In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes- courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, and so on- can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion, even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.
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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.
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.
Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which read more
Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.
The three-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn read more
The three-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.
In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued.
In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued.
In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty.
In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty.
Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind. The difference lies not in the respective natures of read more
Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind. The difference lies not in the respective natures of savagery and civilization, but in their attendant circumstances, institutions, and so forth. The difference, therefore, does not operate in every sense, but it does in most of them. Even the most civilized peoples, in short, can be fired with passionate hatred for each other.
The natural inclination of a child is to take pleasure in the use of the mind no less than of read more
The natural inclination of a child is to take pleasure in the use of the mind no less than of the body. The child's primary business is learning. It is also the primary entertainment. To retain that orientation into adulthood, so that consciousness is not a burden but a joy, is the mark of the successfully developed human being.
