The thoughts of Plato and Machiavelli... don't seem quite enough armor for a world beset with splitting the atoms, urban guerrillas, nineteen varieties of psychotherapists, amplified guitars, napalm, computers, astronauts, and an atmosphere polluted simultaneously with auto exhaust and TV commercials.
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The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is
truly free. First, society begins by read more
The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is
truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If
this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, the
finish by loading honors on your head.
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, read more
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games to which it is most attached is called, ''Keep tomorrow dark,'' and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) ''Cheat the Prophet.'' The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.
Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.
Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough read more
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. - Life and Letters of Thomas Huxley.
The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human read more
The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human nature. The mob and the intellectuals derived from it the vision of a Golden Age which would arrive without fail once the noble human race could act according to its whims.
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
What one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity.
What one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity.
Society is only possible on these terms, that the individual finds therein a strengthening of his own ego and his read more
Society is only possible on these terms, that the individual finds therein a strengthening of his own ego and his own will.
Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.
Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.
