book / likes
Remembrance of Things Past
“The only very long book I like is Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. You can read that for your entire life, [laughs] in a way, and on and off in bits.”
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John Gray
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What John said.
18 transcript-backed records
01 / recommendation
Likes Remembrance of Things Past.
“The only very long book I like is Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. You can read that for your entire life, [laughs] in a way, and on and off in bits.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
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- Conversations with Tyler
02 / belief
If you take a bit longer one, if you include the Aztecs and the Romans, not just the Meiji Empire but Edo Japan, which by the way, I think was incomparably more cultured and civilized than the majority of human cultures are today.
“If you take a bit longer one, if you include the Aztecs and the Romans, not just the Meiji Empire but Edo Japan, which by the way, I think was incomparably more cultured and civilized than the majority of human cultures are today.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
03 / belief
” I think that’s tremendously clever, much more intelligent than most authors, because what he recognized was that belief — when you get outside of formulating scientific propositions and so on, it’s a very fluid, vaporous thing.
“” I think that’s tremendously clever, much more intelligent than most authors, because what he recognized was that belief — when you get outside of formulating scientific propositions and so on, it’s a very fluid, vaporous thing.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
04 / belief
You might say, I guess, in my view, that there are recurring patterns in history which illustrate some of the flaws of the human species.
“You might say, I guess, in my view, that there are recurring patterns in history which illustrate some of the flaws of the human species.”
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- John Gray
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- Conversations with Tyler
05 / disagreement
For example, John Stuart Mill, even though I disagree with him profoundly — a very resourceful and intelligent thinker.
“For example, John Stuart Mill, even though I disagree with him profoundly — a very resourceful and intelligent thinker.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
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- Conversations with Tyler
06 / belief
Many love affairs lead to disappointment, but if you decide then, “I’m not going to have them,” I think that’s a rather miserable view of life, which, by the way, is one of my objections to traditional Epicureanism and Lucretianism.
“Many love affairs lead to disappointment, but if you decide then, “I’m not going to have them,” I think that’s a rather miserable view of life, which, by the way, is one of my objections to traditional Epicureanism and Lucretianism.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
07 / belief
I think, in all of these things, in most countries, at most times, in most places, the aim is to achieve a balance.
“I think, in all of these things, in most countries, at most times, in most places, the aim is to achieve a balance.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
08 / prediction
” What I’m saying when I say things like that, or when I criticized Fukuyama in 1989, is I expect human history to be in the future as it has been in the past.
“” What I’m saying when I say things like that, or when I criticized Fukuyama in 1989, is I expect human history to be in the future as it has been in the past.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
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- Conversations with Tyler
09 / belief
The Book of Genesis because I believe, in the myth of Genesis, one of the central neglected truths of the human situation is brought out, which is that knowledge is ethically neutral.
“The Book of Genesis because I believe, in the myth of Genesis, one of the central neglected truths of the human situation is brought out, which is that knowledge is ethically neutral.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
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- Conversations with Tyler
10 / belief
There may be values or goods or bads I can think about in an abstract way, but they’re not Platonic in the sense that they exist in some metaphysical realm independent of the human world. They’re all, I would say, projections of the human world, or at least of the living world.
“There may be values or goods or bads I can think about in an abstract way, but they’re not Platonic in the sense that they exist in some metaphysical realm independent of the human world. They’re all, I would say, projections of the human world, or at least of the living world.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
11 / preference
I like aphorisms because, as I say, they’re short and uncluttered and can be beautiful.
“I like aphorisms because, as I say, they’re short and uncluttered and can be beautiful.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
12 / preference
I am attracted more to Eastern Orthodoxy than I am to Catholicism, partly because its rituals and art are so beautiful, and for me, many of my judgments are aesthetic.
“I am attracted more to Eastern Orthodoxy than I am to Catholicism, partly because its rituals and art are so beautiful, and for me, many of my judgments are aesthetic.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
13 / prediction
We might never be in significant contact with these other intelligences if they exist. But it doesn’t really matter much to me one way or the other because I think we’ve actually done a rather good job making ourselves more alone already, actually, by crudifying the biosphere through mass extinctions and so on.
“We might never be in significant contact with these other intelligences if they exist. But it doesn’t really matter much to me one way or the other because I think we’ve actually done a rather good job making ourselves more alone already, actually, by crudifying the biosphere through mass extinctions and so on.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
14 / recommendation
I haven’t been able to do much recently because of the pandemic and other things, and I think, if you have a cat or another animal companion, leaving them for long periods is not a good idea.
“I haven’t been able to do much recently because of the pandemic and other things, and I think, if you have a cat or another animal companion, leaving them for long periods is not a good idea.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
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- Conversations with Tyler
15 / preference
I guess it would be animal conservation, conservation of environments, or at least of species that are rapidly disappearing now because I did say earlier on that a lot of my value judgments are aesthetic.
“I guess it would be animal conservation, conservation of environments, or at least of species that are rapidly disappearing now because I did say earlier on that a lot of my value judgments are aesthetic.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
16 / preference
I don’t know about influence, because I’m not a novelist, but it’s one of the books — Moby Dick.
“I don’t know about influence, because I’m not a novelist, but it’s one of the books — Moby Dick.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
17 / evaluation
No, not the kind of atheism I hold. But what you say, Tyler, is, of course, very true of many traditions of atheist thinking, perhaps even the dominant ones, because the dominant traditions of atheist thinking in Europe and America and elsewhere — remember, atheism in this sense is something that comes from within theism, from within monotheism — reproduce the central categories and concepts of the religion they deny, even as they deny the beliefs.
“No, not the kind of atheism I hold. But what you say, Tyler, is, of course, very true of many traditions of atheist thinking, perhaps even the dominant ones, because the dominant traditions of atheist thinking in Europe and America and elsewhere — remember, atheism in this sense is something that comes from within theism, from within monotheism — reproduce the central categories and concepts of the religion they deny, even as they deny the beliefs.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
18 / preference
I’m a fan, too. It’s funny because it’s absurdist humor, and I like absurdist humor, and lots of British people do.
“I’m a fan, too. It’s funny because it’s absurdist humor, and I like absurdist humor, and lots of British people do.”
- Speaker
- John Gray
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler