A line runs from the meditations of the heart to the words of the mouth. The meditations are not clear read more

A line runs from the meditations of the heart to the words of the mouth. The meditations are not clear to us until the mouth utters its words. If what the mouth utters is unclear or foolish or mendacious, it must be that the meditations are the same. But the line runs both ways. The words of the mouth will become the meditations of the heart, and the habit of loose talk loosens the fastenings of our understanding.

...brainpower is the scarcest commodity and the only one of real value.

...brainpower is the scarcest commodity and the only one of real value.

On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone I walk with him 'til morning. Without him I feel his read more

On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone I walk with him 'til morning. Without him I feel his arms around me, and when I lose my way, I close my eyes and he has found me.

The more adaptability exists for a given kind of decision, the less risky it is to make plans for the read more

The more adaptability exists for a given kind of decision, the less risky it is to make plans for the future, and therefore the more likely it is that more people will make more plans in such areas.

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement read more

To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement is possible, we need only refer to a passage in Engel's most famous book. Here, in 1878, Engels apodictically announced that military weapons are "now so perfected that no further progress of any revolutionizing influence is any longer possible." Henceforth "all further [technological] progress is by and large indifferent for land warfare. The age of evolution is in this regard essentially closed." This complacent conclusion shows in what the achievement of the innovator consists: he accomplishes what other people believe to be unthinkable and unfeasible.

One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. read more

One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often manifests itself in upholding the word against the evidence of the eyes.Children, savages, and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.

Our dreams drench us in senses, and senses steps us again in dreams.

Our dreams drench us in senses, and senses steps us again in dreams.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once read more

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.