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.
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The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.
The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.
...aesthetic values are changed under the influence of sexual emotion; from the lover's point of view many things are beautiful read more
...aesthetic values are changed under the influence of sexual emotion; from the lover's point of view many things are beautiful which are unbeautiful from the point of view of him who is not a lover, and the greater the degree to which the lover is swayed by his passion the greater the extent to which his normal aesthetic standard is liable to be modified.
Let us face ourselves bravely as we are. For only a philosophy that recognizes reality can lead us into true read more
Let us face ourselves bravely as we are. For only a philosophy that recognizes reality can lead us into true happiness, and only that kind of philosophy is sound and healthy.
The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but read more
The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.
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.
Facts per se can neither prove nor refute anything. Everything is decided by the interpretation and explanation of the facts, read more
Facts per se can neither prove nor refute anything. Everything is decided by the interpretation and explanation of the facts, by the ideas and the theories.
To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.
To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.
Passion holds up the botton of the world, while genius paints its roof.
Passion holds up the botton of the world, while genius paints its roof.
No child is born with a really cold heart, and it is only in proportion as we lose that youthful read more
No child is born with a really cold heart, and it is only in proportion as we lose that youthful heart that we lose the inner warmth in ourselves.
