But it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

But it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

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.

Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.

Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.

Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness read more

Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.

Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to read more

Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.

It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice read more

It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense which cramps and restrains our nature.

He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is read more

He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.

Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of read more

Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of phenomenological adequacy, inner consistency, and practical-moral consequences. Reason may err, but it can be moral. If we must err, let it be on the side of our creativity, our freedom, our betterment.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.