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Colin Wilson quote ✍️

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There can be no doubt that the chief fault we have developed, through the long course of human evolution, is a certain basic passivity. When provoked by challenges, human beings are magnificent. When life is quiet and even, we take the path of least resistance, and then wonder why we feel bored. A man who is determined and active doesn't pay much attention to 'luck'. If things go badly, he takes a deep breath and redoubles his effort. And he quickly discovers that his moments of deepest happiness often come after such efforts. The man who has become accustomed to a passive existence becomes preoccupied with 'luck'; it may become an obsession. When things go well, he is delighted and good humored; when they go badly, he becomes gloomy and petulant. He is unhappy — or dissatisfied — most of the time, for even when he has no cause for complaint, he feels that gratitude would be premature; things might go wrong at any moment; you can't really trust the world... Gambling is one basic response to this passivity, revealing the obsession with luck, the desire to make things happen. The absurdity about this attitude is that we fail to recognize the active part we play in making life a pleasure. When my will is active, my whole mental and physical being works better, just as my digestion works better if I take exercise between meals. I gain an increasing feeling of control over my life, instead of the feeling of helplessness (what Sartre calls 'contingency') that comes from long periods of passivity. Yet even people who are intelligent enough to recognize this find the habit of passivity so deeply ingrained that they find themselves holding their breath when things go well, hoping fate will continue to be kind.
Colin Wilson Strange Powers fate luck sartre willpower

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Similar Crossword Answers

Answer Clues
PETS 412 clues
AMERICA 251 clues
FATE 218 clues
NATURE 180 clues
SARTRE 147 clues
ETHICS 146 clues
RUSSIA 140 clues
WISDOM 134 clues
LUCK 102 clues
ANIMALS 92 clues
PREDICTION 76 clues
LOYALTY 72 clues
INSTINCT 42 clues
MORALITY 31 clues
WILLPOWER 23 clues
HOEG 1 clue
DARWINISM 1 clue

Similar crossword clues

  1. Comic Wilson 83.33%
  2. Comedian Wilson 81.48%
  3. Colin Wilson's "The ___." 80.00%
  4. Columnist Wilson 78.57%
  5. Coolidge and Wilson 77.42%
  6. Colin ____ Pattison 76.92%
  7. Actor Wilson 75.00%
  8. TV comic Wilson 74.07%
  9. Novelist Wilson 74.07%
  10. Soul singer Wilson 73.33%
  11. Coolidge or Wilson 73.33%
  12. Gov. Wilson 72.73%
  13. Singer Wilson 72.00%
  14. Ballerina Wilson 71.43%
  15. Colin Kelly's son. 68.97%
  16. Cartoonist Wilson 68.97%
  17. Colin Powell, once 68.97%
  18. Edith Bolling ___ Wilson. 68.75%
  19. Wilson 66.67%
  20. Colin Powell's domain 66.67%
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Unscramble COLIN5-letter words that start with C5-letter words that end in N5-letter words containing OL5-letter words containing IN5-letter words with C and O
Poet’s word, with inverted comma, for the end of the day
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E
?
E
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N
Hint 1 meaning
The old plural of Eye.
Hint 2 anagram
ENE
Hint 3 another clue
AND STILL ___
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