Quotations and Literature Forum

"It's all relative"

I found it to be a fairly commonly used expression. Do you possibly have a specific context that it was said in?

"Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic, and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress, driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions. Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind."
~Dalai Lama

Some say that there are no degrees of truth, that there is either truth or not truth. This is true only in the most superficial, concrete minded sense. In fact, there is only truth and there is no not-truth. But in the world of manifestation everything is relative, and truth is relative because our perception and understanding is relative.
http://www.uppertriad.org/Volume4/right471s.htm

Hi! Thanks for the quotes - they're really good. No I don't have a context for it, I was just curious!

Oh, well, in that case here's some more:

Moe: Am I really that ugly?
Carl: Moe it's all relative. Is Lenny really that dumb? Is Barney that drunk? Is Homer that lazy, bald and fat?
~The Simpson’s
http://www.lardlad.com/assets/quotes/se ... lian.shtml

Tom Scoggins: One night seems like a week.
Preacher: Relativity.
Tom Scoggins: What?
Preacher: Einstein's theory of relativity. Put your hands on a hot pan, a second can seem like an hour. Grab hold of a hot woman, an hour can seem like a second, it's all relative.
Tom Scoggins: You know, I spent four years at Cal Tech, and that's the best physics explanation I've ever heard.
~from the movie Deep Blue Sea (1999)
http://www.atlyrics.com/quotes/d/deepbluesea.html

The beautiful people, the beautiful people, it's all relative to the size of your steeple."
~Marilyn Manson

It's All Relative...
Following Smith's physical, Dr. Bernard sent his patient a bill. A month went by without a remittance, the office sent the first letter... another bill, and then another, and then a fourth, but no payment came...
Finally he sent Smith a pathetic letter, claiming desperately strained circumstances and enclosing a shot of his infant daughter. On the back of the snapshot he wrote, "The reason I desperately need the money you owe me!"
Barely a week later a response from Smith arrived in the mail.
Dr. Bernard ripped it open eagerly, and found himself holding a picture of a gorgeous woman in a full length mink coat. On the back of the photograph the patient had scrawled, "The reason I can't pay!"
http://www2.inhis.com/HumorNew/humor.asp?id=3891

Evil is that which you call evil. Yet even that I love, for it is only through that which you call evil that you can know good. I do not love hot more than cold, high more than low, left more than right. It's all relative. It is all part of what is.
~ God "Conversations with God (Book 1)" through Neale Donald Walsch (adapted)
http://www.homestead.com/Fortress_of_in ... pirit.html

It’s All Relative
http://smallgroups.com/dynamics/0696news/edit0696.htm