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    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.

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  6  /  13  

In history the way of annihilation is invariably prepared by inward degeneration, by decrease of life. Only then can a read more

In history the way of annihilation is invariably prepared by inward degeneration, by decrease of life. Only then can a shock from outside put an end to the whole.

by Jakob Burckhardt Found in: Society Quotes,
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  11  /  11  

Scientific progress consists in the development of new concepts.

Scientific progress consists in the development of new concepts.

by Ernst Mayr Found in: Society Quotes,
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  8  /  21  

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.

by Arthur Koestler Found in: Society Quotes,
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  13  /  18  

The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, and ordered read more

The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, and ordered their estate.

by Cecil F. Alexander Found in: Society Quotes,
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  41  /  37  

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best read more

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.

by Aaron Burr Found in: Society Quotes,
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  7  /  8  

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.

by Eric Hoffer Found in: Society Quotes,
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  18  /  32  

Almost everyone who has read history in a more than casual manner knows that when the great figure of God read more

Almost everyone who has read history in a more than casual manner knows that when the great figure of God appears in a controversy, the shooting cannot be far off.

by Stewart H. Holbrook Found in: Society Quotes,
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  9  /  12  

The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.

The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.

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  24  /  19  

...most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.

...most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.

by Ernst Mayr Found in: Society Quotes,
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