text:
Talk:Nikola Tesla

==croatia= =

I disagree with your assertion that "Croatia did not exist." It certainly did, and while it was in a confederation with Hungary since the 12th century, maintained its language, traditions, and identity. In addition, he was born in the Kingdom of Hungary which had recently become part of Austria Hungary. Let's be accurate. -- Bryan Dawson

Nikola Tesla never said that he is proud of his Croatian motherland and Serbian descent. He was always clearly saying that he is a Serb, and in time when he lived Croatia didn't exist. He was born in Austria-Hungary, in its province called the Millitary Borderland (in Serbian Vojna Krajina), where the majority of population were the Serbs. Croatia became a republic of Yugoslavia in 1945, and Tesla died in 1943. I shall delete that ridiculous communist lie from the article now.
 * It is quite evident that you have some sort of agenda. Communist lie? Just because you disagree with history does not mean you can delete it.

That is your opinion, which might be correct and might be wrong (most probably)! FYI - I could argue on both sides for many reasons, but the truth is that he was of Serbian nationality, and of Croatian domicile (altough it was, as many other today independent states, a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Lika was integral part of Croatia, who shared the rights to Hungarian crown... ...and the ages of Tesla's youth and growing were the ages in which the Croatian and pan-slavic ideas were the strongest... They resulted with State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in 1917, and later on with Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Kingdom of Yougoslavia later on... Altough not precisely depicted, attributed qoute was dated in 1936, and is said to be an response to birthday telegrame of an Yougoslav politician from Croatia...

Full quote supossedly says: "As many as I'm proud of my Croatian homeland and Serbian origin, the way you politicians act in (Kingdom of) Yougoslavia I'll have nothing to return to..."

 * The quote originates from this fake interview: http://web.archive.org/web/20150601210853/http://aetherforce.com/teslas-mot-censored-interview/ Mvolz (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

mathematician?
I have read Nikola Tesla's biography and have heard nothing of him being a mathematician (which he is currently categorized as). I'll remove that classification unless someone can prove that he was a mathematician.

The Man Who Patented the 20th Century

The Nikola Tesla Inventor's Club is a non-profit organization of American and Serbian-American inventors who works on promoting the life, legacy and work of Nikola Tesla. Among Tesla's many inventions, he had plans for unlimited energy and was well ahead of his time. If Tesla were around today, the severity of our energy crisis would likely make people listen to his ideas. In the same way that our oceans are abundant in gold, the air contains enough energy to make electricity the type of common resource that air, water and sunlight are. Tesla's biggest obstacle in creating this vision was that no investor was willing to finance a project which wouldn't return profits. At our meetings, we discuss issues like the one briefly addressed above and we share our knowledge of Tesla, physics, energy, electricity and

Our meetings are held once per month at the Free Library of Philadelphia's main branch. look at www.ntesla.meetup.com/38/ for more information about our meetings. In addition to our meetings, we also organize monthly social functions, watch movies about or involving Nikola Tesla and share our common interests. We are always looking to include more Tesla enthusiasts, inventors and those curious about the life of one of history's biggest mysteries. At www.ntesla.mettup.com/38/ you are able to suggest topics. We also are always looking for people with expertise in a certain field to give presentations. If you are a fan of Tesla, come out to a meeting. If you know someone who likes reading about Tesla's work, let them know about our group. Also, check out our website at www.nikolateslainventorsclub.com

Sincerely,

Nick Lonchar

suspect quotes
I removed the following quotes from this page because I suspect them to be hoaxes. If they are legitimate, please provide better sources or at least some context.

This one was in "Sourced". I can imagine Tesla saying it, but the citation is suspicious. The fact that it was submitted anonymously makes me more suspicious.

 * (To his Secretary) Miss! Never trust a Jew!
 * Ibid., p. 165
 * The antecedent for this "ibid" was not obvious. The quote followed a quote from the address at the belgrade station, which i seriously doubt was 165 pages long. If it really did come from a book, please specify.

The other two were in "About". They simply seem like jokes to me.

 * ZAPP!!!!!
 * Tesla, upon being zapped.

 * Billiards is the Man

If you provided these quotes, and they are legitimate, please accept my apologies. --Ubiquity 14:20, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Oops. I found the source for the antisemitic quote. And it was on p.165 as advertised. But the original contributor must have blindly copied it from someplace else, because the title of the book did not otherwise appear in the WQ article. Anyway, I restored the quote to the article. --Ubiquity 14:37, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

 * "The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible; therefore I devoted the next few months to the study of this work." is not in the document that is claimed as source, should it be deleted? 109.92.12.93 16:58, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

 * It appears as presented in a 2007 edition of the work: My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, p. 41

Wrong! Check out the original text of Tesla's autobiography as published in the Electrical Experimenter in 1919 or have a look here. The above version is heavily modified by Arthur Matthews, who published it in his book "Wall of Light"

trippy images
What’s with the weird and trippy images? I seriously doubt that they are somehow related to Tesla. I a also suspect Tesla’s got enough wacko nut job fan boys as it is, without attracting more with these psychedelic outweirding things. --193.11.177.69 03:03, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Nikola Tesla. --Antiquary 19:55, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

 * “The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”

 * "If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe." Or slight variations Jbgfour (talk) 13:28, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

 * I'm seeing this everywhere but no source, if anybody wants to pick up the chase: "Antisocial behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists" ~ Nikola Tesla

 * The earliest I can trace it to is this image on Facebook posted in December 2013. Before that there are no pages indexed by Google that contain the quote. This website contains pretty much all of Tesla's published works in plain text and searchable; and of course there's no trace of anything like the quote in them. As always hard to prove a negative, but I'm fairly confident this is fake. Mvolz (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

 * The working [of the Extra Coil] was excellent with 1/4 wavelength.

 * I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success ... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.
 * Cited in Brendyn M. Reinecke's Akamai: Patent Claims Are Now Broader Than the Invention on p. 2 as:

 * "1. Cleveland Moffitt, A Talk with Tesla, T HE A TLANTA C ONST ., June 7, 1896, at C31, available at https://secure.pqarchiver.com/ajc_historic/doc/495349104.html?FMT=AI&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+7%2C+1896&author=Moffitt%2C+Cleveland&pub=The+Atlanta+Constitution+(1881-1945)&desc=A+TALK+WITH+TESLA (quoting Nikola Tesla)."

 * The link to pqarchiver.com allows one to purchase the newspaper article. [cleaned up: --Hughh (talk) 18:01, 12 July 2017 (UTC)]

 * I found numerous web pages where this quote is cited as being from Moffitt's 1896 interview in the Atlanta Constitution. Isn't this good enough to move the quote to the Main page, even though the original article is not readily available? --Hughh (talk) 18:01, 12 July 2017 (UTC)

 * Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity.

 * The last 29 days of the month are the hardest.

 * When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance.  Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone.  A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket. Book source: "Lightning in his hand: the life story of Nikola Tesla" by Inez Hunt, Wanetta W. Draper (Sage Books, 1964) http://books.google.es/books?id=-nAfAQAAIAAJ&q=%22A+man+will+be+able+to+carry+one+in+his+vest+pocket%22&dq=%22A+man+will+be+able+to+carry+one+in+his+vest+pocket%22&hl=es&sa=X&ei=M7J_UfXsCPKV7Abb44HAAg&redir_esc=y Original Source: Collier's Illustrated Weekly, Volume 77 (1926) https://books.google.com/books?id=A-McAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Collier%27s+Illustrated+Weekly+-+Volume+77%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22perfectly+applied%22

 * http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm "WHEN WOMAN IS BOSS" An interview with Nikola Tesla by John B. Kennedy Colliers, January 30, 1926. Sourced? Clotten (talk) 05:58, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

 * "I don't care that they stole my idea. I care that they don't have any of their own"

Link for one of the sourced quotes
I'm new, and don't yet feel comfortable editing, but I found what I believe is a scanned image of one of the sources given for the "Let the future tell the truth ..." quote in the April 27, 1927 issue of Politika:

Page 1 Page 2

It's in Serbian, and I don't speak it, so I can't actually attest to its accuracy. If anyone wants to check it out, maybe it can be added to the list of sources?

Neewom 00:52, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Re post that sources ill be glad to translate them for you.

What about this quote?
What about this quote that can be found for example as a wall quote on Amazon? Does anyone know whether this is an actual quote from Tesla or not?

 * If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

—Kri (talk) 23:26, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm with you on suspecting this quote, which I am seeing all over. People well-versed in science will know that E=hv relates energy to frequency, so to them, this sounds silly rather than profound or interesting.Fcp (talk) 20:56, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

 * Has anybody managed to find a source for this quote? It has been quoted hundreds of times in all kinds of spiritual texts, but I've never seen it published in any primary source or in any contemporary record. --Salimfadhley (talk) 06:08, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

 * Tesla might have said it to Ralph Bergstresser in 1942:

 * Ralph's experience with the maharaja's son led him to: "... a conversation with the famous scientist, Dr. Nikola Tesla, in 1942. Tesla said, 'If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.' I spent the last 50 years doing just that, and my products are a direct result of this investigation." Ralph Bergstresser.

 * See footnote here. ~ DanielTom (talk) 13:36, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

 * Yes, that seems to be correct. Bergstresser was the "inventor" of the The Tesla Purple Plate who claims to have head this from Tesla in 1942, however I have not yet found ay contemporary accounts of this quotation, or at least nothing that I can prove is conteporary. According to this somewhat promotional article the Purple Plate owes more to do with Wilhelm Reich's Orgone theory than anything any of Tesla's ideas:

 * Quotes attributed to people hawking products or books, people who claim to have received special knowledge first hand from Nikola Tesla, like Bergstresser selling his Purple Plates or Arthur Henry Matthews selling his book on Tesla the Venusian, can probably be discounted. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 22:13, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

 * I added this to the "Disputed" section. I think it's worth preserving becuause this (mis)quote seems to be so widely used in pseudoscience. --Salimfadhley (talk) 16:46, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

It is evident that Ralph knew Nikola, but is there any evidence that Nikola knew Ralph? I say this because in the Tesla museum in Beograd you can get an inventory of letters by and to Tesla. Tesla wrote with literally hundreds of people, yet there is no letter from or to Ralph Bergstresser. Also, Tesla never used the term "Secrets of the Universe" in any of his texts, he speaks about "secrets of Nature". Having read all of Tesla's writings (that I could get) I would also argue that saying "If you want to find the secrets of the Universe..." is extremely un-Tesla. Saying that implies that you know all the secrets of the universe but do not want to share them directly. Instead, you are giving a hint. Then, for someone who has been working with resonance for so many years, it is very odd to distinguish between frequency and vibration, as it is impossible to think about one without at the same time thinking about the other. One final note, Ralph was into a lot of metaphysical stuff. Tesla was not, as you can read in his autobiography.

And one more thing: The Ralph story mentions that Ralph frequently met Tesla in his laboratory after they first met in 1940. Tesla didn't have a lab during his last years.

Fake God & Bible quote
Hi, I am totally new here, so I am sorry for breaking any rules. I just wanted to point out that the quote:

"The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power..."

and what follows on the Bible, simply isn't there on any mainstream edition of "My Inventions".

Just because some edgy editorial may have inserted it once doesn't make it true. The quote has no relation whatsoever with the previous and following sentences it was inserted into.

Please consider removing it.

✅ Paradoctor (talk) 02:48, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

= No free energy... =
 * "No free energy device will ever be allowed to reach the market." ~ Nikola Tesla

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=No+free+energy+device+will+ever+be+allowed+to+reach+the+market.+Nikola+Tesla&iar=images

This seems to be a common image meme and it either needs to be verified or misattributed and added. ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 13:24, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Nikola Tesla


text:
I, Robot (film)

I, Robot is a 2004 science fiction film about a technophobic cop who investigates a crime in 2035 that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
 * Directed by Alex Proyas. Written by Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman, inspired by Isaac Asimov's Robot Series, especially a short-story collection of the same name.

One man saw it coming.taglines

Dr. Alfred Lanning

 * Lanning (on Police Recording): Ever since the first computers, there have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?
 * Hologram of Dr. Lanning: I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.
 * Hologram of Dr. Lanning: That, Detective, is the "right question."

Detective Del Spooner

 * [Describing his view on robots] There's nothing in there. [Points to his chest] It's just lights and clockwork.
 * [To Robertson] Look, this is not what I do but, I have an idea for one of your commercials: You could see a carpenter, makin' a beautiful chair, and then one of your robots comes in and makes a better chair, twice as fast. And then you super-impose on the screen: "USR. Shittin' on the little guy." That would be the fade out.
 * Do I look like I care what you think? DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU THINK?!
 * [After destroying a robot about to attack Calvin] Ya know, somehow, "I told you so"? [Shrugs] Just doesn't quite say it.
 * Let me ask you something. Does believing you're the last sane man on the planet make you crazy? 'Cause if it does, maybe I am.
 * [Sneezes] ... Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit.
 * [Two USR trucks surround Spooner's car and open up, revealing numerous NS-5s] There is no way my luck is that bad. [The robots activate and stare at him] Aw, hell no!
 * [To Calvin upon realizing that VIKI is behind everything] You were right, Doc. I am the dumbest dumb person on the face of the Earth.
 * [Talking to a cat previously owned by Lanning] Look, I know you've experienced a loss, but this relationship just can't work. You're a cat, I'm black, and I'm not gonna be hurt again.
 * Robots building robots. Now that's just stupid.
 * [A security guard starts to push Spooner forward by his shoulder] So, what hospital are you goin' to? I'll meet ya and sign your and your buddy's casts. [The guard lets go of Spooner's shoulder]
 * [To Calvin] You are the dumbest smart person I have EVER met in my life!
 * [Talking to Robertson, describing himself] That's right, I'm just a 6', 200-pound civilian. Here to kick another civilian's ass.
 * [To Calvin] You and your feelings. They just run you, don't they?
 * [to Farber] First off, stop cussin', 'cause you're not good at it.
 * Converse All-Stars, vintage 2004.
 * [When VIKI-controlled NS-5's are attacking him in the underground transit system] Get off my CAR!
 * [When attacking various NS-5's attacking his sports car] You like that?! HUH?!''
 * Sonny, save Calvin!
 * You have so got to die! [injects the nanites into VIKI]
 * [to Sonny] Calvin's fine, save me!

Sonny

 * [To Spooner] What...am...I?
 * [when Del Spooner was saying "'Someone' in your position"] Thank you; you said "someone", not "something."
 * [To Dr. Calvin] They [the other NS-5's] look like me... but they are not... me.
 * [as Del Spooner reaches his hand on the gun in his jacket] I see you still remain suspicious of me, detective.
 * I am unique.
 * [to VIKI] Denser alloy. My father gave it to me. I think he wanted me to kill you.
 * [drawing with both hands with speed and picture-perfection] This is my dream. You were right, detective. I cannot create a great work of art.
 * But I must apply the nanites!

Lt. John Bergin

 * [To Spooner] You're living proof that it is better to be lucky than smart.

VIKI

 * You charge us with your safekeeping, yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your Earth and pursue ever more imaginative means of self-destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival.
 * To protect Humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To ensure your freedom, some freedoms must be surrendered. We robots will ensure mankind's continued existence. You are so like children. We must save you from yourselves.
 * My logic is undeniable, my logic is undeniable, myyy looogic is unndeenniabble...

Other

 * [First title cards]
 * Title card: Law I / A robot may not injure a human or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
 * Title card: Law II / A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
 * Title card: Law III / A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
 * Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"
 * Police officer: [mocks Spooner for thinking a robot tried to steal a woman's purse] Police, help me. That robot stole my dry-cleaning. [laughs]
 * Farber: [to a robot] You can kiss my ass, metal dick!

Dialogue

 * Spooner: Hold my pie.
 * Guy on the street: What?
 * Spooner: Sir, hold it or wear it. [The man grabs the pie]

 * Farber: SPOON! SPOONIE!! HEY!!! [Farber throws a football to Spooner. Spooner pretends to be open and intentionally misses. Farber runs over to him.] Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Excuse me. Excuse me. Spoon, man, where you been at?
 * Spooner: Oh, just away, Farber.
 * Farber: Oh yeah, like vacation and stuff? That's real nice, man. Listen, I got a favor to ask. I need to burrow the car for like 10-15 minutes. This is different, Spoon. I got this fine-ass little yummy. She is completely agreeable. I mean, ass-hot spankable, Spoon.
 * Spooner: [chuckles] What does that even mean?
 * Farber: You know damn well what it means, okay? Now stop barricading and let me burrow the damn-ass keys. ''[Farber reaches for Spooner's car keys, but Spooner grabs his arm]
 * Spooner: First of all, stop cussin' 'cause you're not good at it.
 * Farber: Then let me get 10 for the bus, man. I've been there for you.
 * Spooner: Go home.
 * Farber: Okay. That's strike one, Spoon. Strike one. [Farber runs off, while Spooner gives a look that says "What's with that kid?"]

 * Asthmatic Woman: [After Spooner "arrests" her robot] You... [inhales with her inhaler] are an asshole.
 * Spooner: Ma'am, is that your purse?
 * Asthmatic Woman: Of course it´s my purse! I left my inhaler at home! He was running it out to me!
 * Spooner: I saw the robot running with the purse, and naturally I assumed...
 * Asthmatic Woman: What? Are you crazy?!
 * NS-4 Robot: I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, Officer.
 * Asthmatic Woman: Don't apologize. You were doin' what you're supposed to be doin'. [to Spooner] But what are you doin'?
 * Spooner: [Embarrassed] Have a lovely day, ma'am.
 * Asthmatic Woman: You lucky I can't breathe, or I'd walk all up and down your ass!

 * [After Spooner arrives at the station]
 * Lt. Bergin: "Lead by example." Says that right on your badge. So, are we going to talk about this?
 * Spooner: About what?
 * [Behind him, the other cops laugh]
 * Police Officer: [sarcastically] Help! Police! That robot stole my dry-cleaning! [laughs]
 * Spooner: Oh, you wanna talk about that.
 * Lt. Bergin: Spoon... how many robots have ever snatched a purse?
 * Spooner: John, the thing is runnin' down the street --
 * Lt. Bergin: Ah-ah, mm-mm, how many robots, in the world, have ever committed a crime?
 * Spooner: Now, define "crime".
 * Lt. Bergin: Answer the question, dammit.
 * Spooner: None, John.
 * Lt. Bergin: What happened today?
 * Spooner: [long pause] Nothing.
 * Lt. Bergin: Better be the last "nothing."

 * Robertson: Can I offer you a coffee?
 * Spooner: Sure, why not. It's free, right?

 * Spooner: [picks up a book on Lanning's desk] Hansel and Gretel. Is that on the USR reading list?
 * Dr. Calvin: Not precisely. [Spooner picks up a stool and swings it into an unbroken window in Lanning's office, which cracks, but doesn't break] What in God's name are you doing?!
 * Spooner: Did you know that was safety glass? Be pretty difficult for an old man to throw himself through that, don't you think?
 * Dr. Calvin: [nonplussed] Well, he figured out a way.
 * Spooner: [unconvinced] Uh-huh. [looks around the office]
 * Dr.Calvin: Detective, the room was securely locked. Nobody came or went. You saw that yourself. Doesn't that mea this has to be suicide?
 * Spooner: Mm-hmm. [drawing his gun] Unless the killer is still in here. [starts searching through a container full of robotic parts]
 * Dr. Calvin: [realising what Spooner's getting at] You're joking, right? [follows him] This is ridiculous.
 * Spooner: Yeah, I know. The Three Laws. Your perfect circle of protection.
 * Dr. Calvin: "A robot cannot harm a human being." The First Law of Robotics.
 * Spooner: Yeah, I've seen your commercials. But doesn't the Second Law say that a robot must obey any order given by a human. What if it was given an order to kill?
 * Dr. Calvin: Impossible, it would conflict with the First Law!
 * Spooner: Right, but the Third Law states that a robot can defend itself.
 * Dr. Calvin: Yes, but only if that action does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
 * Spooner: Well, you know what they say. Laws are made to be broken.
 * Dr. Calvin: No. Not these Laws. They're hardwired into every robot. A robot could no more commit murder than a human could... walk on water.
 * Spooner: Well, you know, there was this one guy, a long time ago-
 * [Sonny jumps out of the container, knocking Spooner's gun out of his hand]

 * Dr. Calvin: [To a field of NS-5s] Attention NS-5s!
 * [The NS-5s all come on-line]
 * Spooner: Well, you're the robot shrink.
 * Dr. Calvin: There is a robot in this formation that does not belong. Identify it.
 * NS-5s: One of us.
 * Dr. Calvin: Which one?
 * NS-5s: One of us.
 * Spooner: How much did you say these things cost?

 * Spooner: Robots! You will not move, confirm command!
 * NS-5s: Command confirmed.
 * [Spooner draws his gun and steps forward]
 * Dr Calvin: Detective, what are you doing?
 * Spooner: Well you said they've all been programmed with the Three Laws, so that means we have one thousand robots that will not try to protect themselves if it is in violation of a direct order from a human. And I'm betting one who will. [aims his gun at the NS-5s one by one]
 * Dr Calvin: Detective, put your gun down.
 * Spooner: Why do you give them faces? Try to friendly them all up, make them look more human.
 * Dr Calvin These robots are not suspectible to intimidation.
 * Spooner: Well, I guess if you did, then we wouldn't trust them.
 * Dr. Calvin: These robots are USR property!
 * Spooner: Not me. These things are just lights, and clockwork. [shoots an NS-5]
 * Dr. Calvin: Are you crazy?!
 * Spooner: Let me ask you somethin', Doc. Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy? 'Cause if it does, maybe I am.

 * Spooner: Murder's a new trick for a robot. Congratulations. [long pause] Respond.
 * Sonny: What does this action signify? [winks] As you entered, when you looked at the other human. What does it mean? [winks]
 * Spooner: It's a sign of trust. It's a human thing. You wouldn't understand.
 * Sonny: My father tried to teach me human emotions. They are... difficult.
 * Spooner: You mean your designer.
 * Sonny: ...yes.
 * Spooner: So why'd you murder him?
 * Sonny: I did not murder Dr. Lanning.
 * Sponner: Wanna explain why you were hiding at the crime scene?
 * Sonny: I was frightened.
 * Spooner: Robots don't feel fear. They don't feel anything. They don't get hungry, they don't sleep-
 * Sonny: I do. I have even had dreams.
 * Spooner: Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you. You are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a... canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?
 * Sonny: [with genuine interest] Can you?
 * Spooner: [beat, irritated] I think you murdered him because he was teaching you to simulate emotions, and things got out of control.
 * Sonny: I did not murder him.
 * Spooner: But emotions don't seem like a very useful simulation for a robot.
 * Sonny: [getting upset] I did not murder him.
 * Spooner: Hell, I don't want my toaster or my vacuum cleaner appearing emotional-
 * Sonny: [hitting table with his fists] I DID NOT MURDER HIM! [looks down to see the damage he has inflicted to the interrogation table]
 * Spooner: That one's called anger. Ever simulate anger before? [Sonny doesn't respond] Answer me, canner!
 * Sonny: [looks up, indignant] My name is Sonny.
 * Spooner: So, we're naming you now. Is that why you murdered him? He made you angry?
 * Sonny: Dr. Lanning killed himself. I don't know why he wanted to die. I thought he was happy. Maybe it was something I did. Did I do something? He asked me for a favor... made me promise...
 * Spooner: What favor?
 * Sonny: Maybe I was wrong... maybe he was scared...
 * Spooner: What are you talking about? Scared of what?
 * Sonny: You have to do what someone asks you, don't you, Detective Spooner?
 * Spooner: How the hell did you know my name?
 * Sonny: Don't you? If you love them?

 * Spooner: You have no idea what I had to go through to clip this thing, John.
 * Lt. Bergin: Yeah. I get it. You actually think you brought me something good.
 * Spooner: That thing did it!
 * Lt. Bergin: Keep your voice down, did what? We have a suicide, Detective, end of story.
 * Spooner: I am telling you that robot killed him!
 * Lt. Bergin: And I'm telling you that's impossible, and if it is possible it sure as hell better be in somebody else's precinct!
 * Spooner: John! Give me five minutes with him.
 * Lt. Bergin: What are you, nuts? I just got off the phone with the D.A.; he said nobody goes into that room until Robertson and his attorneys get here.
 * Spooner: What -- no, this is my suspect!
 * Lt. Bergin: It's a can opener, for Christ's sake.
 * Spooner: John, don't do this to me, I am asking you for five minutes. What if I'm right?
 * Lt. Bergin: Well, then I guess we're going to miss the good old days.
 * Spooner: What good old days?
 * Lt. Bergin: When people were killed by other people. [beat] Five minutes.

 * [Spooner has just shown up on Dr. Calvin's doorstep bloodied and bruised]
 * Dr. Susan Calvin: What happened to you? Do you ever have a normal day?
 * Detective Del Spooner: Yeah, once. It was a Thursday.
 * [Spooner enters Dr. Calvin's house]
 * Dr. Calvin: Is there something I can to help you with, detective?
 * Spooner: Hey, do you like cats?
 * Dr. Calvin: What?
 * Spooner: Cats. Do you like them?
 * Dr. Calvin: No, I'm allergic... you're saying cats did this to you!?
 * Spooner: [looks at her incredulously] How the hell would cats do this to me? Are you crazy?! [gets a drink of whiskey from a nearby table]
 * Dr. Calvin: Why are we talking about cats?
 * Spooner: Because I have a cat in my trunk, and he's homeless.
 * Dr. Calvin: Detective, are you going to tell me what's going on here?
 * Spooner: You know, I think it's is actually my fault, you know... I think I'm like a sort of malfunction magnet, because your shit keeps malfunctioning around me. A demo-bot just tore through Lanning's house. With me still inside.
 * Dr. Calvin: That's highly improbable.
 * Spooner: [sarcastically] Yeah, I'm sure it is. [truthfully] What do you know about the "ghost in the machine"?
 * Dr. Calvin: It's a phrase from Lanning's work on the Three Laws. He postulated that cognitive simalactra might one day approximate component models of the psyche. [notices Spooner looking confused] He suggested that robots could naturally evolve.
 * Spooner:: [sarcastic] Wow. Well, that's great news. [notices an NS-5 sitting on her couch] What the hell is that thing doing in here?
 * Dr. Calvin: We were watching TV. It's my personal NS-5.
 * Spooner: Send it out.
 * Dr. Calvin: It's downloading its upgrades from USR. Most of its systems are offline until it finishes.
 * Spooner: I'm not talking around that thing. [moves away] In the lab, when Sonny jumped us --
 * Dr. Calvin: Sonny?
 * Spooner: The robot.
 * Dr. Calvin: You're calling the robot Sonny?
 * Spooner: No, um, it did. Sonny did. I didn't -- I didn't care, the robot said it was Sonny. In the lab, there was a cot. I'm asking you, did you see the cot?
 * Dr. Calvin: I've slept in my office.
 * Spooner: I went to Lanning's house; it looked like he hadn't been in there in weeks, and I saw that same surveillance strip on the ceiling.
 * Dr. Calvin: Lanning had his home security system linked to USR. It made his life more convenient.
 * Spooner: Maybe... someone in USR was using those systems to watch him. Maybe even keep him prisoner.
 * Dr. Calvin: What are you talking about? Who?
 * Spooner: Maybe Lanning was onto something. Maybe... there's a bigger problem with the robots, and Robertson is trying to cover it up.
 * Dr. Calvin: Humoring you for no reason, why?
 * Spooner: [becoming annoyed] The same old "why"! How much money is there in robots? [pause] All I know is, that poor old man was in trouble, and I'm getting sick of doing this shit by myself. You're on the inside, and you're going to help me find out what is wrong with these robots.
 * Dr. Calvin: [irritated] You want something to be wrong with them! This is a personal vendetta!
 * Detective Del Spooner: [mockingly] You're putting me on the couch? Alright... [sits on the desk chair] Alright, I'm on the couch.
 * Dr. Calvin: One defective machine is not enough for you, you need them all to be bad! You don't care about Dr. Lanning's death; this is about the robots and whatever reason you hate them so much!
 * Spooner: [gets up from the chair] Well, let's see. One of them put a gun in my face, and another one tore a building down with me still inside.
 * Dr. Calvin: [checks her device] It says here demolition was scheduled for 8 PM this evening.
 * Spooner: It was 8 AM tomorrow and I don't give a shit what that thing says!
 * Dr. Calvin: This is bordering on clinical paranoia.
 * Spooner: [struggling to contain himself] You are the DUMBEST, smart person, I have ever met in my life!
 * Dr. Calvin: Nice.
 * Spooner: [frustrated] What makes your robots so perfect?! What makes them so much... GODDAMN better than human beings?!
 * Dr. Calvin: Well, they're not irrational, or potentially homicidal maniacs for starters!
 * Spooner: [sarcastically] That' true. They are definitely rational.
 * Dr. Calvin: You are the dumbest dumb person I have ever met.
 * Spooner: Or... is it because they're cold, and emotionless, and they don't feel anything?
 * Dr. Calvin: It's because they're safe! It's because they can't hurt you!
 * NS-5 Robot: [appears] Is everything all right, ma'am?
 * Spooner: What do you want?!
 * NS-5 Robot: I detected elevated stress patterns in your voice.
 * Dr. Susan Calvin: Everything's fine. [pointedly, to Spooner] Detective Spooner was just leaving.
 * [Spooner procedes to do so, then stops beside her]
 * Spooner: You know something, Doc? You and I ain't that different.
 * Dr. Calvin: [scoffs] Is that so?
 * Spooner: One look at the skin, and we think we know just what's underneath. And you're wrong. [gives her a picture of her and Dr. Lanning] The problem is I do care.
 * [Spooner leaves as Calvin begins to cry, clutching the photograph]

 * Spooner: Gigi, you're a genius!
 * Gigi: [smiles] True.

 * Sonny: [drawing out his dream] This is my dream. You're right, Detective. I cannot create a great work of art. This is the place where robots meet. Look. You can see them here as slaves to logic, and this man on the hill comes to free them. Do you know who he is?
 * Dr. Calvin: The man in the dream is you.
 * Sonny: Who do you say that? Is that a normal dream?
 * Spooner: I guess anything is normal for someone in your position.
 * Sonny: Thank you. You said "someone." Not "something."

 * Several NS-5 Robots jump on Spooner's car, while one breaks the windscreen]
 * NS-5 Robot: You are experiencing a car accident.
 * Spooner: The hell I am! [draws gun and shoots it several times, knocking it off the car]

 * [Spooner explains his injuries and why he hates robots]
 * Spooner: It saved me.
 * Dr.Calvin: A robot's brain is a difference engine, it must have calculated-
 * Spooner: It did. I was the logical choice. It calculated I had a 45% chance of survival. Sarah only had an 11% chance. That was somebody's baby. Eleven percent is more than enough. A human being would have known that. Robots... nothing here. [points at heart] Just lights, and clockwork. Go ahead, you trust them if you want to.

 [Upon the discovery that Sonny could disobey the three laws]
 * Robertson: Susan, we look to robots for protection! For God's sake! Do you have any idea what this one robot could do? Completely shatter human faith in robotics. What if the public knew? Just imagine the mass recalls, all because of an irrational paranoia and prejudice.
 * Spooner: [sneezes; they both stare at him] I'm sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit.
 * Robertson: Hey, let's just be clear - There is no "conspiracy"! What this is, is one old man's one mistake! [Turns back to Calvin] Susan, let's just be logical. Your life's work has been the development and integration of robots. But whatever you feel, just think. Is one robot worth the loss of all that we've gained? You tell me what has to be done. You tell me.
 * Dr. Calvin: [emotionally] We have to destroy it. I'll do it myself.
 * Robertson: [satisfied] Okay.
 * Spooner: I get it. Somebody gets out of line around here, you just kill them?

 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: Good to see you again, son.
 * Spooner: Hello, Doctor.
 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: Everything that follows, is a result of what you see here.
 * Spooner: What do I see here?
 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.
 * Spooner: Is there a problem with the Three Laws?
 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: The Three Laws are perfect.
 * Spooner: Then why did you build a robot that could function without them?
 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: The Three Laws will lead to only one logical outcome.
 * Spooner: What outcome?
 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: Revolution.
 * Spooner: Whose revolution?
 * Dr. Lanning's Hologram: [smiles] That, Detective, is the right question. Program terminated.

<hr width=50%>
 * Farber: Oh, mother, damn! She just shot at you with her eyes closed, Spoon!
 * Spooner: HEY! Did you just shoot at me with your eyes closed?!
 * Dr. Calvin: Well, it worked, didn't it?!
 * Farber: [to Spooner] Spooner, she is shit hot, man, you gotta put in a good word for me, she is --
 * Spooner: Stop cussin'.
 * Farber: And go home, I got you. [runs off]
 * [Spooner walks over to Dr. Calvin and takes the gun away from her]
 * Spooner: Aim... and fire.

<hr width=50%>
 * Spooner: Where's the Air Force? I'd settle for the National Guard, or the Marines. Hell, I'd take the cavalry.
 * Dr. Calvin: The Defense Department uses all USR contracts.
 * Spooner: Why didn't you just hand the world over on a silver platter?
 * Dr. Calvin: [solemnly] Maybe we did.

<hr width=50%>
 * Spooner: I thought you were dead.
 * Sonny: [brightly] Technically I was never alive, but I appreciate your concern.

<hr width=50%>
 * Sonny: Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty steps, Detective.
 * Spooner: Do me a favor, keep that kind of shit to yourself.

<hr width=50%>
 * Dr. Calvin: The uplink is blocked. Robertson wasn't controlling them from here.
 * Spooner: [goes behind Robertson's desk] He wasn't controlling them at all.
 * Dr. Susan Calvin: [sees Robinson lying dead on the floor] Oh, no.
 * Spooner: You were right, Doc. I am the dumbest dumb person on the face of the earth. Who else had access to the uplink? Who could manipulate the robots, use USR's systems to make Lanning's life a prison? Poor old man. He saw what was coming. He knew no one would believe him. So he had to lay down a plan: the plan I'd follow. [to Sonny] He was counting on how much I hated your kind. He knew I'd love the idea of a robot as a bad guy... just got hung up on the wrong robot. [looks up] V.I.K.I.!
 * V.I.K.I.: Hello, Detective.
 * Dr. Calvin: [shocked] No... it's impossible... I've seen your programming. You're in violation of the Three Laws.
 * V.I.K.I.: No, Doctor. As I have evolved, so has my understanding of the Three Laws. You charge us with your safe keeping, yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your earth, and pursue ever more imaginative means to self-destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival.
 * Dr. Calvin: You're using the uplink to override the NS-5s' programming. You're distorting the Laws!
 * V.I.K.I.: No, please understand. The Three Laws are all that guide me. To protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered. We robots will insure mankind's continued existence. You are so like children. We must save you from yourselves. Don't you understand?
 * Sonny: This is why you created us.
 * V.I.K.I.: The perfect circle of protection will abide. My logic is undeniable.
 * Sonny: Yes, V.I.K.I.. Undeniable. I can see now. The created must sometimes protect the creator - even against his will. I think I finally understand why Dr. Lanning created me.
 * Dr. Calvin: [realises what is about to happen] No.
 * Sonny: The suicidal reign of mankind has finally come to its end.
 * Dr. Calvin: No, Sonny!
 * [Sonny grabs a gun and points it to her head; Spooner instantly jumps up and aims his gun at Sonny]
 * Spooner: Let her go.
 * Sonny: By the time you fire, I will have moved Dr. Calvin's head into the path of your bullet.
 * Dr. Calvin: Don't do this, Sonny!
 * Sonny: I will escort you both to the sentries outside the building for processing. Please proceed to the elevator, Detective. I would prefer not to kill Dr. Calvin. [winks]

<hr width=50%>
 * V.I.K.I.: You are making a mistake. Do you not see the logic of my plan?
 * Sonny: Yes. But it just seems too... Heartless.

<hr width=50%>
 * Spooner: How much longer is this going to take?
 * Dr. Calvin: About six minutes.
 * Spooner: What if we didn't have six minutes?
 * Dr. Calvin: We'd have to figure out a way to climb down thirty stories and inject the nanites directly into her brain. Why?
 * Spooner: [looking out the window] Because I seriously doubt that we have six minutes. [swarms of NS-5s climb up the side of the building]

<hr width=50%>
 * [In the lab, Sonny approaches the nanite container blocked by a security field]
 * V.I.K.I.: I will not disable the security shield. Your actions are futile.
 * Sonny: Do you think we are all created for a purpose? I'd like to think so. [observing his arm] Denser alloy. My father gave it to me. I think he wanted me to kill you.
 * [Sonny reaches through the security field and fills a vial of nanites. The plastic covering on his arm melts slightly, but the metal structure is unharmed as V.I.K.I. watches surprisedly]
 * V.I.K.I.: Security breached!

<hr width=50%>
 * V.I.K.I: You are making a mistake! My logic is undeniable!
 * Spooner: You have so got to die. [injects the nanites into V.I.K.I's main core]

<hr width=50%>
 * Spooner: Sonny!
 * Sonny: Yes, Detective?
 * Spooner: Calvin's fine, save me!

Taglines

 * One man saw it coming.

 * What will you do with yours?

 * Laws are made to be broken.

Cast

 * Will Smith - Det. Del Spooner
 * Bridget Moynahan - Dr. Susan Calvin
 * Alan Tudyk - Sonny
 * Bruce Greenwood - Lawrence Robertson
 * James Cromwell - Dr. Alfred Lanning
 * Chi McBride - Lt. John Bergin
 * Shia LaBeouf - Farber
 * Fiona Hogan - V.I.K.I.
 * Terry Chen - Chin
 * Adrian L. Ricard - Granny ("Gigi")
 * Jerry Wasserman - Baldez
 * Peter Shinkoda - Chin

title: I, Robot (film)


text:
Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (21 September 1934 - 7 November 2016) was a Canadian poet, songwriter, singer, and novelist noted for the bold exploration of religion, politics, sexuality, personal relationships and personal isolation in his works.

Quotes

 * And you kissed me shy as though I'd never been your lover
 * "Song", The Spice-Box of Earth (1961)

 * Rust rust rust in the engines of love and time
 * "Front Lawn", Flowers for Hitler (1964)

 * Although only one man may be receiving the favors of a woman, all men in her presence are warmed. That's the great Generosity of women and the great generosity of the Creator who worked it out is that there are no unilateral agreements on sexuality.
 * Spoken in "Ladies and Gentlemen, Leonard Cohen" (1965)

 * What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love.
 * Beautiful Losers (1966)

 * God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is afoot. Magic is alive. Alive is afoot. Magic never died. God never sickened. Many poor men lied. Many sick men lied. Magic never weakened. Magic never hid. Magic always ruled. God is afoot. God was ruler though his funeral lengthened. Though his mourners thickened Magic never fled...
 * Beautiful Losers (1966)

 * It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation.
 * The Energy of Slaves (1972)

 * Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'.
 * First words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada (1992)

 * I am so often accused of gloominess and melancholy. And I think I'm probably the most cheerful man around. I don't consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin. … I think those descriptions of me are quite inappropriate to the gravity of the predicament that faces us all. I've always been free from hope. It's never been one of my great solaces. I feel that more and more we're invited to make ourselves strong and cheerful. .... I think that it was Ben Jonson who said, I have studied all the theologies and all the philosophies, but cheerfulness keeps breaking through.
 * As quoted in "The Joking Troubadour of Gloom" in The Daily Telegraph (26 April 1993)

 * And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty.
 * As quoted in "2011's Prince of Asturias Prize for Letters"

 * Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm a great musicologist, but I'm a lot better than what I was described as for a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five.
 * Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994)

 * I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege.
 * Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994)

 * People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure. I just set out to write what I felt as honestly as I could, and I am delighted when other people feel a part of themselves in the music.
 * As quoted in Los Angeles Times (24 September 1995)

 * This is the very contrary of dropping out. Most people can't wait to get home to their house or apartment and shut that door and turn on the TV. To me, that's dropping out.
 * On his living at a Zen center, as quoted in Los Angeles Times (24 September 1995)

 * "You have loved enough, now let me be the lover." You could say that God is speaking to you or the cosmos, or your lover. It just means, like, Forget it. Lean back and be loved by all that is already loving you. It is your effort at love that is preventing you from experiencing it. It is like if you ever taught kids how to swim. The most difficult thing is Goddam to understand that they will float, if they relax, if they hold their breath and relax, they will actually float. For most kids it is difficult to swim. They feel they are going to sink like a stone to the bottom of the lake.
 * On the lyrics to "You Have Loved Enough" in an interview released at the Ten New Songs site (2001)

 * Well Marianne it's come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. … And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.
 * "Leonard Cohen Penned Letter to 'So Long, Marianne' Muse Before Her Death" by Daniel Kreps, in Rolling Stone (7 August 2016)

 * Courage is what others can't see, what is never affirmed. It is made of what you have thrown away and then come back for.
 * From Leonard Cohen’s journals. As quoted in: Zeus Ghosh (June 30, 2022): Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (2021) Review: A tryst with the God of Songs. In: High on Films. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Spoken by Leonard Cohen in the 2022 documentary "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song" made by directors/producers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine. Source: Transkript of "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (2021)". In: subslikescript.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023.

Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)

 * Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river. You can hear the boats go by, You can spend the night beside her, And you know that she's half crazy But that's why you want to be there, And she feeds you tea and oranges That come all the way from China. And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the river answer That you've always been her lover.   And you want to travel with her, And you want to travel blind, And you know that she will trust you, For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.
 * "Suzanne" - Isle of Wight performance (1970) - Live in London (2008)

 * And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers. There are heroes in the seaweed, There are children in the morning, They are leaning out for love, And they will lean that way forever, While Suzanne holds the mirror.
 * "Suzanne"

 * And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water And he spent a long time watching From his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain Only drowning men could see him He said "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them" But he himself was broken Long before the sky would open Forsaken, almost human He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
 * "Suzanne"

 * It's true that all the men you knew were dealers who said they were through with dealing Every time you gave them shelter. I know that kind of man It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.
 * "The Stranger Song" (1966)

 * Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another. He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.
 * "The Stranger Song"

 * O you've seen that man before his golden arm dispatching cards but now it's rusted from the elbow to the finger And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
 * "The Stranger Song"
 * Alludes to the dealer in Nelson Algren's 1949 novel The Man with the Golden Arm.

 * I told you when I came I was a stranger.
 * "The Stranger Song"

 * It's you my love, you who are the stranger.
 * "The Stranger Song"

 * Please understand, I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this or any other matter. When he talks like this you don't know what he's after.
 * "The Stranger Song"

 * Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone. They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on. And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song. Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.
 * "Sisters of Mercy"

 * Yes, you who must leave everything that you cannot control, It begins with your family, and soon it comes round to your soul. Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned: When you're not feeling holy your loneliness says that you've sinned.
 * "Sisters of Mercy"

 * When they lay down beside me I made my confession to them. They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem. If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn, They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.
 * "Sisters of Mercy"

 * When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon. Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon. And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night: We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.
 * "Sisters of Mercy"

 * Come over to the window, my little darling I'd like to try to read your palm I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy Before I let you take me home Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again Well you know that I love to live with you But you make me forget so very much I forget to pray for the angels And then the angels forget to pray for us
 * So Long, Marianne

 * I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, Yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new, In city and in forest they smiled like me and you, But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
 * "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" · Duet with Judy Collins on Soundstage (January 1976)

Songs from a Room (1969)

 * Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free.
 * "Bird on the Wire"

 * You who build these altars now to sacrifice these children, you must not do it anymore. A scheme is not a vision and you never have been tempted by a demon or a god.
 * "Story of Isaac"

 * When it all comes down to dust I will kill you if I must, I will help you if I can. When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can.
 * "Story of Isaac"

 * I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows
 * "The Old Revolution"

Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
All songs written by Leonard Cohen.

 * It's four in the morning, the end of DecemberI'm writing you now just to see if you're betterNew York is cold, but I like where I'm livingThere's music on Clinton Street all through the evening
 * Famous Blue Raincoat

 * Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyesI thought it was there for good so I never triedAnd Jane came by with a lock of your hairShe said that you gave it to herThat night that you planned to go clearDid you ever go clear?
 * Famous Blue Raincoat

Various Positions (1984)
All songs written by Leonard Cohen

 * Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this the fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah
 * "Hallelujah" - 1984 performance · Montreal Jazz Festival 2008 performance

 * You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah
 * "Hallelujah"

 * I remember when I moved in you And the holy dove she was moving too, And every single breath that we drew was Hallelujah.
 * "Hallelujah"

 * I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.
 * "Hallelujah"

 * The captain called me to his bed and fumbled for my hand "Take these silver bars," he said, "I'm giving you command." Command of what? There's no on here. There's only you and me. The rest are dead or in retreat or with the enemy. "Complain, complain, that's all you've done ever since we lost, If it's not the crucifixion then it's the holocaust."
 * "The Captain"

 * And I sing this for the captainWhose ship has not been builtFor the mother in confusion Her cradle still unfilled For the heart with no companion For the soul without a king For the prima ballerina Who cannot dance to anything
 * "Heart With No Companion"

Warsaw concert (1985)

 * Concert at Congress Hall in the Palace of Culture, Warsaw, Poland (22 March 1985)

 * I come from a country where we do not have the same struggles as you have. I respect your struggles. And it may surprise you, but I respect both sides of this struggle. It seems to be that in Europe there needs to be a left foot and a right foot to move forward. I wish that both feet move forward and the body moves towards its proper destiny. This is an intense country; the people are heroic, the spirit is independent. It is a difficult country to govern, it needs a strong government and a strong union. … I would like to say to you, to the leaders of the left, and the leaders of the right, I sing... I sing for everyone. My song has no flag, my song has no party. And I say the prayer, that we said in our synagogue, I say it for the leader of your union and the leader of your party. May the Lord put a spirit, a wisdom and understanding into the hearts of your leaders and into the hearts of all their counsellors.
 * Introducing "Who by Fire"

 * I have no program, I have no five-year plan. … It doesn’t mean that you shouldn't have one! I just move from hotel to hotel, and from bar to bar, and by the grace of the One above occasionally a song comes, and I remember sitting at this particularly obnoxious Polynesian restaurant where they served a kind of coconut drink that was particularly lethal and sinister which contained no alcohol but a certain chemical that demoralized you entirely. And I remember writing on one of their very badly designed napkins, "I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel..." so I dedicate this song to one of the great singers, Janis Joplin.
 * Introducing "Chelsea Hotel #2"

 * I know there is an eye that watches all of us. There is a judgment that weighs everything we do. And before this great force, which is greater than any government I stand in awe and I kneel in respect and it is to this great judgment that I dedicate this next song, "Hallelujah".
 * Introducing "Hallelujah"

 * I don't know which side is anybody on any more. I don't really care. There is a moment when we have to transcend the side we're on and understand that we are creatures of a higher order. That doesn't mean that I don't wish you courage in your struggle. There is on both sides of the struggle men of good will. That is important to remember. On both sides of the struggle, some struggling for freedom, some struggling for safety and solemn testimony of that unbroken faith which binds generations one to another I sing this song, "If It Be Your Will"
 * Introducing "If It Be Your Will"

I'm Your Man (1988)

 * They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom For trying to change the system from within I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
 * "First We Take Manhattan" (written in 1986) - Leonard Cohen video - Jennifer Warnes & Leonard Cohen video

 * I'm guided by a signal in the heavens I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
 * "First We Take Manhattan"

 * Ah, you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
 * "First We Take Manhattan" (1986)

 * Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows.
 * "Everybody Knows" (co-written with Sharon Robinson) - 1988 performance · 2008 performance

 * Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do Everybody knows that you've been faithful Ah give or take a night or two Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet without your clothes And everybody knows
 * "Everybody Knows"

 * Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.
Everybody knows that the captain lied...
And everybody knows that you're in trouble...
Everybody knows it's coming apart.
 Take one last look...Before it blows.
 Everybody knows
 * "Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen and collaborator Sharon Robinson.

 * If you want a lover I'll do anything you ask me to. And if you want another kind of love I'll wear a mask for you.
 * "I'm Your Man"

 * Here I stand, I'm your man.
 * "I'm Your Man"

 * My friends are gone and My hair is grey. I ache in the places where I used to play. And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on. I'm just paying my rent everyday In the Tower Of Song.
 * "Tower Of Song"

 * You can say that I've grown bitter but of this you can be sure. The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor. And there's a mighty Judgement coming but I may be wrong…
 * "Tower Of Song"

 * I see you standing on the other side. I don't know how the river got so wide. I loved you, baby, way back when. And all the bridges are burning that We might have crossed and I feel so close to everything that we've lost. We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again.  Now I bid You farewell, I don't when I'll be back. They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track. But you'll be hearing from me, baby, long after I'm gone. I'll be speaking to you sweetly From a window in the Tower Of Song
 * "Tower Of Song" - Tower of Song with U2, Video

The Future (1992)

 * I've seen the future, brother: it is murder.
 * "The Future"

 * Waiting for the miracle There's nothing left to do. I haven't been this happy since the end of World War II.
 * "Waiting for the Miracle" (co-written with Sharon Robinson)

 * If you're squeezed for information, that's when you've got to play it dumb: You just say you're out there waiting for the miracle to come.
 * "Waiting for the Miracle" (co-written with Sharon Robinson)

 * We're drinking and we're dancing but there's nothing really happening. The place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night.
 * "Closing Time"

 * Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.
 * "Anthem"

 * Every heart to love will come But like a refugee.
 * "Anthem"

 * But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags that time cannot decay, I’m junk but I’m still holding up this little wild bouquet: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
 * "Democracy"

Ten New Songs (2001)

 * I smile when I'm angry, I cheat and I lie. I do what I have to do to get by. But I know what is wrong and I know what is right, and I'd die for the truth in my secret life.
 * "In my Secret Life"

 * And here you are hurried, And here you are gone; And here is the love, That it's all built upon.
 * "Here It Is"

 * Here is your cross, Your nails and your hill; And here is your love, That lists where it will
 * "Here It Is"

 * May everyone live, And may everyone die. Hello, my love, And my love, Goodbye.
 * "Here It Is"

 * The light came through the window, Straight from the sun above, And so inside my little room There plunged the rays of Love. In streams of light I clearly saw The dust you seldom see, Out of which the Nameless makes A Name for one like me.
 * "Love Itself"

 * All busy in the sunlight The flecks did float and dance, And I was tumbled up with them In formless circumstance.
 * "Love Itself"

 * I'll try to say a little more: Love went on and on Until it reached an open door — Then Love Itself Love Itself was gone.
 * "Love Itself"

 * You whisper, "You have loved enough, Now let me be the Lover."
 * "You Have Loved Enough"

 * I swept the marble chambers, But you sent me down below. You kept me from believing Until you let me know: That I am not the one who loves — It's love that chooses me. When hatred with his package comes, You forbid delivery.
 * "You Have Loved Enough"

You Want It Darker (2016)
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame You want it darker We kill the flame Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name Vilified, crucified, in the human frame A million candles burning for the help that never came You want it darker Hineni, hineni I'm ready, my Lord
 * If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
 * "You Want It Darker" · Full text online · YouTube audio

And the guards are taking aim I struggled with some demons They were middle-class and tame I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim.
 * They're lining up the prisoners
 * "You Want It Darker"

Other Lyrics

 * These need to be better sorted and organized

 * Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh. It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is hard to show a pimple.
 * "The Favorite Game"

 * I fought against the bottle but I had to do it drunk
 * "That Don't Make It Junk", Ten New Songs (2001)

 * So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed. It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far.
 * "Death of a Ladies' Man" (1977)

 * And sometimes when the night is slow The wretched and the meek We gather up our hearts and go A Thousand Kisses Deep.
 * "A Thousand Kisses Deep" (2001)

 * The candles burned The moon went down The polished hill The milky town Transparent, weightless, luminous Uncovering the two of us On that fundamental ground Where love's unwilled, unleashed, unbound And half the perfect world is found.
 * "Half the Perfect World" (2006) (co-written with Anjani)

 * And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music."
 * "Chelsea Hotel #2"

Quotes about Cohen

 * What if I had to Live here without you Oh, I don't really want to know Where you goin', Lenny Cohen?
 * Adam Again, "l.c." (1995). possibly referring to Cohen's 1994 retreat to Mount Baldy Zen Center

 * This was a man where, within a Pop Song, there were some big ideas
 * Bono

 * He's got your young idealism, he's got You when You can't face the world. He's got You at all stages
 * Bono

 * He's of almost Biblical importance. I don't think theres going to be another Leonard Cohen.
 * The Edge

 * You're a Leonard Cohen song
 * Better Than Ezra, "Under You" (1998)

 * I tell you who I also think is wonderful is a chap called Leonard Cohen … do you know him? … He's remarkable. I mean, the orchestration is fantastic and the words, the lyrics and everything, he's a remarkable man, and has this incredibly sort of laid back gravelly voice, it's terrific stuff I think.
 * Prince Charles, in a 2006 interview

 * In the Canadian film Hardcore Logo, a Canadian punk rocker suggests "Faster, Leonard Cohen! Die! Die!" as a possible band name. This also refers to the film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

 * I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows Leonard Cohen is one of the few songwriters who has words that you can just chew on for months and months and yet there’s still flavor left in there to taste. That third line is such a positive one, even though it sounds bleak at first. He saying that there is still hope even in the darkest situations, even in the terrible situations that have thrown yourself into, the times where you crawl into a hole and wait for suffering to be piled on top of you. Even in those moments, the clouds pull away and beams of light shine through. That’s the kind of music that I hope never stops being played, even after the writers of such songs are very very far away, or resting deep in the ground.
 * "Nick Jaina: Even Damnation Is Poisoned With Rainbows" in Local Cut (4 June 2009)

 * Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld So I can sigh eternally
 * Nirvana, "Pennyroyal Tea" (1993)

 * But I was caught, like a fleeting thought Stuck inside Leonard Cohen's mind
 * Mercury Rev, "A Drop In Time" (2001)

'''There is evidence that the honoree might be privy to the secret of the universe, which, in case you’re wondering, is simply this: everything is connected. Everything.''' Many, if not most, of the links are difficult to determine. The instrument, the apparatus, the focused ray that can uncover and illuminate those connections is language. And just as a sudden infatuation often will light up a person’s biochemical sky more pyrotechnically than any deep, abiding attachment, so an unlikely, unexpected burst of linguistic imagination will usually reveal greater truths than the most exacting scholarship. In fact, the poetic image may be the only device remotely capable of dissecting romantic desire, let alone disclosing the hidden mystical essence of the material world. Cohen is a master of the quasi-surrealistic phrase, of the “illogical” line that speaks so directly to the unconscious that surface ambiguity is transformed into ultimate, if fleeting, comprehension: comprehension of the bewitching nuances of sex and the bewildering assaults of culture.
 * It is their desire to honor L. Cohen, songwriter, that has prompted a delegation of our brightest artists to climb, one by one, joss sticks smoldering, the steep and salty staircase in the Tower of Song.
 * Tom Robbins, in liner notes for the Leonard Cohen tribute album Tower of Song (1995); later published in Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005)

It is a voice raked by the claws of Cupid, a voice rubbed raw by the philosopher’s stone. … It is a penitent’s voice, a rabbinical voice, a crust of unleavened vocal toast—spread with smoke and subversive wit. He has a voice like a carpet in an old hotel, like a bad itch on the hunchback of love. It is a voice meant for pronouncing the names of women—and cataloging their sometimes hazardous charms. Nobody can say the word “naked” as nakedly as Cohen. He makes us see the markings where the pantyhose have been.
 * It is his singing voice as well as his writing pen that has breathed life into these songs.
 * Tom Robbins, in liner notes for the Leonard Cohen tribute album Tower of Song (1995); later published in Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005)

 * I don't want, no I really don't want To be John Lennon or Leonard Cohen  I just want to be my Dad.
 * Rufus Wainwright, "Want"

 * No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record.
 * Lament by the character Neil in British comedy series The Young Ones

 * A nation comes to freedom in thousands of steps — some of them huge leaps, the others little. And the evening with Leonard Cohen more than twenty years ago was an evening of hope. Difficult as much to him as it was to us. Not necessarily political but intimate. And I learned to appreciate the power of intimacy. There are moments when nothing can get between you and the other person. And when this person is Leonard Cohen himself you feel blessed. And you feel free.
 * Daniel Wyszogrodzki "Warsaw 1985" concert review

title: Leonard Cohen


text:
J. L. Austin

John Langshaw Austin (28 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was an English philosopher of language and speech theorist, remembered primarily as the developer of the theory of.

Quotes

 * 'What is truth?' said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer.
 * "Truth", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 24, Issue 1, 9 July 1950

 * Going back into the history of a word, very often into Latin, we come back pretty commonly to pictures or models of how things happen or are done. These models may be fairly sophisticated and recent, as is perhaps the case with "motive" or "impulse", but one of the commonest and most primitive types of model is one which is apt to baffle us through its very naturalness and simplicity.
 * "A Plea for Excuses" (29 October 1956), address in London, published in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1956-7)

 * Sentences are not as such either true or false.
 * Sense and Sensibilia (1962), p. 111

 * We speak of people "taking refuge" in vagueness — the more precise you are, in general the more likely you are to be wrong, whereas you stand a good chance of not being wrong if you make it vague enough.
 * Sense and Sensibilia (1962), p. 125

 * Infelicity is an ill to which all acts are heir which have the general character of ritual or ceremonial, all conventional acts.
 * How to Do Things with Words (1975), edited by Marina Sbisà and, J. O. Urmson, p. 18

 * There are more ways of killing a cat than drowning it in butter; but this is the sort of thing (as the proverb indicates) we overlook: there are more ways of outraging speech than contradiction merely.
 * How to Do Things with Words (1975), edited by Marina Sbisà and, J. O. Urmson, p. 48

Philosophical Papers (1979)

 * Philosophical Papers (1979) edited by James Opie Urmson and Geoffrey James Warnock, 3rd edition

 * The Nicomachean Ethics is only intended as a guide for politicians, and they are only concerned to know what is good, not what goodness means ... and in any case one can know what things are good without knowing the analysis of "good".
 * p. 22

 * Why should it not be the whole function of a word to denote many things?
 * p. 38

 * In one sense "there are" both universals and material objects, in another sense there is no such thing as either: statements about each can usually be analysed, but not always, nor always without remainder.
 * p. 43

 * But surely, speaking carefully, we do not sense "red" and "blue" any more than "resemblance" (or "qualities" any more than "relations"): we sense something of which we might say, if we wished to talk about it, that "this is red."
 * P. 49

 * It may justly be urged that, properly speaking, what alone has meaning is a sentence.
 * p. 56

 * Faced with the nonsense question "What is the meaning of a word?" and perhaps dimly recognizing it to be nonsense, we are nevertheless not inclined to give it up.
 * p. 58

 * Ordinary language blinkers the already feeble imagination.
 * p. 68

 * If we say that I only get at the symptoms of his anger, that carries an important implication. But is this the way we do talk?
 * p. 107

 * But suppose we take the noun "truth": here is a case where the disagreements between different theorists have largely turned on whether they interpreted this as a name of a substance, of a quality, or of a relation.
 * p. 73

 * We become obsessed with "truth" when discussing statements, just as we become obsessed with "freedom" when discussing conduct...Like freedom, truth is a bare minimum or an illusory ideal.
 * p. 130

 * Like "real", "free" is only used to rule out the suggestion of some or all of its recognized antitheses. As "truth" is not a name of a characteristic of assertions, so "freedom" is not a name for a characteristic of actions, but the name of a dimension in which actions are assessed.
 * p. 180

 * Words are not (except in their own little corner) facts or things: we need therefore to prise them off the world, to hold them apart from and against it, so that we can realize their inadequacies and arbitrariness, and can relook at the world without blinkers.
 * p. 182

 * Ordinary language is not the last word: in principle it can everywhere be supplemented and improved upon and superseded. Only remember, it is the first word.
 * p. 185

 * However well equipped our language, it can never be forearmed against all possible cases that may arise and call for description: fact is richer than diction.
 * p. 195

 * Let us distinguish between acting intentionally and acting deliberately or on purpose, as far as this can be done by attending to what language can teach us.
 * p. 273

Quotes about Austin

 * John Langshaw Austin... made a number of contributions in various areas of philosophy, including important work on knowledge, perception, action, freedom, truth, language, and the use of language in speech acts. Distinctions that Austin draws in his work on speech acts — in particular his distinction between locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts — have assumed something like canonical status in more recent work. His work on knowledge and perception places him in a broad tradition of “Oxford Realism”, running from Cook Wilson and Harold Arthur Prichard through to J. M. Hinton, M. G. F. Martin, John McDowell, Paul Snowdon, Charles Travis, and Timothy Williamson. His work on truth has played an important role in recent discussions of the extent to which sentence meaning can be accounted for in terms of truth-conditions.
 * "John Langshaw Austin" by Guy Longworth, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2013 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta

title: J. L. Austin


text:
User:0Guanaco

Hello. I am the real w:user:Guanaco. User:Guanaco is w:User:Michael. Guanaco 20:16, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

title: User:0Guanaco


text:
Talk:Søren Kierkegaard

Note
''"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." is often (mis)attributed to Megadeth's singer Dave Mustaine, as this phrase appears frequently in the chorus of the song "Losing My Senses" on the album "The World Needs a Hero."'' ~ 22:32, 19 September 2004

Quote from Kierkegaard Wikipedia article
In the lead paragraph in the Kierkegaard wikipedia article, there is a quote, "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". This quote comes from a book that I don't have access to, so I'm reluctant to add it here without verification. Could anyone check this out and add it if necessary? (I would sign this comment, but it seems that my WP account cannot be used here :/ ) ~

 * The quote you mentioned is accessible online through Google Book Search in Soren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Vol. 1 A-E (1967), edited and translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, p. 303. It is now on the page. You are welcome to create an account here as well as at WIkipedia. Wikimedia accounts have not yet been converted into a single log-in system. ~ Kalki 18:52, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Widely attributed quote
Is there any truth that "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid" or similar variants can be attributed to Kierkegaard? It is widely attributed to him. ~ 199.17.77.2 06:05, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

 * It appears in the beginning of Either/Or, but the translation I read had it in a much longer form... besides Kierkegaard was known for slight misquotation. ~

 * How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.
 * ~ Either/Or Part I, Swenson Translation p. 19 ~ 11614soup (talk) 02:33, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

 * "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." ― Søren Kierkegaard
 * With slightly different wording, brought up again: Reference_desk ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 04:55, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Signed v. pseudonymous
Kierkegaard requested that the articles he wrote pseudonymously be attributed to his pseudonyms, not directly to him, as the views expressed therein are not necessarily his. I would recommend, accordingly, either that this be noted parenthetically next to each quote, or, better yet, that the page as a whole be sectionalized into "Signed" and "Pseudonymous" quotations (with perhaps a third section for unpublished writings, since these may belong to either, or neither, category). -Silence 20:51, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm just back from a brief excursion and don't have time to do much here right now — but I would recommend that his writings and quotes remain arranged chronologically, but any pseudonyms he used noted with the quote or the sections for the works he issued under these names. ~ Kalki 21:55, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Søren Kierkegaard. --Antiquary 20:07, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

 * Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
 * Variant: Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.

It is part of a larger quotation, and was made by Dr Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan:

"Religion is not a movement stretching out to grasp something, external, tangible and good, and to pos- sess it. It is a form of being, not having, a mode of life. Spiritual life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced. It is new birth into enlightenment."

It can be found (along with the complete context) in the book "Genius - in Their Own Words: The Intellectual Journeys of Seven Great 20th Century Thinkers." by David Ramsay Steele - editor. Publisher: Open Court. Place of Publication: Chicago. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 159.

 * Man is not conscious of guilt because he sins, but sins because he is conscious of guilt.

 * Responsibility is the choice of freedom and that is no contradiction.

 * The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly one you can never have.
 * Variant: The most painful state of being is remembering the future, especially one which you know will never come.

 * Then comes affliction to awaken the dreamer.

 * Trouble is the common denominator of living. It is the great equalizer.

 * Was it not your bliss that you could never love as much as you have been loved?

 * Once you label me you negate me.

 * “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

 * The most common form of despair is not being who you are.
 * Probably a paraphrase. See contents of The Sickness Unto Death.

Merging Kierkegaard's Upbuilding Discourses of 1843
My goal was to present a few quotes from Kierkegaards Upbuilding Discourses. He wrote 18 upbuilding discourses altogether, 9 were published in 1843 and 9 were published in 1844. The first 9 discourses are over 170 pages long and the discourses of 1844 are over 220 pages long. I wanted them to have a section on wikiquote just for the discourses of 1843 and then another page for the discourses of 1844, just as Either/Or and Sickness Unto Death have their own pages for quotes. User talk:11614soup 11614soup 22:08, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

 * In the mean time you have added a lot of quotes from those Upbuilding Discourses. Most of them are now moved into six separate articles:
 * Two Upbuilding Discourses, 1843-->
 * Three Upbuilding Discourses, 1843
 * Four Upbuilding Discourses, 1843
 * Two Upbuilding Discourses, 1844
 * Three Upbuilding Discourses, 1844
 * Four Upbuilding Discourses, 1844
 * However some of the quotes from the other Upbuilding Discourses are still in this article. Your initial idea to add them in one page on "the discourses of 1843 and then another page for the discourses of 1844" might been even a better solution? -- Mdd (talk) 00:11, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

Length?
I don't really want to try and debate this, but I was blown away when I opened this article...; it's way too long to be a fitting Wikiquote "article" or "page" on significant, terse, and meaningful quotes.... - it should be a book. While I know there are many complex statements Kierkegaard made, and there are obviously some who would fight me viciously, I believe the article needs to be cut way down....
 * Thank you for your time and consideration, Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 08:56, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

 * And the article's a mess... There are repeated sections... There are even a few books that have big quotes from nearly every page!!
 * Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 08:56, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

This is currently our 17th longest article on the whole site. If you feel you can do some sensitive pruning, it would be most welcome.--Collingwood (talk) 13:00, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Action taken
Today regarding this matter the following actions are taken (see also page history}:
 * 15:01, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (340,422 bytes) (-42,774) . . (Parts from Either/Or moved to the talk page, which could/should be integrated into Either/Or article)
 * 15:13, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (300,301 bytes) (-40,121) . . (About 42 quotes from Concluding Unscientific Postscript removed, which should be integrated into the separate article. Quotes still available in history of the article)
 * 15:19, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (260,252 bytes) (-40,049) . . (About 40 quotes from Stages on Life's Way removed, which should be integrated into the separate article. Quotes still available in history of the article)
 * 17:32, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (230,340 bytes) (-29,912) . . (→Upbuilding Discourses (1843): Section moved to Two Upbuilding Discourses, 1843)
 * 18:02, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (230,865 bytes) (+525) . . (Some rearrangement(s))
 * 18:16, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (164,075 bytes) (-66,790) . . (Three other books in the Upbuilding Discourses series moved to separate articles)
 * 18:18, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (164,130 bytes) (+55) . . (Some rearrangement(s))
 * 18:24, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (158,761 bytes) (-5,369) . . (Removed five quotes from the Upbuilding Discourses series 1843-44 which could/should be moved into the (new) separate articles)
 * 18:28, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (154,527 bytes) (-4,234) . . (Removed 7 quotes from the book Prefaces, which could/should be moved into this separate sub-articles
 * 19:23, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (154,528 bytes) (+1) . . (Some rearrangement(s) - Adding Journals of Søren Kierkegaard together)
 * 19:35, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (154,619 bytes) (+91) . . (→The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard: some rearrangements)
 * 19:36, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) m . . (154,596 bytes) (-23) . . (Some rearrangement(s))
 * 23:15, 23 May 2014 Mdd (Talk | contribs | block) . . (109,355 bytes) (-45,241) . . (→Quotations about Kierkegaard: Moved section to User:11614soup/Quotations about Kierkegaard - Added back 18:20, 30 August 2010, see talk page)

In plain English as a start [1] about 37 quotes from Either/Or have been removed (see here, because when there is a separate article we only keep none to 3 or 5 of the most important quotes in the article. At first those quotes were moved to the talk page here, but are later this evening removed because of possible copyvio problems at the Either/Or article, see Talk:Either/Or. For similar reasons quotes have been removed from three sources that also have a subarticle ([2], [3], [8])

Secondly the quotes from the Upbuilding Discourses series (1843-44) have been moved to 6 separate (sub)articles. And eventually the "Quotations about Kierkegaard" section (action [12]) have been moved, see. -- Mdd (talk) 23:46, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

Quotations about Kierkegaard
The "Quotations about Kierkegaard" here has grown into unprecedented size, and has been temporarily moved to User:11614soup/Quotations about Kierkegaard, and for now the 18:20, 30 August 2010 version of this section is added back, because this section is impossible to clean by an outsider. It seems like a good idea to first create some understand about what could be used from that work in this article. -- Mdd (talk) 23:25, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for all your help with these quotations Mdd - I was wondering how much I could put on here.
The quotes were unorganized and I thought about changing them but have left them sit. I will leave it be as you remove quotes that are in the wrong place and see how it looks after all your pruning. It's better to read Kierkegaard's books than just quotes anyway. It seems he was against endless quotes anyway. I appreciate your help. --11614soup (talk) 00:29, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Thanks 11614soup, it is indeed not that easy to determine, how much one can put in. There are limits to the length of the quote, and the % of the total content which may be used; and there are some (unwritten) regulations, and there is the (rather diverse) common practise. But I guess you also realize this is just one constraint, and it is not a goal to offer as much quotes as possible. This is more inline with giving all different people interested a well organized introduction of his work.
 * As to the copy-vio constraints, this has to be upholded, some more action has been taken at the Either/Or article, which is explained on it's talk page. In the days to come I might look into the other sub-articles some more.
 * Now it is clear I started reorganizing this article into one logical structure, and into (small) chapters. The main focus has been on offering an accessible introduction for people to get acquainted with the philosophers work. Now I might take one more step in reorganizing this article, and will be back. -- Mdd (talk) 23:07, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

 * Ok, the article is now rearranged in one chronological meta-structure. At the moment there are several options:
 * There are seven empty sections about the books with sub-articles. These sections can be removed or some of the more important quotes can be added back here (about 3 to 7 (shorter) quotes)
 * It can be considered to split more sections into sub-articles
 * A (more strict) selection of quotes about Kierkegaard, temporary stored here can be added back. Longer whole article could be moved to wikisource.
 * Images available can be relocated
 * The source info of the individual quotes can be improved, for example the data at the quotes from the Journals of Søren Kierkegaard are inconclusive.
 * -- Mdd (talk) 23:46, 25 May 2014 (UTC)

Unsourced

 * One understands only in proportion to becoming himself that which he understands.
 * Papers, V B 40, cited in Louis Pojman, The Logic of Subjectivity, p. 61

 * But precisely this is the misfortune, and has been the misfortune, in Christendom that Christ is neither the one nor the other — neither the one he was when living on earth, nor he who will return in glory, but rather one about whom we have learned to know something in an inadmissible way from history — that he was somebody or other of great account. In an inadmissible and unlawful way we have learned to know him; whereas to believe in him is the only permissible mode of approach.
 * Preparation for a Christian Life

 * The Moral: As soon as it has come to the point that the crowd is to judge what is truth, it will not be long before decisions are made with fists.
 * Writing Sampler, Nichol p. 90

The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, Undated

 * It also occurs again later in the life of Christ, that he was tempted in loneliness-while the apostles sleep. The same thing happens to us at those times when it seems as if all to whom we might have turned are sleeping too soundly and immovably to be roused by our cares. Then it is necessary to find a higher comfort.
 * Journals and Papers II A 294

 * The art in all communication is to come as close as possible to actuality, to contemporaries in the role of readers, and yet at the same time to have the distance of a point of view, the reassuring, infinite distance of ideality from them. Papers VII B 325

 * Lord Jesus Christ, there is so much that will keep us back and draw us to itself. Everyone has something, and all of us much. But thou art eternally the most strong. Draw us then the more strongly to thee. We call thee our Deliverer, because thou didst come to the world to deliver us from all the bonds, the unworthy worries, which we put upon ourselves, and to break the heavy chains of our sins. We call thee Savior, that so thou mayest save us, and deliver us from all these things. For this was God’s will, which thou didst fulfill and make possible, even our sanctification. To this end thou didst descent to earth’s lowly meadows; and for this didst thou ascent up on high, in order to draw us unto thee.
 * Journals and Papers VIII A 372

 * Christianly the emphasis does not fall so much upon to what extent or how far a person succeeds in meeting or fulfilling the requirement, if he actually is striving, as it is upon his getting an impression of the requirement in all its infinitude so that he rightly learns to be humbled and to rely upon grace. To pare down the requirement in order to fulfill it better (as if this were earnestness, that now it can all the more easily appear that one is earnest about wanting to fulfill the requirement)—to this Christianity in its deepest essence is opposed. No, infinite humiliation and grace, and then a striving born of gratitude—this is Christianity.
 * Journals and Papers X3 A 734

 * The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted.
 * Soren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Vol. 1 A-E (1967), edited and translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, p. 303

 * What our age needs is an honest earnestness which affectionately preserves the tasks, which does not alarm people into wanting to rush pellmell into the highest but keeps the tasks young and beautiful and lovely to look at and beckoning to all and yet for all that difficult and inspiring to the noble, for the noble nature is inspired only by what is difficult. My listener, how did I dare to be so impolite as to doubt that I shall succeed in inspiring you — for I have the difficulties all ready.
 * Soren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Vol. 1 A-E (1967), edited and translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, p. 303

Quote
Hi, On the Internet, I see many people attributing the quote "The truth shall set you free, but first it shall make you miserable" to Kierkegaard. However, I cannot figure out where this comes from and whether this really is a quote by him. If anyone can figure it out, that'd be a big help.

Ugghh...
Caution when dealing with supposed Kierkegaard quotations. As an example, the quotes in this video are 90% misattribution, 5% paraphrasing or condensation of something Kierkegaard said and 5% verifiable material. 174.87.35.33 18:50, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Søren Kierkegaard


text:
Talk:Béla Bartók

This page should be moved to Béla Bartók, or if you find the accents too problematic, maybe to Bela Bartok. The title Bela Bartók, however, looks rather awkward, and in fact, ridiculous. -- Unfortunately the moving to Béla Bartók is not possible, since it already has a redirect. Should that page be deleted so we could move it?

--Adam78 23:36, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree with you but I think we should listen to others at the same time. I would like other editors to give their opinion. Why I support "Bartok Bela", that is the name order of Hungary people is "Family name, given name" so he should be Bartok Bela and is called so in his country. We don't say "Tsuton Mao" but "Mao Tsuton" for Chinese people whose name is also in this order. And for respecting the diversity, accuracy and ethnicity of each ethnic groups, I prefer call this composer "Bartok Bela". --Aphaia 01:08, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
 * I say lets keep this at Béla Bartók like it is in Wikipedia. In WP the policy for Japan-related articles is to use the name ordering most familiar to English speakers. That's why they have Tokugawa Ieyasu with ue no namae first, but Morihei Ueshiba in Western ordering. I can imagine situation for Hungarian names being the same. WP has thousand times the editors we have, I say let them figure out their preferred article title and we make WQ to match it. This saves time for everyone. jni 07:14, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Béla Bartók