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Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. read more
Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. He is both an unfinished animal and an unfinished man. It is this incurable unfinishedness which sets man apart from other living things. For, in the attempt to finish himself, man becomes a creator. Moreover, the incurable unfinishedness keeps man perpetually immature, perpetually capable of learning and growing.
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.
The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.
The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.
The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.
The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
...the integrative tendencies of the individual are incomparably more dangerous than his self-assertive tendencies.
...the integrative tendencies of the individual are incomparably more dangerous than his self-assertive tendencies.
Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
Brain-washing starts in the cradle.
Brain-washing starts in the cradle.
