The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth--that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.
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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.
The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly read more
The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.
For piety lies not in being often seen turning a veiled head to stones, nor in approaching every altar, nor read more
For piety lies not in being often seen turning a veiled head to stones, nor in approaching every altar, nor in lying prostrate...before the temples of the gods, nor in sprinkling altars with the blood of beasts...but rather in being able to look upon all things with a mind at peace.
Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.
Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.
The Darwinian theory is in principle capable of explaining life. No other theory that has ever been suggested is in read more
The Darwinian theory is in principle capable of explaining life. No other theory that has ever been suggested is in principle capable of explaining life.
Conservatism is sometimes a symptom of sterility. Those who have nothing in them that can grow and develop must cling read more
Conservatism is sometimes a symptom of sterility. Those who have nothing in them that can grow and develop must cling to what they have in beliefs, ideas and possessions. The sterile radical, too, is basically conservative. He is afraid to let go of the ideas and beliefs he picked up in his youth lest his life be seen as empty and wasted.
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something read more
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something we already have. It is a search for a final and irrefutable demonstration that our absolute truth is indeed the one and only truth. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others.
Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.
It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.
