The most basic inherent constraint is that neither time nor wisdom are free goods available in unlimited quantity. This means that in social processes, as in economic processes, it is not only impossible to attain perfection but irrational to seek perfection- or even to seek the "best possible" result in each separate instance.
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Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, deprecating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a read more
Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, deprecating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
It is better to correct your own faults than those of another.
It is better to correct your own faults than those of another.
I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.
I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.
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.
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
Who speaks reason to his fellow man bestows it upon them.
Who speaks reason to his fellow man bestows it upon them.
Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a read more
Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. ('What else could it be?') I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and I am told some of the ancient Greeks thought the brain functions like a catapult. At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.
The awareness of their individual blemishes and shortcomings inclines the frustrated to detect ill will and meanness in their fellow read more
The awareness of their individual blemishes and shortcomings inclines the frustrated to detect ill will and meanness in their fellow men. Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves.
