Maxioms Pet

X
  •   11  /  15  

    To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement is possible, we need only refer to a passage in Engel's most famous book. Here, in 1878, Engels apodictically announced that military weapons are "now so perfected that no further progress of any revolutionizing influence is any longer possible." Henceforth "all further [technological] progress is by and large indifferent for land warfare. The age of evolution is in this regard essentially closed." This complacent conclusion shows in what the achievement of the innovator consists: he accomplishes what other people believe to be unthinkable and unfeasible.

Share to:

You May Also Like   /   View all maxioms

  ( comments )
  25  /  29  

Every animal is sad after coitus except the human female and the rooster.

Every animal is sad after coitus except the human female and the rooster.

  ( comments )
  10  /  15  

The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. read more

The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak hate not wickedness but weakness; and one instance of their hatred of weakness is hatred of self. All the passionate pursuits of the weak are in some degree a striving to escape, blur, or disguise an unwanted self. It is a striving shot through with malice, envy, self-deception, and a host of petty impulses; yet it often culminates in superb achievements.

  ( comments )
  6  /  13  

The mind cannot foresee its own advance.

The mind cannot foresee its own advance.

  ( comments )
  12  /  13  

To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before read more

To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before he could conceive an all-powerful God who obeys his own laws.

  ( comments )
  21  /  18  

It is not sheer malice that pricks our ears to evil reports about our fellow men. For there are frequent read more

It is not sheer malice that pricks our ears to evil reports about our fellow men. For there are frequent moments when we feel lower than the lowest of mankind, and this opinion of ourselves isolates us. Hence the rumor that all flesh is base comes almost as a message of hope. It breaks down the wall that has kept us apart, and we feel one with humanity.

  ( comments )
  16  /  25  

Every once in a while someone without a single bad habit gets caught.

Every once in a while someone without a single bad habit gets caught.

  ( comments )
  31  /  44  

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

  ( comments )
  20  /  15  

Instinct is the nose of the mind.

Instinct is the nose of the mind.

  ( comments )
  10  /  16  

The mentality of an army on the march is merely so much delayed adolescence; it remains persistently, incorrigibly and notoriously read more

The mentality of an army on the march is merely so much delayed adolescence; it remains persistently, incorrigibly and notoriously infantile.

Maxioms Web Pet