Alan Lightman quotes are thought-provoking, memorable and inspiring. From views on society and politics to thoughts on love and life, Alan Lightman has a lot to say. In this list we present the 23 best Alan Lightman quotes, in no particular order. Let yourself get inspired!
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Alan Lightman quotes
The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or joy.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
Two men who had never seen each other before and would not likely see each other again. But their sincerity and sweetness, their sharing an instant in a fleeting life. It was almost as if a secret had passed between them. Was this some kind of love? I wanted to follow them, to touch them, to tell them of my happiness. I wanted to whisper to them: ‘This is it. This is it'”.
— Alan Lightman, Mr g: A Novel About The Creation
If a person holds no ambitions in this world, he suffers unknowingly. If a person holds ambitions, he suffers knowingly, but very slowly.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
Each time is true, but the truths are not the same.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
Time is the clarity for seeing right and wrong.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
While people brood, time skips ahead without looking back.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
But what is the past? Could it be, the firmness of the past is just illusion? Could the past be a kaleidoscope, a pattern of images that shift with each disturbance of a sudden breeze, a laugh, a thought? And if the shift is everywhere, how would we know?
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
What sense is there in continuing when one has seen the future?
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
The catchers delight in the moment so frozen but soon discover that the nightingale expires, its clear flutelike song diminishes to silence, the trapped moment grows withered and without life.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
Continents of memory had been lost.
— Alan Lightman, The Diagnosis
Events, once happened, lose reality, alter with a glance, a storm, a night. In time, the past never happened. But who could know? Who could know that the past is not as solid as this instant…
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
And at the place where time stands still, one sees lovers kissing in the shadows of buildings, in a frozen embrace that will never let go. The loved one will never take his arms from where they are now, will never give back the bracelet of memories, will never journey afar from his lover, will never place himself in danger of self-sacrifice, will never fail to show his love, will never become jealous, will never fall in love with someone else, will never lose the passion of this instant of time.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
Human beings consider themselves satisfied only compared to some other condition. A man who has owned nothing but a bicycle all of his life feels suddenly wealthy the moment he buys an automobile…But this happy sensation wears off. After a while the car becomes just another thing that he owns. Moreover, when his neighbor next door buys two cars, in an instant our man feels wretchedly poor and deprived.
— Alan Lightman, Reunion
When a traveler from the future must talk, he does not talk but whimpers. He whispers tortured sounds. He is agonized. For if he makes the slightest alteration in anything, he may destroy the future. At the same time, he is forced to witness events without being part of them, without changing them. He envies the people who live in their own time, who can act at will, oblivious of the future, ignorant of the effects of their actions. But he cannot act. He is an inert gas, a ghost, a sheet without soul. He has lost his personhood. He is an exile of time.
— Alan Lightman
Unconditional love. That’s what he wants to give her and what he wants from her. People should give without wanting anything in return. All other giving is selfish. But he is being selfish a little, isn’t he, by wanting her to love him in return? He hopes that she loves him in return. Is it possible for a person to love without wanting love back? Is anything so pure? Or is love, by its nature, a reciprocity, like oceans and clouds, an evaporating of seawater and a replenishing of rain?
— Alan Lightman, Reunion
Some make light of decisions, arguing that all possible decisions will occur. In such a world, how could one be responsible for his actions? Others hold that each decision must be considered and committed to, that without commitment there is chaos. Such people are content to live in contradictory worlds, so long as they know the reason for each.
— Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
I’ve taken a philosophical position on e-mail. Although I think it’s a wonderful communication technology, and it has a lot of good uses, it is abused quite a lot.
— Alan Lightman
I think e-mail is representative of our fast food mentality in the United States, where everything has gotten faster and faster, and we’re required to respond to inputs more quickly with less time for thought and reflection. I believe that we need to slow down.
— Alan Lightman
I have always loved magic realism as a form of writing. I have also been fascinated for a long time with the intersection of science and religion.
— Alan Lightman
As both a scientist and a humanist myself, I have struggled to understand different claims to knowledge, and I have eventually come to a formulation of the kind of religious belief that would, in my view, be compatible with science.
— Alan Lightman
Music is, of course, a universal emotional experience, cutting across cultures and languages. I studied piano for ten years as a child and consider that experience one of the most valuable in my life.
— Alan Lightman
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