Day 19: Too many amazing minds, not enough years left to read them all

 

I am overwhelmed at all the books and literature I wish I could pile into the processor that rests on top of my neck.  Since I started reading great minds, the supply of great books is endless.  I want to read more authors, so that means I have to limit myself to one two and sometimes even three books per author.  It gets hard when I find a good mind and a great author, to leave behind some of their great books, just because I don't have enough energy and years to read them all.  

It is not always about time.  Some books take longer to digest than others.  Some get started and never get finished.  Some look great on the outside, and don't draw me in to the depth of the story or message.  All that takes away from those books that are out there with great stuff in the covers.  

Atheism for Lent is introducing me to a lot of great minds and other than Peter Rollins, I have only cracked one book.  I am still reading Jean Meslier.  How many others will I pass by in my journey?

I have been harvesting quotes from some of these great minds, because I don't think I will get to read their books.  Authors like Feuerbach, Ingersoll, Kierkegaard all are inspiring me, but to invest more time and energy in reading them all... well, I don't know if I can... so I will collect the best thoughts and peruse them from time to time.  

Here are a few:

 "God did not, as the Bible says, make man in His image; on the contrary man, as I have shown in The Essence of Christianity, made God in his image."  Ludwig Feuerbach

"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages." Frederick Nietzsche

"Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them." Robert G. Ingersoll

"What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music. Soren Kierkegaard

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives... inside ourselves." Albert Camus