The continuous disasters of man's history are mainly due to his excessive capacity and urge to become identified with a tribe, nation, church or cause, and to espouse its credo uncritically and enthusiastically, even if its tenets are contrary to reason, devoid of self-interest and detrimental to the claims of self-preservation.We are thus driven to the unfashionable conclusion that the trouble with our species is not an excess of aggression, but an excess capacity for fanatical devotion.
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Men never do evil so fully and so happily as when they do it for conscience's sake.
Men never do evil so fully and so happily as when they do it for conscience's sake.
You will not become a saint through other people's sins.
You will not become a saint through other people's sins.
Irony is the hygiene of the mind.
Irony is the hygiene of the mind.
He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.
He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.
Opposition to the truth is inevitable, especially if it takes the form of a new idea, but the degree of read more
Opposition to the truth is inevitable, especially if it takes the form of a new idea, but the degree of resistance can be diminished- by giving thought not only to the aim but to the method of approach. Avoid a frontal attack on a long established position; instead, seek to turn it by flank movement, so that a more penetrable side is exposed to the thrust of truth. But, in any such indirect approach, take care not to diverge from the truth- for nothing is more fatal to its real advancement than to lapse into untruth.
Reason and action are congeneric and homogenous, two aspects of the same phenomenon.
Reason and action are congeneric and homogenous, two aspects of the same phenomenon.
The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one read more
The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self.
You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is read more
You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.
Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.
Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.
