The human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and regularity in things than it read more

The human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and regularity in things than it really finds.

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.

The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive read more

The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.

To the fool, he who speaks wisdom will sound foolish.

To the fool, he who speaks wisdom will sound foolish.

When people are bored, it is primarily with their own selves that they are bored.

When people are bored, it is primarily with their own selves that they are bored.

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 world's greatest thinkers have often been amateurs; for high thinking is the outcome of fine and independent living, and read more

The world's greatest thinkers have often been amateurs; for high thinking is the outcome of fine and independent living, and for that a professional chair offers no special opportunities.

Knowledge can be enormously costly, and is often scattered in widely uneven fragments, too small to be individually usable in read more

Knowledge can be enormously costly, and is often scattered in widely uneven fragments, too small to be individually usable in decision making. The communication and coordination of these scattered fragments of knowledge is one of the basic problems- perhaps the basic problem- of any society.

Physicists have determined that even the most solid and heavy mass of matter we see is mostly empty space. But read more

Physicists have determined that even the most solid and heavy mass of matter we see is mostly empty space. But at the submicroscopic level, specks of matter scattered through a vast emptiness have such incredible density and weight, and are linked to one another by such powerful forces, that together they produce all the properties of concrete, cast iron and solid rock. In much the same way, specks of knowledge are scattered through a vast emptiness of ignorance, and everything depends upon how solid the individual specks of knowledge are, and on how powerfully linked and coordinated they are with one another.