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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The real cause of personal existence is not the favor of the Almighty, but the sexual love of one's earthly read more
The real cause of personal existence is not the favor of the Almighty, but the sexual love of one's earthly parents.
The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often read more
The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.
There is nothing to be found in a beehive that is not submerged in a bee. And yet you can read more
There is nothing to be found in a beehive that is not submerged in a bee. And yet you can search a bee forever with cyclotron and fluoroscope, and you will never find the hive.
You can shoot the tiger, or stay out of his way, but you cannot pronounce him a vegetarian.
You can shoot the tiger, or stay out of his way, but you cannot pronounce him a vegetarian.
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.
Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own.
Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own.
It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows read more
It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous...The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, read more
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.
The individual is not a killer, but the group is, and by identifying with it the individual is transformed into read more
The individual is not a killer, but the group is, and by identifying with it the individual is transformed into a killer.
