Amnesia is not knowing who one is and wanting desperately to find out. Euphoria is not knowing who one is and not caring. Ecstasy is knowing exactly who one is – and still not caring.

discovery caring amnesia euphoria ecstasy

About Tom Robbins

Portrait of Tom Robbins

Thomas Eugene Robbins (July 22, 1932 – February 9, 2025) was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy dramas"). His 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into the 1993 film version by Gus Van Sant. His last work, published in 2014,...

More quotations from Tom Robbins

Let us live for the beauty of our own reality.

life reality beauty

To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.

thought thinking possibility impossible

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who believe there are two kinds of people in this world and those who are smart enough to know better.

people dichotomy classification

The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion, and the tyranny of the dull mind forever threatens — but our lives are not as limited as we think they are, all things are possible, laughter is holier than piety, freedom is sweeter than fame, and in the end it’s love and love alone that really matters.

delusion life reality world security

You risked your life, but what else have you ever risked? Have you risked disapproval? Have you ever risked economic security? Have you ever risked a belief? I see nothing particularly courageous about risking one’s life. So you lose it, you go to your hero’s heaven and everything is milk and honey ’til the end of time. Right? You get your reward and suffer no earthly consequences. That’s not courage. Real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one’s clichés.

life risk change approval

More quotations tagged with “caring”

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Contrary to today's stereotypes, racists do not always chew tobacco and drive pickup trucks with gun racks. They wear silk shirts, treat women as possessions, and talk about human rights at cocktail parties far from communities of people of color. The men in pickup trucks are just as likely to be warm and caring as the high-minded liberals are to be racists.

—Wilma Mankiller

racism caring discrimination racists human rights

Lines were blurring, and I couldn't tell where along the way I stopped caring.

—R.J. Lewis in Loving Lawson

perception caring

There's nothing wrong with caring about something, regardless of what it means to other people.

—Chelsea Pitcher in The Last Changeling

Love implies anger. The man who is angered by nothing cares about nothing.

—Edward Abbey

love anger caring

History

3 Mar 2014 Added