Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction read more

Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to publick opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem the true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, and the wrong the right.

Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.

Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.

The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly read more

The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.

It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.

It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.

Civilized man has always had a great inclination to read his conceptions and feelings into the mind of primitive man; read more

Civilized man has always had a great inclination to read his conceptions and feelings into the mind of primitive man; but he has only a limited capacity for understanding the latter's undeveloped mental life and for interpreting, as it were, his nature.

Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.

Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.

All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them, read more

All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them, irrespective of the doctrine they preach and the program they project, breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; all of them are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity in certain departments of life; all of them demand blind faith and singlehearted allegiance.

It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress. In read more

It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress. In the process by which opinion is formed, it is very probable that, by the time any view becomes a majority view, it is no longer the best view: somebody will already have advanced beyond the point which the majority have reached. It is because we do not yet which of the many competing new opinions will prove itself the best that we wait until it has gained sufficient support.

Man is the animal that intends to shoot himself out into interplanetary space, after having given up on the problem read more

Man is the animal that intends to shoot himself out into interplanetary space, after having given up on the problem of an efficient way to get himself five miles to work and back each day.