In strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way there- a direct approach to the object exhausts the read more

In strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way there- a direct approach to the object exhausts the attacker and hardens the resistance by compression, whereas an indirect approach loosens the defender's hold by upsetting his balance.

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.

Credulity is belief in slight evidence, with no evidence, or against evidence.

Credulity is belief in slight evidence, with no evidence, or against evidence.

There arises from a bad and inapt formation of words, a wonderful obstruction to the mind.

There arises from a bad and inapt formation of words, a wonderful obstruction to the mind.

General jackdaw culture, very little more than a collection of charming miscomprehensions, untargeted enthusiasms, and a general habit of skimming.

General jackdaw culture, very little more than a collection of charming miscomprehensions, untargeted enthusiasms, and a general habit of skimming.

The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are read more

The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are more fateful than the product.

Every failure teaches a man something, to wit, that he will probably fail again.

Every failure teaches a man something, to wit, that he will probably fail again.

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting
values, we must recognize the whole gamut of read more

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting
values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human
potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one
in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.

Some tribes [of monkeys] have taken to washing potatoes in the river before eating them, others have not. Sometimes migrating read more

Some tribes [of monkeys] have taken to washing potatoes in the river before eating them, others have not. Sometimes migrating groups of potato-washers meet non-washers, and the two groups watch each other's strange behavior with apparent bewilderment. But unlike the inhabitants of Lilliput, who fought holy crusades over the question at which end to break the egg, the potato-washing monkeys do not go to war with the non-washers, because the poor creatures have no language which would enable them to declare washing a diving commandment and eating unwashed potatoes a deadly heresy.