Ideals are very often formed in the effort to escape from the hard task of dealing with facts, which is read more

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.

Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.

Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.

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.

First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits, or they'll eventually conquer you.

First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits, or they'll eventually conquer you.

Nothing has an uglier look to us than reason, when it is not on our side.

Nothing has an uglier look to us than reason, when it is not on our side.

The continuous disasters of man's history are mainly due to his excessive capacity and urge to become identified with a read more

The continuous disasters of man's history are mainly due to his excessive capacity and urge to become identified with a tribe, nation, church or cause, and to espouse its credo uncritically and enthusiastically, even if its tenets are contrary to reason, devoid of self-interest and detrimental to the claims of self-preservation.We are thus driven to the unfashionable conclusion that the trouble with our species is not an excess of aggression, but an excess capacity for fanatical devotion.

A man is never more his single separate self than when he sets out on a journey.

A man is never more his single separate self than when he sets out on a journey.

When the weak want to give an impression of strength they hint menacingly at their capacity for evil. It is read more

When the weak want to give an impression of strength they hint menacingly at their capacity for evil. It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.

Brain-washing starts in the cradle.

Brain-washing starts in the cradle.