#will

But it is a blessed provision of nature that at times like these, as soon as a man's mercury has got down to a certain point there comes a revulsion, and he rallies. Hope springs up, and cheerfulness along with it, and then he is in good shape to do something for himself, if anything can be done. ↗

— Mark Twain

#determination #grit #hope #will #nature

...the magic was a tool, though a natural, mysterious tool. In its awareness of the magic, his human nature had desired to connect with it, to use it. The whisperings were the voice of his own awakening, not the seductive call of a dark power. Using it was not corruption, but a natural extension of his being. And he could control the manner in which he used it. He would. ↗

— Derek Donais

#choice #dark-power #free-will #magic #power

Even if, by some especially unfortunate fate or by the niggardly provision of stepmotherly nature, [the good will] should be wholly lacking in the power to accomplish its purpose; if with the greatest effort it should yet achieve nothing, and only the good will should remain (not, to be sure, as a mere wish but as the summoning of all the means in our power), yet would it, like a jewel, still shine by its own light as something which has its full value in itself. ↗

— Emmanuel Kant

#good-will #jewels #light-of-nature #value #nature

The is a secret for greater self-control, the science points to one thing: the power of paying attention. ↗

— Kelly McGonigal

#mindfulness #science #self-control #willpower #science

Sicknesses, especially those affecting nerves and head, are signs that the defensive strength of the strong natures is lacking; precisely this is suggested by irritability, so pleasure and displeasure become foreground problems. ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#nature

No, i mean enterprising." said Will. "When I mean morally deficient, I say,`Now, that is something i would have done´ ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#tessa-gray #will-herondale #morals

According to most philosophers, God in making the world enslaved it. According to Christianity, in making it, He set it free. God had written, not so much a poem, but rather a play; a play he had planned as perfect, but which had necessarily been left to human actors and stage-managers, who had since made a great mess of it. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#religion #religion

Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you. ↗

— Desmond Tutu

#god #god-s-love #god-s-will #religion #theology

If that were God's plan, it's a bad bargain; I don't want to have to deal with a God like that...My sense is God and I came to an accommodation with each other a couple of decades ago, where he's gotten used to the things that I'm not capable of and I've come to terms with things he's not capable of...and we care very much about each other. ↗

— Harold S. Kushner

#god-s-plans #god-s-will #omnipotence #religion #religion

The problem of vindicating an omnipotent and omniscient God in the face of evil is insurmountable. Those who claim to have surmounted it, by recourse to notions of free will and other incoherencies, have merely heaped bad philosophy onto bad ethics. ↗

— Sam Harris

#free-will #god #religion #religion