Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and read more

Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.

We shall assume that what each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but by pictures made read more

We shall assume that what each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but by pictures made by himself or given to him. If his atlas tells him the world is flat he will not sail near what he believes to be the edge of our planet for fear of falling off. If his maps include a fountain of eternal youth, a Ponce de Leon will go off in quest of it. If someone digs up yellow dirt that looks like gold, he will for a time act exactly as if he has found gold. The way in which the world is imagined determines at any particular moment what men will do. It does not determine what they will achieve. It determines their effort, their feelings, their hopes, not their accomplishments and results.

The true function of art is to...edit nature and so make it coherent and lovely. The artist is a sort read more

The true function of art is to...edit nature and so make it coherent and lovely. The artist is a sort of impassioned proofreader, blue-penciling the bad spelling of God.

The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. "God wishes," read more

The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. "God wishes," said Calvin, "that one should put aside all humanity when it is a question of striving for His glory.".

The hardest part of gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.

The hardest part of gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.

I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.

I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.

The more deeply the path is etched, the more it is used, and the more it is used, the more read more

The more deeply the path is etched, the more it is used, and the more it is used, the more deeply it etched.

However human, envy is certainly not one of the sources of discontent that a free society can eliminate. It is read more

However human, envy is certainly not one of the sources of discontent that a free society can eliminate. It is probably one of the essential conditions for the preservation of such a society that we do not countenance envy, not sanction its demands by camouflaging it as social justice, but treat it, in the words of John Stuart Mill, as "the most anti-social and evil of all passions.

The world's greatest thinkers have often been amateurs; for high thinking is the outcome of fine and independent living, and read more

The world's greatest thinkers have often been amateurs; for high thinking is the outcome of fine and independent living, and for that a professional chair offers no special opportunities.