There are in fact four very different stumbling blocks in the way of grasping the truth, which hinder every man however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to wisdom, namely, the example of weak and unworthy authority, longstanding custom, the feeling of the ignorant crowd, and the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge.
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The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. read more
The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak hate not wickedness but weakness; and one instance of their hatred of weakness is hatred of self. All the passionate pursuits of the weak are in some degree a striving to escape, blur, or disguise an unwanted self. It is a striving shot through with malice, envy, self-deception, and a host of petty impulses; yet it often culminates in superb achievements.
...there is no alienation that a little power will not cure.
...there is no alienation that a little power will not cure.
Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, read more
Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, by the authority of men counted great in philosophy, and then by general consent.
That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing read more
Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and will make, not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large.
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
We have rudiments of reverence for the human body, but we consider as nothing the rape of the human mind.
We have rudiments of reverence for the human body, but we consider as nothing the rape of the human mind.
Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. read more
Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. He is both an unfinished animal and an unfinished man. It is this incurable unfinishedness which sets man apart from other living things. For, in the attempt to finish himself, man becomes a creator. Moreover, the incurable unfinishedness keeps man perpetually immature, perpetually capable of learning and growing.
It should be noted that the seeds of wisdom that are to bear fruit in the intellect are sown less read more
It should be noted that the seeds of wisdom that are to bear fruit in the intellect are sown less by critical studies and learned monographs than by insights, broad impressions, and flashes of intuition.
