Ahlem

“The men and women on death row have some combination of bad genes, bad parents, bad environments, and bad ideas (and the innocent, of course, have supremely bad luck). Which of these quantities, exactly, were they responsible for? No human being is responsible for his genes or his upbringing, yet we have every reason to believe that these factors determine his character. Our system of justice should reflect an understanding that any of us could have been dealt a very different hand in life. In fact, it seems immoral not to recognize just how much luck is involved in morality itself.”
― Sam Harris, Free Will

“I loved the beauty
of your unspoken words,
hidden excitement behind your eyes.
I praised you by every breath that
exited my lungs,
with every shy smile on my lips.”
― Tatjana Ostojic, Cacophony of My Soul: When Love Becomes Poetry

“We are not self-caused little gods.”
― Sam Harris, Free Will

“How can we be “free” as conscious agents if everything that we consciously intend is caused by events in our brain that we do not intend and of which we are entirely unaware?”
― Sam Harris, Free Will