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.

Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit.

Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit.

Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.

Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

It is highly significant, and indeed almost a rule, that moral courage has its source in identification through one's own read more

It is highly significant, and indeed almost a rule, that moral courage has its source in identification through one's own sensitivity with the suffering of one's fellow human beings.

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own read more

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own image. Rather does he create Him in the image of his cravings and dreams- in the image of what man wants to be. God making could be part of the process by which a society realizes its aspirations: it first embodies them in the conception of a particular God, and then proceeds to imitate that God. The confidence requisite for attempting the unprecedented is most effectively generated by the fiction that in realizing the new we are imitating rather than originating. Our preoccupation with heaven can be part of an effort to find precedents for the unprecedented.

We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries greater read more

We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries greater weight than our self-interest.

Constancy is the foundation of virtue.

Constancy is the foundation of virtue.

The Americans are poor haters in international affairs because of their innate feeling of superiority over all foreigners. An American's read more

The Americans are poor haters in international affairs because of their innate feeling of superiority over all foreigners. An American's hatred for a fellow American...is far more virulent than any antipathy he can work up against foreigners...Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of life.