Ideals are very often formed in the effort to escape from the hard task of dealing with facts, which is the function of science and art. There is no process by which to reach an ideal. There are no tests by which to verify it. It is therefore impossible to frame a proposition about an ideal which can be proved or disproved. It follows that the use of ideals is to be strictly limited to proper cases, and that the attempt to use ideals in social discussion does not deserve serious consideration.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era read more
Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era of events. The new barbarism of the twentieth century is the echo of words bandied about by brilliant speakers and writers in the second half of the nineteenth.
There are two modes of acquiring knowledge, namely by reasoning and experience. Reasoning draws a conclusion and makes us grant read more
There are two modes of acquiring knowledge, namely by reasoning and experience. Reasoning draws a conclusion and makes us grant the conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, nor does it remove doubt so that the mind may rest on the intuition of truth, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.
The most basic inherent constraint is that neither time nor wisdom are free goods available in unlimited quantity. This means read more
The most basic inherent constraint is that neither time nor wisdom are free goods available in unlimited quantity. This means that in social processes, as in economic processes, it is not only impossible to attain perfection but irrational to seek perfection- or even to seek the "best possible" result in each separate instance.
Truth...never comes into the world but like a Bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.
Truth...never comes into the world but like a Bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.
Avoid making irrevocable decisions when tired or hungry.
Avoid making irrevocable decisions when tired or hungry.
Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
Obscurity is the refuge of incompetence.
Obscurity is the refuge of incompetence.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
