Robert Anton Wilson Quotes

January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007

Robert Anton Wilson (January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American novelist, essayist, Absurdist philosopher, futurist, and guerilla ontologist, most famous for his satirical work (with Robert Shea), The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

I used to be an atheist , until I realized I had nothing to shout during blowjobs. "Oh Random Chance! Oh Random Chance!" just doesn't cut it….

DragonCon, 2000
This quote is knowingly or otherwise lifted from Bill Hicks' comedy routine, or vice versa.

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More Robert Anton Wilson Quotes

Every war results from the struggle for markets and spheres of influence, and every war is sold to the public by professional liars and totally sincere religious maniacs, as a Holy Crusade to save God and Goodness from Satan and Evil .

Robert Anton Wilson
— Cosmic Trigger II : Down to Earth (1991)

Tags: war, results, struggle, markets, spheres, influence, sold, public, professional

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There are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind . This is one such period, if you haven't noticed already.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975) (with Robert Shea), Part I : The Eye in the Pyramid, p. 32

Tags: There, periods, history, when, visions, madmen, dope, fiends, better

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ONLY THE MADMAN IS ABSOLUTELY SURE.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975) (with Robert Shea), Part I : The Eye in the Pyramid p. 176 of 1988 edition

Tags: MADMAN

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Most of our ancestors were not perfect ladies and gentlemen. The majority of them weren't even mammals.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati (1977), p. 84

Tags: Most, our, ancestors, perfect, ladies, gentlemen, majority, mammals

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Guerrilla ontology The basic technique of all my books . Ontology is the study of being; the guerrilla approach is to so mix the elements of each book that the reader must decide on each page 'How much of this is real and how much is a put-on?'"

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Illuminati Papers (1980), p. 2

Tags: Guerrilla, ontology, basic, technique, books, study, approach, mix, elements

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It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea .

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Illuminati Papers (1980), p. 111

Tags: years, liberal, become, conservative, without, changing, single, idea

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A true initiation never ends .

Robert Anton Wilson
— Masks of the Illuminati (1981), p. 257

Tags: true, initiation, never, ends

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"Every national border in Europe," El Eswad added ironically, "marks the place where two gangs of bandits got too exhausted to kill each other anymore and signed a treaty. Patriotism is the delusion that one of these gangs of bandits is better than all the others."

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Earth Will Shake: The History of the Early Illuminati (The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles Vol. 1) (1982), p. 100

Tags: national, border, Europe, El, Eswad, added, ironically, marks, place

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Every morning I have been looking at CNN to see if there is any reason for hope . I see a few large and impressive peace protests here and there around the world, but mostly I see empty robot faces monotonously reciting the magic incantations, "We must support the President" and "We must support our troops", both of which mean the killing must continue.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Cosmic Trigger II: Down to Earth (1991)

Tags: morning, been, looking, CNN, see, there, reason, hope, few

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Following Korzybski , I put things in probabilities, not absolutes ... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics , to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics , ideology , jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory .

Robert Anton Wilson
— Interview in High Times (2003)

Tags: Following, Korzybski, things, probabilities, absolutes, originality, lies, applying, zetetic

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I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions.

Robert Anton Wilson
—

Tags: believe, anything, suspicions

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Horror is the natural reaction to the last 5,000 years of history .

Robert Anton Wilson
— Cosmic Trigger II : Down to Earth

Tags: Horror, natural, reaction, last, years, history

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Beyond a certain point, the whole universe becomes a continuous process of initiation.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Widow's Son

Tags: Beyond, certain, point, whole, universe, continuous, process, initiation

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All phenomena are real in some sense , unreal in some sense, meaningless in some sense, real and meaningless in some sense, unreal and meaningless in some sense, and real and unreal and meaningless in some sense.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Nature's God This is a statement derived from one in the Principia Discordia

Tags: phenomena, real, sense, unreal, meaningless

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Existence is larger than any model that is not itself the exact size of existence (which has no size...)

Robert Anton Wilson
— Nature's God

Tags: Existence, larger, model, exact, size

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There is absolutely nothing that can be taken for granted in this world.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by Sigismundo Celine

Tags: There, nothing, can, taken, granted, world

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Conspiracy is just another name for coalition.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by Luigi Duccio

Tags: Conspiracy, another, name, coalition

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The illusion of Sin and Guilt, the madness of our species, is the act of cursing the world under the misapprehension that one is cursing only one part of it. To curse the fig tree, as in the funniest and most misunderstood parable of Jesus , is to curse the soil in which it grew, the seed, the rains, the sun; the whole world, eventually because no part is truly separate from the whole . The fallacy is that one can judge the part in isolation from the whole is "the Lie that all men believe."

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by Sigismundo Celine

Tags: illusion, Sin, Guilt, madness, our, species, act, cursing, world

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The longer one is alone, the easier it is to hear the song of the earth .

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by Sigismundo Celine

Tags: longer, one, alone, easier, hear, song, earth

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"Is," "is." "is" the idiocy of the word haunts me. If it were abolished, human thought might begin to make sense . I don't know what anything "is"; I only know how it seems to me at this moment .

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by Sigismundo Celine

Tags: idiocy, word, haunts, me, abolished, human, thought, begin, sense

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The worst that can happen under monarchy is rule by a single imbecile, but democracy often means the rule by an assembly of three or four hundred imbeciles.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by M. Gabriel Sartines

Tags: worst, can, under, monarchy, rule, single, imbecile, democracy, often

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Each mans spills the drink he loves.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Cosmic Trigger II

Tags: mans, spills, drink, loves

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Everybody who has ever worked for a corporation knows that corporations conspire all the time. Politicians conspire all the time, pot-dealers conspire not to get caught by the narcs, the world is full of conspiracies. Conspiracy is natural primate behavior.

Robert Anton Wilson
— The I in the Triangle, speech held at a bookstore in Santa Cruz, California (1990)

Tags: Everybody, who, worked, corporation, corporations, conspire, time, Politicians, caught

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The Constitution admittedly has a few defects and blemishes, but it still seems a hell of a lot better than the system we have now.

Robert Anton Wilson
— rawilson.com website/blog entry (mid 1990s)

Tags: Constitution, admittedly, few, defects, blemishes, hell, better, system, we

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Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover will prove. And if the Thinker thinks passionately enough, the Prover will prove the thought so conclusively that you will never talk a person out of such a belief, even if it is something as remarkable as the notion that there is a gaseous vertebrate of astronomical heft (" GOD ") who will spend all eternity torturing people who do not believe in his religion.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Ch. 1 : The Thinker & The Prover, p. 28

Tags: Thinker, Prover, prove, passionately, enough, thought, conclusively, you, never

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Animals outline their territories with their excretions, humans outline their territories by ink excretions on paper.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Ch. 4 : The Anal Emotional Territiorial Circuit, p. 68

Tags: Animals, outline, territories, excretions, humans, ink, paper

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The current rampages of territorial-emotional pugnacity sweeping this planet are not just another civilization failing …:;They are the birth-pangs of a cosmic Prometheus rising out of the long nightmare of domesticated primate history.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Ch. 5 : Dickens & Joyce : The Two-Circuit Dialectic, p. 90

Tags: current, rampages, territorialemotional, pugnacity, sweeping, planet, another, civilization, failing

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"Mind" is a tool invented by the universe to see itself; but it can never see all of itself, for much the same reason that you can’t see your own back (without mirrors).

Robert Anton Wilson
— Ch. 14 : The Meta Programming Circuit, p. 224

Tags: Mind, tool, invented, universe, see, can, never, reason, you

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You need the "is of identity" to describe conspiracy theories. Korzybski would say that proves that illusions, delusions, and "mental" illnesses require the "is" to perpetuate them. (He often said, "Isness is an illness.") Korzybski also popularized the idea that most sentences, especially the sentences that people quarrel over or even go to war over, do not rank as propositions in the logical sense, but belong to the category that Bertrand Russell called propositional functions. They do not have one meaning , as a proposition in logic should have; they have several meanings, like an algebraic function.

Robert Anton Wilson
— Language as Conspiracy, p. 277

Tags: You, need, identity, describe, conspiracy, theories, Korzybski, proves, illusions

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