I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has
endowed us with sense, reason, and read more

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has
endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to
forgo their use.

In short, intelligence, considered in what seems to be its
original feature, is the faculty of manufacturing artificial
read more

In short, intelligence, considered in what seems to be its
original feature, is the faculty of manufacturing artificial
objects, especially tools to make tools, and of indefinitely
urging the manufacture.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-- and a read more

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-- and a lot of courage- -to move in the opposite direction.

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.

The growth of the intellect is spontaneous in every expansion.
The mind that grows could not predict the times, read more

The growth of the intellect is spontaneous in every expansion.
The mind that grows could not predict the times, the means, the
mode of that spontaneity. God enters by a private door into
every individual.

For the eye of the intellect "sees in all objects what it brought
with it the means of seeing."
read more

For the eye of the intellect "sees in all objects what it brought
with it the means of seeing."
- Thomas Carlyle,

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide

Works of the intellect are great only by comparison with each
other.

Works of the intellect are great only by comparison with each
other.

They say that the more a person learns, the more they find there is to learn. Therefore the smarter you read more

They say that the more a person learns, the more they find there is to learn. Therefore the smarter you think you are, the dumber you really are.