Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which read more

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

Thought control, like birth control, is best undertaken as long as possible before the fact. Many grown-ups will obstinately persist, read more

Thought control, like birth control, is best undertaken as long as possible before the fact. Many grown-ups will obstinately persist, if only now and then, in composing small strings of sentences in their heads and achieving at least momentary logic. This probably cannot be prevented, but we have learned how to minimize the consequences by arranging that such grown-ups will be unable to pursue that logic very far. If they were at home in the technology of writing, there's no telling how much social disorder they would cause by thinking things out at length.Our schools have chosen to cut this danger off as close to the root as possible, thus taking measures to preclude not only the birth of thought but its conception. They give the pill to even the youngest children, but just to be on the safe side, they give it to everybody else, too, especially all would-be schoolteachers.

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

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.

Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.

Reason is the main resource of man in his struggle for survival.

That hatred springs more from self-contempt than from a legitimate grievance is seen in the intimate connection between hatred and read more

That hatred springs more from self-contempt than from a legitimate grievance is seen in the intimate connection between hatred and a guilty conscience.

Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit.

Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit.

Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt.

Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt.

When the Greeks said, "Whom the gods love die young," they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored read more

When the Greeks said, "Whom the gods love die young," they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored by the gods stay young till the day they die; young and playful.