Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized.
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When watching men of power in action it must be always kept in mind that, whether they know it or read more
When watching men of power in action it must be always kept in mind that, whether they know it or not, their main purpose is the elimination or neutralization of the independent individual- the independent voter, consumer, worker, owner, thinker- and that every device they employ aims at turning men into a manipulable "animated instrument" which is Aristotle's definition of a slave.
No child is born with a really cold heart, and it is only in proportion as we lose that youthful read more
No child is born with a really cold heart, and it is only in proportion as we lose that youthful heart that we lose the inner warmth in ourselves.
You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is read more
You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.
The more kindness shown to an envious man, the worse he becomes.
The more kindness shown to an envious man, the worse he becomes.
As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which read more
As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape. - Aphorisms and Reflections.
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.
The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.
The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of read more
The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination.
A healthy appetite for righteousness, kept in due control by good manners, is an excellent thing; but to "hunger and read more
A healthy appetite for righteousness, kept in due control by good manners, is an excellent thing; but to "hunger and thirst" after it is often merely a symptom of spiritual diabetes.
