44 Quotes by Susan Neiman

As long as your ideas of what’s possible are limited by what’s actual, no other idea has a chance.

Twentieth-century philosophy is not unique in its ability to confuse puzzles with problems.

Philosophy’s greatest task is to enlarge our sense of possibility.

Is reality exhausted by what is, or does it leave room for all that could be?

If life is a gift, then the more you partake in it, the more you show thanks.

Ordinary goodness is fraught with veins of vanity and self-interest and above all with pleasure – because goodness makes you feel more alive.

Kitsch is much more than a question of style; it’s a preference for consolation over truth. Disney’s version of reality is not just cleaned up, it’s pernicious. Unlike the best forms of art and philosophy, it undercuts the possibility of transformation because it portrays a world that’s just fine as it is – or as it will be by the time the credits come up.

The dangers of sophistry and scholasticism are present in the possibility of philosophy itself.

Vitality is not the denial of mortality, but the grown-up way of facing it.