It is not sheer malice that pricks our ears to evil reports about our fellow men. For there are frequent read more

It is not sheer malice that pricks our ears to evil reports about our fellow men. For there are frequent moments when we feel lower than the lowest of mankind, and this opinion of ourselves isolates us. Hence the rumor that all flesh is base comes almost as a message of hope. It breaks down the wall that has kept us apart, and we feel one with humanity.

All weakness tends to corrupt, and impotence corrupts absolutely.

All weakness tends to corrupt, and impotence corrupts absolutely.

Any man who inflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.

Any man who inflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.

It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.

It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.

The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity.

The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity.

We envy those whose possessions or achievements are a reflection on our own. They are our neighbors and equals. It read more

We envy those whose possessions or achievements are a reflection on our own. They are our neighbors and equals. It is they, above all who make plain the nature of our failure.

The desire to belong is partly a desire to lose oneself.

The desire to belong is partly a desire to lose oneself.

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.

Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex read more

Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized.