It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.
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The well-adjusted make poor prophets.
The well-adjusted make poor prophets.
He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.
He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.
The hardest part of gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.
The hardest part of gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.
The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.
Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild harmless, rather read more
Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters.
To believe that if we could but have this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization read more
To believe that if we could but have this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the cause of our unhappiness is in our inadequate and blemished selves. Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness.
Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and read more
Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.
Science itself, therefore, may be regarded as a minimal problem, consisting of the completest possible presentment of facts with the read more
Science itself, therefore, may be regarded as a minimal problem, consisting of the completest possible presentment of facts with the least possible expenditure of thought.
