The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one read more

The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self.

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.

Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.

Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.

This is the constitutional limitation of man's knowledge and interests, the fact that he cannot know more than a tiny read more

This is the constitutional limitation of man's knowledge and interests, the fact that he cannot know more than a tiny part of the whole of society and that therefore all that can enter into his motives are the immediate effects which his actions will have in the sphere he knows.

The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned read more

The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.

The well-adjusted make poor prophets.

The well-adjusted make poor prophets.

Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One read more

Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often obtains a clue to a person's nature by discovering the reasons for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions.

To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of read more

To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.

A man without force, is without the essential dignity of humanity. Human nature is so constituted, that it cannot honor read more

A man without force, is without the essential dignity of humanity. Human nature is so constituted, that it cannot honor a helpless man, although it can pity him.