Mastodawn

CHORUS: Who among men, though he search to the uttermost end,
   can claim to have found what is meant
   by god or the absence of god or of something between?
   For he sees the works of the gods
   turning now here and now there,
   now backwards again through a fate
   beyond calculation or forethought.

[ΧΟΡΟΣ: ὅ τι θεὸς ἢ μὴ θεὸς ἢ τὸ μέσον,
   τίς φησ᾽ ἐρευνήσας βροτῶν
   μακρότατον πέρας εὑρεῖν
   ὃς τὰ θεῶν ἐσορᾷ
   δεῦρο καὶ αὖθις ἐκεῖσε
   καὶ πάλιν ἀντιλόγοις
   πηδῶντ᾽ ἀνελπίστοις τύχαις;]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Helen [Ἑλένη], l. 1137ff (412 BC) [tr. Warner (1951)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/79396/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #euripides #mystery #caprice #divinepurpose #divinewill #gods #ineffability #undependability #unfathomability

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Aug 5, 2025

A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

REDEMPTION, n. Deliverance of sinners from the penalty of their sin, through their murder of the deity against whom they sinned. The doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy religion, and whoso believeth in it shall not perish, but have everlasting life in which to try to understand it.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Redemption,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/78226…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #Christianity #eternallife #ineffability #mystery #redemption #salvation

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Aug 1, 2025

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

When a fact can be demonstrated, force is unnecessary; when it cannot be demonstrated, an appeal to force is infamous. In the presence of the unknown all have an equal right to think.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1873-12) “Individuality,” Chicago Free Religious Society

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #belief #compulsion #fact #force #freedomofreligion #freedomofthought #individuality #ineffability #opinion #proof #religiousfreedom #truth #unknown #mystery

Lecture (1873-12) "Individuality," Chicago Free Religious Society - Ingersoll, Robert Green | WIST Quotations

When a fact can be demonstrated, force is unnecessary; when it cannot be demonstrated, an appeal to force is infamous. In the presence of the unknown all have an equal right to think. Full title "Arraignment of the Church and a Plea for Individuality." Collected in The Gods and Other…

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 9, 2025

A quotation from Douglas Adams

Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humourist, screenwriter
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 20 [Dirk] (1987)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-douglas/29362/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #dirkgently #ambition #attempt #deed #endeavor #goal #ideal #ineffability #outsidethebox #thought #try

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Apr 30, 2025

A quotation from Montaigne

We must be content with the light that it may please the sun to shed upon us by his beams; and he who shall raise his eyes to bring a brighter beam into his very body, let him not think it strange if, for the punishment of his audacity, he thus lose his sight.

[Il se faut contenter de la lumiere qu’il plaist au Soleil nous communiquer par ses rayons, & qui eslevera ses yeux pour en prendre une plus grande dans son corps mesme, qu’il ne trouve pas estrange, si pour la peine de son outrecuidance il y perd la veuë.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essay (1572), “We Should Meddle Soberly with Judging Divine Ordinances [Qu’il faut sobrement se mesler de juger des ordonnances divines],” Essays, Book 1, ch. 31 (1.31) (1595) [tr. Ives (1925), 1.32]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #arrogance #audacity #discernment #divineplan #divinepunishment #divinewill #God #hubris #ineffability #mystery #presumption #pride #revelation #sun #understanding

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Mar 11, 2025

A quotation from Barbara Brown Taylor

I cannot say for sure when my reliable ideas about God began to slip away, but the big chest I used to keep them in is smaller than a shoebox now. Most of the time, I feel so ashamed about this that I do not own up to it unless someone else mentions it first. Then we find a quiet place where we can talk about what it is like to feel more and more devoted to a relationship that we are less and less able to say anything about.

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
Learning to Walk in the Dark, ch. 7 (2014)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/taylor-barbara-brown…

#quote #quotes #quotation #belief #certainty #faith #God #ineffability #relationship #uncertainty

Solarpunk Presents Podcast Sep 4, 2024

Season 4 episode 6: On Solarpunk Spirituality (& Humanity's Intangible Squishy Bits) with Navarre Bartz

Today Ariel sits down with Navarre Bartz to talk about solarpunk spirituality. Solarpunk’s emphasis on respecting and valuing human and non-human life includes the totality of a being’s existence, and that includes the “squishy bits” of the experience that we can’t quite quantify. Navarre recently hosted a series of guest posts on his blog, Solarpunk Station, all about the spiritual angle of solarpunk, and what a solarpunk style of spirituality might look like.

https://youtu.be/PmWbEt2sc9A?si=MVNpQyfrxs49SRhR

#Episode #Season4 #YouTube #solarpunk #SolarpunkPresentsPodcast #podcast #Spirituality #SolarpunkSpirituality #Catholicism #Existence #Religion #Faith #Intangibility #Ineffability @solarpunkgnome

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WIST Quotations moves again!May 10, 2024

A quotation from Dante Alighieri:

«
Within that heav’n which most receives His light
Was I, and saw such things as man nor knows
Nor skills to tell, returning from that height;
For when our intellect is drawing close
To its desire, its paths are so profound
That memory cannot follow where it goes.
Yet now, of that blest realm, what…
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/dante-alighieri-poet/69278/

#quote #quotes #quotation #comprehension #God #ineffability #heaven #writing #tale #memory #experience

The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 3 "Paradiso," Canto 1, l. 4ff (1.4-12) (1320) [tr. Sayers/Reynolds (1962)] - Dante Alighieri | WIST Quotations

Within that heav'n which most receives His light Was I, and saw such things as man nor knows Nor skills to tell, returning from that height; For when our intellect is drawing close To its desire, its paths are so profound That memory cannot follow where it goes. Yet now,…

WIST

WIST Quotations moves again!Feb 26, 2024

A quotation from Joubert, Joseph:

«
God made life to be lived (the world to be inhabited) and not to be known.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/21322/

#quote #quotes #quotation #enlightenment #God #ineffability #life #living #meaningoflife #mystery #understand

Pensées [Thoughts], 1797 [tr. Auster (1983)] - Joubert, Joseph | WIST Quotations

God made life to be lived (the world to be inhabited) and not to be known. Not included in standard collections of the Pensées.

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WIST Quotations moves again!Dec 9, 2023

A quotation from Pratchett, Terry:

«
“But the Great Plan can only be a tiny part of the overall ineffability,” said Crowley. “You can’t be certain that what’s happening right now isn’t exactly right, from an ineffable point of view.”
“It izz written!” bellowed Beelzebub.
“But it might be written differently somewhere else,” said Crowley. “Where you can…
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/3213/

#quote #quotes #quotation #ineffability #divineplan #God #mystery #scripture

Good Omens, "Saturday" (1990) [with Neil Gaiman] - Pratchett, Terry | WIST Quotations

"But the Great Plan can only be a tiny part of the overall ineffability," said Crowley. "You can't be certain that what's happening right now isn't exactly right, from an ineffable point of view." "It izz written!" bellowed Beelzebub. "But it might be written differently somewhere else," said Crowley. "Where…

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