The man who will follow precedent, but never create one, is merely an obvious example of the routineer. You find read more

The man who will follow precedent, but never create one, is merely an obvious example of the routineer. You find him desperately numerous in the civil service, in the official bureaus. To him government is something given as unconditionally, as absolutely as ocean or hill. He goes on winding the tape that he finds. His imagination has rarely extricated itself from under the administrative machine to gain any sense of what a human, temporary contraption the whole affair is. What he thinks is the heavens above him is nothing but the roof.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

Every year of my life I grow more convinced that it is wisest and best to fix our attention on read more

Every year of my life I grow more convinced that it is wisest and best to fix our attention on the beautiful and the good, and dwell as little as possible on the evil and the false.

To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.

To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.

I'm trying not to look too far ahead. All I'm thinking is one shot at a time, one hole at read more

I'm trying not to look too far ahead. All I'm thinking is one shot at a time, one hole at a time, and that's what I want to keep doing.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; read more

It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they are showing the way when they are running away; that they see the light when they feel the heat; that they are chosen when they are shunned.

The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish good results while the strongest, by read more

The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish good results while the strongest, by dispersing his effort over many chores, may fail to accomplish anything. Drops of water, by continually falling, hone their passage through the hardest of rocks but the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind.

One concept corrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil whose limited sphere is ethics; I read more

One concept corrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite.