Meaninglessness

Explore 12 quotes about Meaninglessness

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

Chinatown

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Topic

Meaninglessness

Speaker

Lawrence Walsh

Actor

Joe Mantell

Source

Chinatown

Medium

Film

Genre

Neo-noir Mystery (film) Mystery

Language

English

Time

1974 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chinatown. Directed by Roman Polanski, Long Road Productions/Robert Evans Company, 1974.

I've seen a human pyramid before. It was very unnecessary.

Mitch Hedberg

Strategic Grill Locations

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Topic

Meaninglessness

Speaker

Mitch Hedberg

Source

Strategic Grill Locations

Medium

Comedy album

Genre

Comedy (stand up)

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hedberg, Mitch. Strategic Grill Locations. 7 Sept. 1999, The Laff Stop Comedy Club, Houston, Texas, USA.

It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada. Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.

Ernest Hemingway

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Topic

Meaninglessness

Author

Ernest Hemingway

Source

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Medium

Short story

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hemingway, Ernest. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." Scribner's Magazine, Mar. 1933.

Current Citation

Hemingway, Ernest. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Scribner, 1998.

What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing that you did mattered?

Groundhog Day

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Topic

Meaninglessness

Speaker

Phil

Actor

Bill Murray

Source

Groundhog Day

Medium

Film

Genre

Comedy (film) Fantasy (film) Comedy Fantasy

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Groundhog Day. Directed by Harold Ramis, Columbia Pictures, 1993.

We lack, at some core level, meaning in our individual lives and meaning collectively-that sense that our lives are part of some greater effort, that we are connected to one another... We need a new politics of meaning. We need a new ethos of individual responsibility and caring. We need a new definition of civil society which answers the unanswerable questions posed by both the market forces and the governmental ones, as to how we can have a society that fills us up again and makes us feel that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Speech at the University of Texas, April 7, 1993

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Topic

American politics Meaninglessness

Speaker

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Source

Speech at the University of Texas, April 7, 1993

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1993 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Clinton, Hillary. Speech at the University of Texas at Austin. Liz Carpenter Lecture Series. 7 Apr. 1993, Austin, TX, USA.

Look at it this way, you know. A man takes a job, you know? And that job—I mean, like that—that becomes what he is. You know, like—you do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for seventeen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become—you get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. You know, people are born. I envy you. Go on, get laid, get drunk. Do anything. You got no choice, anyway. I mean, we're all fucked. More or less, ya know.

Taxi Driver

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Topic

Jobs Meaninglessness

Speaker

Wizard

Actor

Peter Boyle

Source

Taxi Driver

Medium

Film

Genre

Neo-noir Crime (film) Crime

Language

English

Time

1976 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Taxi Driver. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Bill/Phillips Productions/Italo/Judeo Productions, 1976.

But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no meaning. No use, that is. No plot.

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale

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Topic

Meaning of life Existential terror Meaninglessness

Author

Margaret Atwood

Source

The Handmaid's Tale

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985, ch. 33.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 1:14

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Topic

Nothing new under the sun Meaninglessness Resignation Pessimism

Source

Ecclesiastes The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

931 BC 930s BC 10th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

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Topic

Meaninglessness Work Impossibility of progress

Source

Ecclesiastes The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

Hebrew

Time

931 BC 930s BC 10th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3).

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

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Topic

Man and animals Meaninglessness The human condition

Source

Ecclesiastes The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

931 BC 930s BC 10th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20).

There's no point to any of this. It's all just a...a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details. You know...a quarter-pounder with cheese, those are good, the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter becomes a cackle. And I sit back, and I...I smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt.

Reality Bites

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Topic

Meaninglessness The absurd Enjoying life The little things

Speaker

Troy Dyer

Actor

Ethan Hawke

Source

Reality Bites

Medium

Film

Genre

Romantic comedy (film) Comedy drama (film) Romantic comedy Comedy drama

Language

English

Time

1994 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Reality Bites. Directed by Ben Stiller, Jersey Films, 1994.

We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five.

Joan Didion

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Topic

Seeking Meaninglessness

Author

Joan Didion

Source

The White Album The White Album (essay)

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Didion, Joan. "The White Album." The White Album. Simon & Schuster, 1979.