Ideals are very often formed in the effort to escape from the hard task of dealing with facts, which is the function of science and art. There is no process by which to reach an ideal. There are no tests by which to verify it. It is therefore impossible to frame a proposition about an ideal which can be proved or disproved. It follows that the use of ideals is to be strictly limited to proper cases, and that the attempt to use ideals in social discussion does not deserve serious consideration.
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The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.
The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he should read more
The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he should set about to achieve, but just what to do with life? The answer, that he should order his life so that he can find the greatest happiness in it, is more a practical question, similar to that of how a man should spend his weekend, then a metaphysical proposition as to what is the mystic purpose of his life in the scheme of the universe.
Avoid making irrevocable decisions when tired or hungry.
Avoid making irrevocable decisions when tired or hungry.
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.
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the read more
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
It is a juvenile notion that a society needs a lofty purpose and a shining vision to achieve much. Both read more
It is a juvenile notion that a society needs a lofty purpose and a shining vision to achieve much. Both in the marketplace and on the battlefield men who set their hearts on toys have often displayed unequal initiative and drive. And one must be ignorant of the creative process to look for a close correspondence between motive and achievement in the world of thought and imagination.
It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of read more
It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of life and turn it into an orthodoxy which stifles all stirrings of originality.
Yield to temptation; it may not pass your way again.
Yield to temptation; it may not pass your way again.
