We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
The meaning of life is not to be discovered only after death in some hidden, mysterious realm; on the contrary, read more
The meaning of life is not to be discovered only after death in some hidden, mysterious realm; on the contrary, it can be found by eating the succulent fruit of the Tree of Life and by living in the here and now as fully and creatively as we can.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the read more
Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in.
Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding
Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding
All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not read more
All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them.
People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.
People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.
The rout is Folly's circle, which she draws
With magic wand. So potent is the spell,
That read more
The rout is Folly's circle, which she draws
With magic wand. So potent is the spell,
That none decoy'd into that fatal ring,
Unless by Heaven's peculiar grace, escape.
There we grow early gray, but never wise.
He who does not bellow out the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and read more
He who does not bellow out the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, read more
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.
