Reason's biological function is to preserve and promote life and to postpone its extinction as long as possible. Thinking and acting are not contrary to nature; they are, rather, the foremost features of man's nature. The most appropriate description of man as differentiated from nonhuman beings is: a being purposively struggling against the forces adverse to his life.
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Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, read more
Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, of degrees of awareness.
The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned read more
The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and read more
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Innovators and creators are persons who can to a higher degree than average accept the condition of aloneness. They are read more
Innovators and creators are persons who can to a higher degree than average accept the condition of aloneness. They are more willing to follow their own vision, even when it takes them far from the mainland of the human community. Unexplored places do not frighten them- or not, at any rate, as much as they frighten those around them. This is one of the secrets of their power. That which we call "genius" has a great deal to do with courage and daring, a great deal to do with nerve.
The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.
The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.
A kiss to or from a woman we love is a far too delicate pledge of affection to bear the read more
A kiss to or from a woman we love is a far too delicate pledge of affection to bear the gaze of strangers.
When we find a thinker reflecting or echoing an apparently erroneous, narrow, or even illogical thought that was popular or read more
When we find a thinker reflecting or echoing an apparently erroneous, narrow, or even illogical thought that was popular or authoritative in his time, we must never rule out the possibility that what we have discovered is not the limit of his vision but only an example of his deliberate rhetorical accommodation to reigning prejudice which he does not share but thinks it best not to expose.
Ignorance and superstition ever bear a close and mathematical relation to each other.
Ignorance and superstition ever bear a close and mathematical relation to each other.
