More from Alan Lightman
Or perhaps it is not because the cosmos is irrational but because they are rational. Who can say which, in an acausal world?
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman A person who cannot imagine the future is a person who cannot contemplate the results of his actions. Some are thus paralyzed into inaction.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman A writer is someone who has a one-man tent in the desert and occasionally he sees the footprint of an other writer – in the form of a review or something.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman I picked such seemingly disparate essays, I thought it was important to say what was the guiding principle in the selection rather than focus on any one essay.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman Some say it is best not to go near the center of time.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman That someone else was speaking the words to me and I was just writing them down. It was a very strange experience. That can happen with a short book. I don’t think it could happen with a long book.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman A world in which time is absolute is a world of consolation. For while the movements of people are unpredictable, the movement of time is predictable.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman Although technology is proceeding at a dizzying pace, I believe that the human mind will always have control of itself.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman I think it is always a long shot getting a book made into a film.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman It’s the Platonic philosophy in The Republic that philosophers should lead the country.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman As human beings, don’t we need questions without answers as well as questions with answers, questions that we might someday answer and questions that we can never answer?
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman The mother and father osprey stay together. It’s a monogamous relationship. And every summer they raise a new brood of children.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman As long as God does not intervene in the contemporary universe in such a way as to violate physical laws, science has no way of knowing whether God exists or not.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman
Original quotes
From our community writers
I am no longer defined by what happened to me, but by who I am.
Najwa ZebianNajwa Zebian Make your peace with those things that start a war within you.
Carmen AmadosCarmen Amados Here I am: a sight to behold.
Amanda KarchAmanda Karch I would live a thousand lifetimes just to meet you in this one.
Gemma TroyGemma Troy A relationship shouldn’t require you to walk on eggshells. But if you have to? boil the damn egg.
AstaAsta People say a lot. So, she watches what they do.
Brad NeatonBrad Neaton Jungle rain mimicking an adagio composed by Bach digging into the skin of eternalised deities.
Hanna BrissonHanna Brisson I never wanted perfect. I just wanted happy. I’m still figuring out what that looks like.
Samantha King HolmesSamantha King Holmes
Meet the writers
More on clarity
Winning the war on terrorism will also require a level of moral clarity that can provide a vision for struggling people and nations everywhere.
Adam SchiffAdam Schiff Written with courage and passion, this is a book whose often counterintuitive clarity shakes entombed assumptions like an earthquake.
Adam GarfinkleAdam Garfinkle I shall certainly never do that again. He employs a long, cold burn, a quiet and impassioned accumulation of detail, with calm, wit and clarity.
Adam NicolsonAdam Nicolson What we eat is the one simplest way to declare who we are – the table reflects our values with a clarity that few other theaters of human behaviour posses.
Adam GopnikAdam Gopnik Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.
Nat TurnerNat Turner Working-class Americans want a clear champion, and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez Clarity is the ability to see the soul in action in the physical world.
Gary ZukavGary Zukav Knowing how you actually want to feel is the most potent form of clarity that you can have.
Danielle LaPorteDanielle LaPorte
