Giannis Quotes

Because I want you to know that your're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And I thought I should introduce myself. I mean, we should get to know each other. Since you're the girl I intend to marry. ~Mark Gianni

Reality can be entered through the main door or it can be slipped into through a window, which is much more fun.

«Quanto pesa una lacrima?» «Secondo: la lacrima di un bambino capriccioso pesa meno del vento, quella di un bambino affamato pesa più di tutta la terra.»

Well, yeah, you listen to a talking snake and there's gonna be trouble.

... ако трябва да научим децата да мислят, трябва първо да ги научим да измислят.

Zeno Gianni De la Croix seemed like the kind of man who would burn down the world for you.

Кристалният Джакомо, макар и във вериги, бил по-силен от него, защото истината е по-силна от всяко нещо, по-светла от деня, по-страшна от ураган.

The richness of life is hidden until relationships are only based on love instead of ego

A world without problems is an illusion, so is a world without solutions.

Ci hanno mescolato le anime e ormai abbiamo tutti gli stessi pensieri. Noi aspettiamo ma niente ci aspetta, né un’astronave né un destino. Se adesso cominciasse a piovere ti bagneresti, se questa notte farà freddo la tua gola ne soffrirà, se torni indietro a piedi nel buio dovrai farti coraggio, se continui a vagare sarai sempre più sfatto. Ogni fenomeno è in sé sereno. Chiama le cose perché restino con te fino all’ultimo.

Небето е на всички То е мое, когато го гледам, и на тоя до мен, и на тебе, на царя, на градинаря, на поета, на малкото бебе. Няма бедняк така беден, че да не го притежава. За лъва и за зайчето то е обща въздушна държава И никак не се изхабява, ако пръв го погледне съседа, не става по-малко красиво, за който последен го гледа. А щом е така - питат всички момиченца и момченца, - защо е небето цяло, а земята на малки парченца?

Hatred is the mask of the inept.

Qualunque cosa che dico è una mia citazione... quindi posso scrivere quello che voglio!

-¿Cómo se permite usted, más bien, sostener aún que existen niños malos? Póngase de rodillas y pida perdón.

It hurt to see my son turning into a stranger, a loner on a highway to self-destruction

-¿Qué espera de mi la gente? -Que tú no esperes nada de ella.

Certi tesori esistono soltanto per chi batte per primo una strada nuova.

Mientras hacen proyectos para el futuro, cae de nuevo la noche. La noche es así, no hace más que caer; hay que compadecerla.

By speaking with courtesy and respect, you are offering a wonderful gift to yourself, a useful embarrassment to the unkind, and a good example to bystanders.

In this city [Palermo] . . . it's the souls of the dead who bring presents to the children. . . . We go to the cemetery to ask the dead for toys.

Nel paese della bugia, la verità è una malattia.

Vorrei che tutti leggessero, non per diventare letterati o poeti, ma perché nessuno sia più schiavo.

Every thought, every word, every deed, every laugh, every cry, every pleasure, every lie. Everything is a part of our relentless attempt to cope with the fact of our very mortality.

Man uses action to keep away the wasps of thought and understanding. The man of relentless labour and business is the perfect escapist; escaping the world by diving too deep into the world.

Ето историята за един човечец, попаднал в града кой знае откъде. Трябвало да вземе, за да стигне до катедралата, най-напред трамвай номер три, а после номер едно. Въобразява си, че ще икономиса един билет, като вземе трамвай номер четири. Тази история би могла да помогне на децата да различават правилното събиране от невъзможното.

In my years as a priest and a scientist, I have been guided by two allied principles,” Gianni began. “One, that the universe was created for a purpose. And two, that the purpose for which it was created was guided by a loving Creator who desired that its purpose should be fulfilled.

Вярно, пощенските марки имат шарки много ярки, но лепилото по тях и до днеска не разбрах как го правят и защо винаги да има то вкус на тапа, вкус на ряпа! Няма ли един химик със чувствителен език да направи лепилата по-приятни за децата! И да имаме тогава една серия такава: хем със весели картинки, хем със вкус на боровинки!

All'uscita del paese si dividevano tre strade: una andava verso il mare, la seconda verso la città e la terza non andava in nessun posto. Martino lo sapeva perché l'aveva chiesto un po' a tutti e da tutti aveva avuto la stessa risposta: - Quella strada lì? Non va in nessun posto! E' inutile camminarci. - E fin dove arriva? - Non arriva da nessuna parte - Ma allora perché l'hanno fatta? - Ma non l'ha fatta nessuno, è sempre stata lì! - Ma nessuno è mai andato a vedere? - Oh sei una bella testa dura! Se ti diciamo che non c'è niente da vedere... - Non potete saperlo se non ci siete stati mai.

«Se gli compro una cometa il mio bambino chissà cosa combina.» E il mago: «Ma fatevi coraggio! I vostri bambini andranno sulle stelle, cominciate ad abituarli da piccoli.»

Before you think you are surrounded by idiots, make sure that you don’t suffer from narcissism.

Chissà perché quelli che hanno il cuore buono davvero si sforzano sempre di non farlo sapere agli altri.

Wisdom is not to know everything, but to know enough in order to stop taking yourself and the world too seriously. Wisdom could be the last and eternal Laughter!

No life is easy until one makes easiness a way of life.

- La natura è sleale, nella sua innocenza.

Ma un po' alla volta le cose andarono meglio, perchè tutto si può imparare, se si vuole.

They who mock philosophy by calling it useless and a waste of time are usually the ones who are in the greatest need of it.

To find a meaning or to create a meaning; there is no crucial difference as long as it takes away the unpleasant odors of the mortal existence.

Кто знает, почему люди с добрым сердцем всегда стараются скрыть это от других?

Mai lasciarsi spaventare dalla parola FINE.

Ако хората се задоволяваха с онова, което имат, щяха още да живеят по дърветата, като маймуните.

The modern man adores individualism as long as he has freedom, health, safety and wealth, but when he loses one of them turns to the state and to others demanding compensation and support.

the worrying gap that seems to persist between the spontaneity of reason and the passivity of sensibility can be overcome if one no longer thinks of nature exclusively in the deterministic terms of modern scientism;

When I arrive to a new place, it is no longer the place it was before my arrival. And I am not the same person either. I change it and it changes me on the spot. And together we give the world a slightly different face.

- Предаде ме - крещял търговецът и стискал юмруци. - Не очаквай обич, щом сееш омраза. Аз те спасих от смъртта, а ти искаше да ме убиеш. Исках да ми бъдеш брат, но ти искаше да бъдеш само господар. Сега ще видиш какво значи да имаш господар като теб самия.

Старите поговорки се смълчават. След малко най-старата подема отново: - Който иска мир, да се готви за война! Санитарите я чуват и й дават отвара от лайка, за да се успокои, после внимателно й обясняват, че който иска мир трябва да подготви мир, а не бомби,

— What should we do to reduce pain and misery in our world? — We should perhaps try to sit on the shoulders of the giants, as Isaac Newton nicely put it, so that we can see far and wide, and by the betterment of our vision we may cause the betterment of this confused world.

You put it in wrong," said Ilaria in a provocative tone. I didn't pay attention to her, but Gianni checked and with a look of reproof showed me that I had put the side without the mercury under his armpit. Attention: attention alone could help me. I put it in correctly, Ilaria appeared satisfied, she said: I noticed it. I nodded yes, good, I made a mistake. Why—I thought—must I do a thousand things at once, for almost ten years you've been forcing me to live like this, and I'm not completely awake yet, I haven't had my coffee, I haven't made breakfast.

I am not proposing any return to reality—to foundations, to the solidity of an ontology that has its feet on the ground—against the risks of rampant irrationalism, as it seems to me is happening today in certain returns to phenomenology, now combined with the attention of the cognitive sciences,

Oggi come oggi il professor Guidoberto parla e scrive correntemente in duecentoquattordici lingue e dialetti della Terra, imparati, si sa, soltanto nei momenti di ozio. La sua barba è diventata grigia, e sotto il suo cappello non è rimasta che una ciocca striminzita. Ogni mattina egli corre al Museo e si immerge nel suo studio prediletto. Per lui il "cippo" è il cuore di Perugia, anzi, dell'Umbria, anzi, dell'Universo. Quando qualcuno ammira la sua cultura linguistica e si profonde in lodi al suo cospetto, Guidoberto fa un cenno seccato con la mano e risponde: - Non dica sciocchezze; sono ignorante quanto lei. Lo sa che in trent'anni non sono riuscito a imparare l'etrusco? Quello che non si sa ancora è sempre più importante di quello che si sa.

It is a token of a healthy spirit to freely lament your loss and hold dearly the pain and sorrow that come with it, being at the same time careful not to cling to the past, let alone mentally live in the past. The sorrow and the pain are the unerring proofs that what you have lived was strong and real, and that nothing was in vain!

She who believes that science will inescapably solve humanity’s oldest problems and radically change the human lot in this world is the one who desperately needs a substitute for religion or magic. The true lover of science is she who is aware of its shortcomings and limitations, yet still cherishes it for whatever gifts it offers us.

The mindset to have? When you focus on the past, that's your ego. 'I did [this] in the past. I won [that] in the past.' When I focus on the future, that's my pride. 'I'm going to dominate.' That's your pride talking. I try to focus on the moment. In the present. That's humility. That's being humble. That's a skill I'm trying to master.

Ernest Hemingway wrote that happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing. However, if we are intelligent yet unhappy, then perhaps we are not intelligent enough. Socrates, Seneca, and Epictetus were intelligent enough to find happiness and contentment—even while drinking hemlock, cutting their veins, or living as crippled slaves.

Pentalogue: Disapprove, but without anger. Desire, but without envy. Gain, but without greed. Love, but without oppression. Rejoice, but without arrogance.

Better philosophize today for pleasure and joy than tomorrow because of necessity.

Eternity before and after us renders every painful effort for victory over other people absurd, almost ludicrous.

A definition of Life: an emerging Order that defies the lordship of Chaos.

You want to be proud for having come that far, but coming far doesn’t get you farther.

Consciousness is like the trailer of a movie; short, fragmentary, confused and deceptive. And the title of the movie? “The Subconscious and the wider world beyond”.

Humans refined the Art of deluding themselves from that epoch when self-consciousness emerged and became their most merciless enemy.

A brief yet reflective walking through a cemetery is enough to teach us more than all the philosophy of the world during a lifetime.

All these little things that delight us and are not indispensable for a living; only these are worth living for. A meaning hiding in the superfluous!

No life is easy until one makes “easiness” a way of life.

Many modern gurus encourage us to ‘be ourselves’. Perhaps it has not occurred to them that we can only ever be ourselves – nothing more, nothing less.

La notte scendeva troppo in fretta: scivolò e cadde.

Camminando la linea d'orizzonte ti dice sempre che tu sei disperso in un punto qualsiasi sulla linea della terra, come le cose che si vedono in distanza. Bisogna cercare un altro punto con cui fare asse, e immaginare che ci si arriverà una volta o l'altra. Bisogna sempre riuscire a immaginare quello che c'è là fuori, altrimenti non si potrebbe fare un solo passo.

The one who says, "I search only for the truth, and nothing but the truth" is a candidate for the tyrant's throne. The one who says, "I have found the truth" is already sitting on it.

Knowledge is akin to the Lernaean Hydra's heads, multiplying as soon as one head is severed. The more knowledge you attain, the more you find yourself searching for answers to new questions.

The only real freedom the human animal can achieve is the release from meanings. If we don’t have anywhere in particular to go, we can never be lost; if we have nothing to prove, we can never fail.

How do you understand that you have attained a healthy, inner peace and tranquillity? When nothing can make you angry or bring you bitter resentment, while your desire to get rid of the various evils is not at all diminished.

Science and Metaphysics show us part of what “is”. Logic and Epistemology help us interpret this part and understand how much of it we can really know. And finally, Ethics teaches us how to embrace this knowledge and how to cherry-pick only those things that will give us endurance and contentment in the long run, avoiding those that may keep our hearts buried in the ground; how to live well and decently and how to help the society function properly.

Il professor Grammaticus Il professor Grammaticus, tra Como e Battipaglia, udì gridare a gran voce: I-ta-glia! I-ta-glia! I-ta-glia! Alcuni sventatelli apparsi in fondo alla via in coro scandivano quell’errore di ortografia. Disse il bravo docente: – Signori, non così! Non lordate la Patria con quella brutta «g»! Al fardello dei mali che affliggono il paese non aggiungete, prego, ortografiche offese… Il professor Grammaticus fu tosto circondato, di ben altre scorrettezze e di pugni minacciato. Ma dai dintorni accorse una folla di persone amanti della grammatica e della buona educazione. Cacciarono i giovinastri e gridarono così: – Viva il nostro professore e l’Italia senza «g»!

Failures are like alarm clocks. Alarm clocks wake us up from our dreams and remind us that we have to go to work. Failures wake us up from our dreams and remind us that we have to live as we really are; mortal and fallible living beings.

Good morning, Sunshine,” Alessandro whispered, dragging the satiny soft object across the tip of her nose. Curiosity made her open her eyes. A rose. A blue rose. “I figured a single rose was safer than a dozen considering the massacre of the last blue roses I gave you,” he smiled sheepishly. “Happy birthday, darling.” Bree blinked and tried to remember what day it was. The fifteenth apparently. She groaned and pulled the blankets back over her head. She was officially thirty today. “Come on now, up we go,” Alessandro pulled the blankets off her face and grabbed her arm, bringing her up. “For my birthday, I want sleep,” she groaned. Gianni had suffered through a painful night as another tooth was starting to come in and thus his parents had suffered as well. “Nope, we’ve got a long day ahead of us. Let’s go.” “Why?” Bree yawned. “Because thirty years ago you were born and my life as I knew it would never be the same,” Alessandro explained, nuzzling her neck.

To insist that we always prefer reality over delusion is to deny reality and indulge in delusion. Nature’s process of Evolution “wants” its beloved children alive, productive and successful, regardless of what is true or false, reality or dream.

Death may be seen as a generous gift that is offered to us as a reward for our willingness to endure life and to play the game until the end. And if it’s true that after death there is only death, non-existence, that would be the holiest of all the blessings!

It is, indeed, very important for the moral philosopher to come up with new, illuminating theories about life and what is the best way to live it. But her toughest task is to live according to her teachings and to bring theory and practice as close as possible.

Human life lasts less than a moment in the temporal scale of eternity. An eternity that lies ahead of us, allowing us to “enjoy” the tranquility of our non-existence. Why not endure this tiny moment and make the most of something that will probably never happen again?

000000003 - Услуга титли. Някои хора живеят в постоянна неудовлетвореност, защото нямат титла или почетно звание, едно елементарно "инж.", което да добавят пред името си във визитната картичка. Идеята ми е телефонната услуга 000000003 да направи щастливи тези хора. Ако се почувстват особено депресирани и натъжени, да вземат телефонната слушалка и глас, изпълнен с уважение, с благоговение и почтителност да ги поздрави горе-долу така: "Добър вечер, кавалер на ордена на кончетата-люлки, вели офицер на печените круши..." и така нататък.

– Forse noi non li educhiamo bene i nostri bambini? – Mica tanto. Primo, non li ha abituate all'idea che dovranno viaggiare tra le stelle; secondo, non insegnate loro che sono cittadini dell'universo; terzo, non insegnate loro che la parola nemico, fuori dalla terra, non esiste.

Don’t let words come out of your mouth before their essential meaning first enters your brain. And don’t let these words and their meaning reach your brain before they pass through your heart. Every understanding and every expression should always receive blessings from a loving heart.

The Buddha promised redemption after thousands of deaths and rebirths, after millennia of suffering. Epicurus promised the end of all striving with a momentary, single death. Apostle Paul could not promise anything beyond a Russian roulette between eternal bliss and eternal damnation...

Little things were made to be a big deal: at one point center Thon Maker didn’t have an iPhone, messing up the team’s blue-bubble iPhone group chat. Kidd was upset about it and made the team run because Kidd felt that Maker not getting an iPhone was an example of the team not being united.

Don’t just tell children to seek gentleness and greatness, because they won’t understand what these words could mean. Instead, show them the lives of gentle and great people, and narrate their noble deeds. Children will immediately be carried by a longing for the same things, or for even better ones.

The highest form of laughter is the laughter of understanding. When we realize that there is no real, terminal, universal or personal goal to be achieved, a huge burden is lifted from our hearts. Laughing at the world and at ourselves seems then the only rational course we can take. And the only serious.

A good deed has to do with the results, altruism with the intentions. The good deed is, of course, what matters for the person in need or for society. After all pure altruism is rare and without a kind of benefit for the benefactor – even if that is just a pleasant feeling – charity would be almost impossible.

I say “I am free”, but what I really mean is “I feel free”; I say “I am unfortunate”, but what I really mean is “I feel unfortunate”; I say “I am powerful”, but what I really mean is “I feel powerful”; I say “the World” , but what I really mean is “my world within the World”. What “I am” will always be a mystery to me.

Idol worship” is so deeply ingrained in the human brain synapses that it would be almost impossible to be bereft of it. And in absence of an external icon we are always going to look for it inside us. In fact, in many regions of the world this process is already in progress resulting in the pandemic of “self-admiration” and “self-deification” of our modern times.

A stone thrown into a pond sets in motion concentric waves that spread out on the surface of the water, and their reverberation has an effect on the water lilies and reeds, the paper boat, and the buoys of the fishermen at various distances. All these objects are just there for themselves, enjoying their tranquility, when they are wakened to life, as it were, and are compelled to react and to enter into contact with one another. Other invisible vibrations spread into the depths, in all directions, as the stone falls and brushes the algae, scaring the fish and continually causing new molecular movements. When it then touches the bottom, it stirs up the mud and bumps into things that have rested there forgotten, some of which are dislodged, others buried once again in the sand.

In Love we fall and in God we trust. The two have something special in common: people adore both conditions despite their irrationality or, to be more precise, because of their irrationality. For what is irrational keeps us often effectively in distance from the pure knowledge and perception of things. A purity that, exactly as pure heroin, can put us in grave danger, especially in high doses.

Many ask: “Why are we so insincere, why are we so hypocrites?”. Well, it is because this is how human nature works. If there was a time and a place where human beings were 100% of the time honest, who always said what they had in mind and who didn’t care to cover their shortcomings by displaying a better persona than the “real” one, it is long since gone, wiped out from the relentless force of natural selection.

A pleasing paradox — The more frequently we contemplate our death, the less dominant its effect in our lives becomes. Like King Mithridates, who used to take small amounts of various poisons to render himself invulnerable to them, so can we diminish the looming shadow of our certain death by welcoming small doses of it – the thought of it- in our daily mental pattern. Paradoxically, it makes life more intense, more valuable, more satisfying.

Homo Defessus – Never before in human history has so many people considered their everyday tiredness (because they are so busy and have so much to do) as a badge of honor. We are living in the era of Homo Defessus, the exhausted man. I wonder if the historians of the distant future (if there will be any) will look back to our epoch and decide to give it a name: “The Dark Ages”, because for the first time humans, not only deliberately sought exhaustion, but they were also convinced that this mentality is their pride, an indisputable token of greatness.

Homo defessus — Never before in human history have so many people considered their everyday tiredness (because they are so busy and have so much to do) as a badge of honor. We are living in the era of Homo defessus, the exhausted man. I wonder if historians of the distant future (if there will be any) will look back at our epoch and decide to give it a name: “The Second Dark Ages,” because for the first time, humans not only deliberately sought exhaustion, but were also convinced that this mentality was their pride, an indisputable token of greatness.

Il sogno segreto di Sebastiano non è tanto l'amore eterno, la perfetta irraggiungibile intesa in ogni aspetto possibile della coppia (faccenda anche noiosa), ma una salutare amicizia, un inossidabile sodalizio fraterno. Guarda Duccio nuotare al largo mentre Checco si tiene più a riva facendo il morto. L'amore è essersi simpatici, pantofole sdrucite, baruffe, sacche di noia in agguato. Tutto qui. Una cosa bella, al limite dello sdolcinato - ma detta dal compagno non era sdolcinata -, che Duccio gli ha detto qualche mese fa è stata: "Ti sceglierei ancora." Tutto qui.

El nen que escolta un conte d'una veu familiar està en les millors condicions per trobar-se amb la llengua materna. Sent i reconeix paraules, estructures, vehicles de la pròpia llengua que seria difícil d'oferir-li de manera sistemàtica. Noms i verbs, preposicions i proposicions venen a trobar-lo de la manera més afectuosa. En qualsevol altra situació no toleraria trobar-se confinat al rol d'oient. Escolta respostes breus i precises que ha demanat sobre tota mena de problemes tècnics, científics, astronòmics, etcètera. Però només davant d'un conte està disposat a escoltar més estona. I el que interioritza no són només (o potser no són tant) els fets que conté el conte, sinó les paraules que el constitueixen. En aquest aspecte, la llengua, que és el vehicle, actua en ell com a finalitat.

En una fàbrica de cotxes no és indispensable que als torners els agradi Beethoven, que els tècnics llegeixin assaig o juguin al tenis, més enllà de la mesura en què aquestes ocupacions es puguin concebre com a "distraccions", moments de "relax" entre una cadena de muntatge i l'altra. Però l'ideal educatiu del departament de recursos humans d'una gran empresa, privada o pública, no és necessàriament el millor ideal educatiu. Un home complet és una altra cosa. I d'aquesta "altra cosa" en formen part activitats que no formen part del càlcul del salari ni de les estadístiques de productivitat, començant pel compromís polític i social. Els contes, com la música, com la poesia, etcètera, pertanyen a la vida de l'home lliure, de l'home complet. Fins i tot poden representar una defensa contra l'esclavitud total.

L'amore coniugale. Che è più indefinibile dell'amore in sé, e dell'innamorarsi, la cosa più semplice del mondo, la più facilmente gestibile supportata da regole quasi infallibili. L'amore "in casa", come lo chiama talvolta per scherzo Duccio, va coltivato, accudito, salvaguardato. Mai abbassare la guardia. Non tanto perché la sciattezza è sempre in agguato, e non c'entrano, se non in parte, le pantofole sfondate, la tuta da ginnastica sporchiccia indossata tra le pareti domestiche, il famoso tubetto di dentifricio mal strizzato, no, queste cose, seppur a volte sgradevoline, hanno un loro potere d'innocuo intenerimento. La vera trascuratezza è tornare a casa e sbuffare perché l'altro non ha svuotato la lavatrice - né tantomeno ci ha pensato l'imbambolata filippina part-time - e rinfacciarlo con segreta soddisfazione: "E' mai possibile che devo fare tutto io in questa casa?" La sciattezza, l'incuranza, sta nell'allevare quel mostro a più teste di nome risentimento.

The equivalent of humans searching for their “real selves” is small cats chasing their tails. For it seems to me that there is no “real self”. We humans are ever-shifting, dynamic entities and not unchangeable, rigid selves. And even if there were a kind of centrum within us that we could call an “inner self”, we would never reach down to it, because of our natural biases about what we are and what our place in the world is. When we look in the mirror, we don’t see what we are, but we see what we want to be. Yet, as elusive as the search for self is, so clear is what we have to do on earth: to love and take care of each other. Life is too short and too miraculous to waste it on something other than love and joy!The equivalent of humans searching for their “real selves” is small cats chasing their tails. For I believe that there is no “real self”. We humans are ever-shifting, dynamic entities and not unchangeable, rigid selves. And even if there were a kind of centrum within us that we could call an “inner self”, we would never reach down to it, because of our natural biases about what we are and what our place in the world is. When we look in the mirror, we don’t see what we are, but we see what we want to be. Yet, as elusive as the search for self is, so clear is what we have to do on earth: to love and take care of each other. Life is too short and too miraculous to waste it on something other than love and joy!

DEONTOLOGY AND CONCEQUENTIALISM, A NOVEL APPROACH: Consequentialism and Deontology (Deontological Ethics) are two contrasting categories of Normative Ethics, the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental principles that determine the morality of human actions (or non-actions). Their supposed difference is that while Consequentialism determines if an action is morally right or wrong by examining its consequences, Deontology focuses on the action itself, regardless of its consequences. To the hypothetical question “Should I do this man a little injustice, if by this I could save the whole humanity from torture and demise?”, the philosopher Immanuel Kant, a pure deontologist (absolutist) answers: “Fiat justitia, pereat mundus” (Do justice even if the whole world would perish). Superficially, it seems that a decent deontologist don’t care about consequences whatsoever. His/her one and only duty is to invariably obey to pre-existing, universal moral rules without exceptions: “do not kill”, “do not lie”, “do not use another human as a means to an end”, and so on. At this point I would like to present my thesis on this subject. The central idea here is that deontological ethics only appears to be indifferent to the consequences of an action. In fact, it is only these very consequences that determine what our moral rules and ethical duties should be. For example, the moral law “do not kill”, has its origin to the dire consequences that the killing of another human being brings about; for the victim (death), the perpetrator (often imprisonment or death) and for the whole humanity (collapse of society and civilization). Let us discuss the well-worn thought experiment of the mad axeman asking a mother where their young children are, so he can kill them. We suppose that the mother knows with 100% certainty that she can mislead him by lying and she can save her children from certain death (once again: supposing that she surely knows that she can save her children ONLY by lying, not by telling the truth or by avoiding to answer). In this thought experiment the hard deontologist would insist that it is immoral to lie, even if that would lead to horrible consequences. But, I assert that this deontological inflexibility is not only inhuman and unethical, it is also outrightly hypocritical. Because if the mother knows that their children are going to be killed if she tells the truth (or does not answer) and they are going to be saved if she tells a harmless lie, then by telling the truth she disobeys the moral law “do not kill/do not cause the death of an innocent”, which is much worse than the moral rule “do not lie”. The fact that she does not kill her children with her own hands is completely irrelevant. She could have saved them without harming another human, yet she chose not to. So the absolutist deontologist chooses actively to disobey a much more important moral law, only because she is not the immediate cause, but a cause via a medium (the crazy axeman in this particular thought experiment). So here are the two important conclusions: Firstly, Deontology in normative ethics is in reality a “masked consequentialism”, because the origin of a moral law is to be found in its consequences e.g. stealing is generally morally wrong, because by stealing, someone is deprived of his property that may be crucial for his survival or prosperity. Thus, the Deontology–Consequentialism dichotomy is a false one. And secondly, the fact that we are not the immediate “vessel” by which a moral rule is broken, but we nevertheless create or sustain a “chain of events” that will almost certainly lead to the breaking of a moral law, does surely not absolve us and does not give us the right to choose the worst outcome. Mister Immanuel Kant would avoid doing an innocent man an injustice, yet he would choose to lead billions of innocent people to agonizing death.