We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on.
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Avoid self-righteousness like the devil- nothing is so self-blinding.
Avoid self-righteousness like the devil- nothing is so self-blinding.
Evolution as such is no longer a theory for a modern author. It is as much a fact as that read more
Evolution as such is no longer a theory for a modern author. It is as much a fact as that the earth revolves around the sun.
Unbounded morality ultimately becomes counterproductive even in terms of the same moral principles being sought. The law of diminishing returns read more
Unbounded morality ultimately becomes counterproductive even in terms of the same moral principles being sought. The law of diminishing returns applies to morality.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him
absolutely no good.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him
absolutely no good.
[They say] "We do not know how this is, but we know that God can do it." You poor fools! read more
[They say] "We do not know how this is, but we know that God can do it." You poor fools! God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so.
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals read more
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely read more
Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.
The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know read more
The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.
Fundamentalist religion is the most pervasive vision of central planning, though many fundamentalists may oppose human central planning as a read more
Fundamentalist religion is the most pervasive vision of central planning, though many fundamentalists may oppose human central planning as a usurpation or "playing God." This is consistent with the fundamentalist vision of an unconstrained God and a highly constrained man.
