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
Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it read more
Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well. The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, accurately, creatively, and without self-delusion- in the long run, these are the only people who count.
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.
When I dream, I am ageless.
When I dream, I am ageless.
A wonderful discovery--psychoanalysis. Makes quite simple people feel they're complex.
A wonderful discovery--psychoanalysis. Makes quite simple people feel they're complex.
My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.
My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.
Our quarrel with the world is an echo of the endless quarrel proceeding within us.
Our quarrel with the world is an echo of the endless quarrel proceeding within us.
It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of read more
It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of life and turn it into an orthodoxy which stifles all stirrings of originality.
Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundation that read more
Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundation that underlies and gives reality to all other virtues and personal values. Without courage our love pales into mere dependency. Without courage our fidelity becomes conformism.
...originality consists of the achievement of new combinations, and not of the creation of something out of nothing.
...originality consists of the achievement of new combinations, and not of the creation of something out of nothing.
