Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts...

Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts...

Whatever begins to be tranquil is gobbled up by something not tranquil.

Whatever begins to be tranquil is gobbled up by something not tranquil.

We often despise what is most useful to us.

We often despise what is most useful to us.

The best way to turn a woman's head is to tell her she has a beautiful profile.

The best way to turn a woman's head is to tell her she has a beautiful profile.

In human affairs, the best stimulus for running ahead is to have something we must run from.

In human affairs, the best stimulus for running ahead is to have something we must run from.

It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper read more

It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper aim, is most productive of evil. It behooves the well-intentioned, therefore, vigorously to watch the tendency of even their most highly prized institutions, since that which was established in the interests of the right, may so easily become the agent of the wrong.

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

The stupider the peasant, the better the horse understands him.

The stupider the peasant, the better the horse understands him.

Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that read more

Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that a special warning strip of land around the edge of a baseball field lets a player know that he is about to run into a concrete wall when he is preoccupied with catching the ball. The wider that strip of land and the more sensitive the player is to the changing composition of the ground under his feet as he pursues the ball, the more effective the warning. Romanticizing or lionizing as "individualistic" those people who disregard social cues and inducements increases the danger of head-on collisions with inherent social limits. Decrying various forms of social disapproval is in effect narrowing the warning strip.