... the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is the incessant fabrication of tawdry empty stimuli which kill the receptivity of the soul.

Josef Pieper
... the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is...
... the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is...
... the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is...
... the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is...
About This Quote

Frederick Nietzsche, a German philosopher, said that “the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is the incessant fabrication of tawdry empty stimuli which kill the receptivity of the soul.” He believed that this assault on our ability to engage in contemplation was making life immeasurably worse for everyone. We should all be able to sit down and engage in deep thought about important issues; however, we are instead subjected to the loud blaring noise of television commercials and mindless chatter. These endless distractions are robbing us of our ability to reflect upon ourselves and other things.

Source: Happiness And Contemplation

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More Quotes By Josef Pieper
  1. The delight we take in our senses is an implicit desire to know the ultimate reason for things, the highest cause. The desire for wisdom that philosophy etymologically is is a desire for the highest or divine causes. Philosophy culminates in theology. All other knowledge...

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  4. Here we must take account of one of St. Thomas's conceptual distinctions, which at first seems like unnecessary caviling. It is the distinction between "uncreated" and "created" happiness. We have here something which, while not at all obvious, is nevertheless fraught with consequences for our...

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