„As it is so strangely ordained in this world, what is amusing will turn into being gloomy, if you stand too long before it, and then God knows what ideas may not stray into the mind“
Vol. I, ch. 3
Dead Souls (1842)
Contexto: As it is so strangely ordained in this world, what is amusing will turn into being gloomy, if you stand too long before it, and then God knows what ideas may not stray into the mind... Why is it that even in moments of unthinking, careless gaiety a different and strange mood comes upon one?
Citas similares

— Mark Hopkins (educator) American educationalist and theologian 1802 - 1887
Fuente: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 45.

— James Branch Cabell American author 1879 - 1958
"Ballad of the Double-Soul"
The Certain Hour (1916)
Contexto: In the beginning the Gods made man, and fashioned the sky and the sea,
And the earth's fair face for man's dwelling-place, and this was the Gods' decree: — "Lo, We have given to man five wits: he discerneth folly and sin;
He is swift to deride all the world outside, and blind to the world within:
So that man may make sport and amuse Us, in battling for phrases or pelf,
Now that each may know what forebodeth woe to his neighbor, and not to himself."

— Robert M. Pirsig, libro Zen y el arte del mantenimiento de la motocicleta
Fuente: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

— Arthur Machen, libro The Great God Pan
Fuente: The Great God Pan (1894), Ch. I : The Experiment
Contexto: You see the mountain, and hill following after hill, as wave on wave, you see the woods and orchard, the fields of ripe corn, and the meadows reaching to the reed-beds by the river. You see me standing here beside you, and hear my voice; but I tell you that all these things — yes, from that star that has just shone out in the sky to the solid ground beneath our feet — I say that all these are but dreams and shadows; the shadows that hide the real world from our eyes. There is a real world, but it is beyond this glamour and this vision, beyond these 'chases in Arras, dreams in a career,' beyond them all as beyond a veil. I do not know whether any human being has ever lifted that veil; but I do know, Clarke, that you and I shall see it lifted this very night from before another's eyes. You may think this all strange nonsense; it may be strange, but it is true, and the ancients knew what lifting the veil means. They called it seeing the god Pan.

„What a strange development of patriotism that turns a thinking being into a loyal machine!“
— Emma Goldman anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches 1868 - 1940
— Leslie Weatherhead English theologian 1893 - 1976
Fuente: The Christian Agnostic (1965), p.245

— David Attenborough British broadcaster and naturalist 1926
Closing lines
Life in the Freezer (1993)

— Brian Wilson American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer 1942
God Only Knows (co-written with Tony Asher) · 1966 Beach Boys performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpd4jzKA4SA · David Bowie performance (1984) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOadV_CPT_k&spfreload=1 · Brian Wilson and The Corrs at Buckingham Palace (2002) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEMGE9cPwmk · "The Impossible Orchestra" — BBC multi-star performance (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLTe8h0-jo · Brian Wilson and She & Him : "On The Island" + "God Only Knows" (2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sruOAvMRjhs
Pet Sounds (1966)

— Mike Oldfield English musician, multi-instrumentalist 1953
Song lyrics, Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield (1986)

„We none of us know what is going on in that strange man's mind.“
— Stanley Baldwin Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1867 - 1947
Baldwin to the deputation at the end of July, 1936, as quoted in Baldwin : A Biography by Keith Middlemas and John Barnes (1969), p. 947, p. 955. <!-- Weidenfeld and Nicolson -->
1936
Contexto: We none of us know what is going on in that strange man's mind. We all know the German desire as he has come out with in his book [Mein Kampf] to move East, and if he moves East, I shall not break my heart, but that is another thing. I do not believe he wants to move West, because West would be a very difficult programme for him … If there is any fighting in Europe to be done, I should like to see the Bolsheviks and Nazis doing it.

— Blu American rapper and music producer 1983
The World Is (Below the Heavens)
Below the Heavens (2007)

— Paul of Tarsus, libro Epistle to the Romans
Romans 3:19-31
Epistle to the Romans
Contexto: Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

„As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer chastisement and loss. Askest thou what loss?“
— Epictetus philosopher from Ancient Greece 50 - 138
Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Contexto: Canst thou judge men?... then make us imitators of thyself, as Socrates did. Do this, do not do that, else will I cast thee into prison; this is not governing men like reasonable creatures. Say rather, As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer chastisement and loss. Askest thou what loss? None other than this: To have left undone what thou shouldst have done: to have lost the faithfulness, the reverence, the modesty that is in thee! Greater loss than this seek not to find! (91).

— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
In a letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 19 Nov. 1877; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 113), p. 18
as student, in Amsterdam, staying in the house of his uncle
1870s

— Haruki Murakami, libro De qué hablo cuando hablo de correr
Fuente: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running