When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating.
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Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or our worthlessness, we are almost impervious read more
Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or our worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. Thus a feeling of utter worthlessness can be a source of courage.
Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will read more
Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.
There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.
There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.
The inertia of the human mind and its resistance to innovation are most clearly demonstrated not, as one might expect, read more
The inertia of the human mind and its resistance to innovation are most clearly demonstrated not, as one might expect, by the ignorant mass- which is easily swayed once its imagination is caught- but by professionals with a vested interest in tradition and in the monopoly of learning. Innovation is a twofold threat to academic mediocrities: it endangers their oracular authority, and it evokes the deeper fear that their whole, laboriously constructed intellectual edifice might collapse. The academic backwoodsmen have been the curse of genius from Aristarchus to Darwin and Freud; they stretch, a solid and hostile phalanx of pedantic mediocrities, across the centuries.
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.
All weakness tends to corrupt, and impotence corrupts absolutely.
All weakness tends to corrupt, and impotence corrupts absolutely.
Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes read more
Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.
Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.
Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.
The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.
The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.
