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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Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints read more
Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality.
The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he should read more
The question that faces every man born into this world is not what should be his purpose, which he should set about to achieve, but just what to do with life? The answer, that he should order his life so that he can find the greatest happiness in it, is more a practical question, similar to that of how a man should spend his weekend, then a metaphysical proposition as to what is the mystic purpose of his life in the scheme of the universe.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands read more
It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands that he does not understand it.
One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. read more
One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often manifests itself in upholding the word against the evidence of the eyes.Children, savages, and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.
Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to read more
Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to understand sex.
There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.
There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.
The natural inclination of a child is to take pleasure in the use of the mind no less than of read more
The natural inclination of a child is to take pleasure in the use of the mind no less than of the body. The child's primary business is learning. It is also the primary entertainment. To retain that orientation into adulthood, so that consciousness is not a burden but a joy, is the mark of the successfully developed human being.
There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.
There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.
