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I have very strongly this feeling... that our everyday life is at one and the same time banal, overfamiliar, platitudinous and yet mysterious and extraordinary.

— Bryan Magee Heidegger and Modern Existentialism (1977)

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More quotes by Bryan Magee

The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the world, not interest in the writings of philosophers.

Confessions of a Philosopher (1997)

As Voltaire once remarked, "It is the privilege of the real genius, especially one who opens up a new path, to make great mistakes with impunity."

Confessions of a Philosopher (1997)

It could be that the total scenario for human beings is an insoluble mystery until we die, followed by nothing at all.

Confessions of a Philosopher (1997)

Because of the fundamental character of these problems, and because Kant did not solve them, confronting them has been the most important challenge to philosophy ever since.

Confessions of a Philosopher (1997)

I am as baffled now by the larger metaphysical questions of my existence as I was when I was a child — indeed more so, because my understanding of the depths and difficulties of the questions themselves is now so much greater.

Confessions of a Philosopher (1997)

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To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

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