poul Anderson The Corridors of Time (1965)

Attribution

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