Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt.

Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt.

A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.

A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.

Most people would find it bizarre to speak of tolerating blonds. For whatever reason, hair color has not been a read more

Most people would find it bizarre to speak of tolerating blonds. For whatever reason, hair color has not been a basis of tribal identity or group politics in our culture; the concept of tolerance is never invoked in this context because there is too obviously nothing to tolerate. In a rational culture, the same would be true of race, ethnicity, and the like.

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.

A man is but what he knows.

A man is but what he knows.

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own read more

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own image. Rather does he create Him in the image of his cravings and dreams- in the image of what man wants to be. God making could be part of the process by which a society realizes its aspirations: it first embodies them in the conception of a particular God, and then proceeds to imitate that God. The confidence requisite for attempting the unprecedented is most effectively generated by the fiction that in realizing the new we are imitating rather than originating. Our preoccupation with heaven can be part of an effort to find precedents for the unprecedented.

The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he should read more

The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he should set about to achieve, but just what to do with life? The answer, that he should order his life so that he can find the greatest happiness in it, is more a practical question, similar to that of how a man should spend his weekend, then a metaphysical proposition as to what is the mystic purpose of his life in the scheme of the universe.

There's a very fine line between a groove and a rut; a fine line between eccentrics and people who are read more

There's a very fine line between a groove and a rut; a fine line between eccentrics and people who are just plain nuts. - "Prisoners of their Hairdos".

The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbors as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto read more

The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbors as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant of others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.