Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals, that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking.
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Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.
Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin read more
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self.
Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self.
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, read more
Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, by the authority of men counted great in philosophy, and then by general consent.
Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.
Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to read more
Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.
We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical read more
We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.
