Bernard Williams
Bernard Williams
Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, FBAwas an English moral philosopher. His publications include Problems of the Self, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Shame and Necessity, and Truth and Truthfulness. He was knighted in 1999...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth21 September 1929
life moving
Few things move as quietly as the future.
love summer night
If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.
spring lord april-and-spring
The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
disappointment regret failure
If we try and fail, we have temporary disappointments. But if we do not try at all, we have permanent regrets.
success rose victory
We may pass violets looking for roses. We may pass contentment looking for victory.
action belief illusion
We must escape our illusions of correctness to understand the actions and beliefs of others.
good-morning hope good-day
There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.
inspirational positive inspiring
Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.
desire dominated experience expression form guilt hide occasion occupied particular people rather sees shame sink space surface wish
In my experience of shame, the other sees all of me and all through me, even if the occasion of shame is on my surface -- for instance, in my appearance; and the expression of shame, in general, as well as in the particular form of it that is embarrassment, is not just the desire to hide, or to hide my face, but the desire to disappear, not to be there. It is not even the wish, as people say, to sink through the floor, but rather the wish that the space occupied by me should be instantaneously empty. With guilt it is not like this. I am more dominated by the thought that even if I disappeared, it would come with me.