Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.
Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.
The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it read more
The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe. It penetrates into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients.
A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an read more
We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges.
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.
The demands of unbounded individualism need to be weighed in the light of inherent social constraints which can only change read more
The demands of unbounded individualism need to be weighed in the light of inherent social constraints which can only change their form but cannot be eliminated without eliminating civilization.
Scientists tell us that the fastest animal on earth, with a top speed of 120 ft/sec, is a cow that read more
Scientists tell us that the fastest animal on earth, with a top speed of 120 ft/sec, is a cow that has been dropped out of a helicopter.
I live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as
to shun myself.
I live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as
to shun myself.
Under normal conditions the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which read more
Under normal conditions the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which he concentrates are just those which he believes can be both stated and solved within the existing scientific tradition.
