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Book: Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
Quotes of Book: Ishmael: An Adventure of the
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  1. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    It applies to all species without distinction.
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  2. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    We've discovered that any species that exempts itself from the rules of competition ends up destroying the community in order to support its own expansion.
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  3. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    Within your culture as a whole, there is in fact no significant thrust toward global population control. The point to see is that there never will be such a thrust so long as you're enacting a story that says the gods made the world for man. For as long as you enact that story, Mother Culture will demand increased food production today- and promise population control tomorrow.
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  4. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    Where are you looking at it from?" "Oh. From above. From outer space." "What are you doing up there?" "I don't know." "Why aren't you down on the surface?
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  5. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    We don't need prophets to tell us how to live; we can find out for ourselves by consulting what's actually there.
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  6. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    The world is a very, very fine place. It wasn't a mess. It didn't need to be conquered and ruled by man. In other words, the world doesn't belong to man - but it does need man to belong to it. creature had to be the first to go through this... creature had to find the way, and if that happened, then...there was no limit to what could happen here. In other words, man does have a place in the world, but it's not his place to rule...Man's place is to be the first. Man's place is to be the first without being the last. Man's place is to figure out how it's possible to do that - and then to make room for all the rest who are capable of becoming what he's become. And maybe, when the time comes, it's man's place to be the teacher of all the rest who are capable of becoming what he's become. Not the only teacher, not the ultimate teacher. Maybe only the first teacher, the kindergarten teacher - but even that wouldn't be too shabby.
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  7. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    once again I was thunderstruck-but this time by a feeling of profound relief, for I had been redeemed from oblivion. More, the error that caused me to live as an unwitting impostor for so many years had been corrected at last. I had been made whole as a person-not again but for the very first time.
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  8. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    If there are forty thousand people in an area that can only support thirty thousand, it's no kindness to bring in food from the outside to maintain them at forty thousand. That just guarantees that the famine will continue.
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  9. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    I think what you're groping for is that people need more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel stupid and guilty. They need more than a vision of doom. They need a vision of the world and of themselves that inspires them."
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  10. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    The first time I read the ad, I choked and cursed and spat and threw the paper to the floor.
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  11. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    So I looked. Silly as it sounds now, I looked. By comparison, going after the Grail would have made more sense. I won't talk about it, it's too embarrassing. I looked until I wised up. I stopped making a fool of myself, but something died inside of me - something that I'd always sort of liked and admired. In its place grew a scar - a tough spot but also a sore spot.
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  12. Daniel Quinn _ Ishmael: An Adventure of the

    What about Saint Francis?" "Saint Francis relied on the bounty of farmers, not the bounty of God. Even the most fundamental of the fundamentalists plug their ears when Jesus starts talking about birds of the air and lilies of the field. They know damn well he's just yarning, just making pretty speeches." "So you think this is what's at the root of your revolution. You wanted and still want to have your lives in your own hands." "Yes. Absolutely. To me, living any other way is almost inconceivable. I can only think that hunter-gatherers live in a state of utter and unending anxiety over what tomorrow's going to bring." "Yet they don't. Any anthropologist will tell you that. They are far less anxiety-ridden than you are. They have no jobs to lose. No one can say to them, 'Show me your money or you don't get fed, don't get clothed, don't get sheltered.'" "I believe you. Rationally speaking, I believe you. But I'm talking about my feelings, about my conditioning. My conditioning tells me-Mother Culture tells me-that living in the hands of the gods has got to be a never-ending nightmare of terror and anxiety." "And this is what your revolution does for you: It puts you beyond the reach of that appalling nightmare. It puts you beyond the reach of the gods." "Yes, that's it." "So. We have a new pair of names for you. The Takers are those who know good and evil, and the Leavers are …?" "The Leavers are those who live in the hands of the gods.
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