Celia Green
British philosopher and author.
The human race believes in not taking its problems seriously enough to solve them.
'Social justice' - the expression of universal hatred.
Society is everybody's way of punishing one another because they daren't take it out on the universe.
One of the greatest superstitions of our time is the belief that it has none.
Astonishment is the only realistic emotion.
Now if you see that it is inconceivable that anything should exist, it is evident that at least one inconceivable fact is there. That is to say, that which exists is not limited to the conceivable. Since the inconceivable is there, it is impossible to set any limit to the quantity of inconceivableness which may be present in the situation. Now were the existence of anything consistently to remind you of the fact of inconceivability, since it is impossible to live without interacting with a large number of existing things, it would be impossible for you to feel in the same way about the conceivable.
I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.
Now if anyone were reminded about the inconceivable by the fact of existence at all constantly, he would sooner or later have the perception that there may be inconceivable considerations which are inconceivably more important than any conceivable consideration could be.
It is actually a principle of modern paternalism that if you want something you should be stopped from having it[…] Most foods are harmful to some people if taken in excess, and I expect the only reason that carrots are still available without a prescription is that no one has got very excited about them, or claimed that they might cure cancer.
Democracy: everyone should have an equal opportunity to obstruct everybody else.
When people talk about 'the sanctity of the individual' they mean 'the sanctity of the statistical norm'.
The only important thing to realise about history is that it all took place in the last five minutes.
People have been marrying and bringing up children for centuries now. Nothing has ever come of it.
What appear to be the most valuable aspects of the theoretical physics we have are the mathematical descriptions which enable us to predict events. These equations are, we would argue, the only realities we can be certain of in physics; any other ways we have of thinking about the situation are visual aids or mnemonics which make it easier for beings with our sort of macroscopic experience to use and remember the equations.
That society exists to frustrate the individual may be seen from its attitude to work. It is only morally acceptable if you do not want to do it. If you want to, it becomes a personal pleasure.
The human race has to be bad at psychology; if it were not, it would understand why it is bad at everything else.
Society expresses its sympathy for the geniuses of the past to distract attention from the fact that it has no intention of being sympathetic to the geniuses of the present.
People having religions is an insult to the universe.
It is easier to make people appear equally stupid than to make them equally clever, so teaching methods are adopted which make it practically impossible for anyone to learn anything.
Progress towards sanity is achieved by abandoning first the desire for omnipotence and then that for exceptional achievement.