There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.

There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

Men never do evil so fully and so happily as when they do it for conscience's sake.

Men never do evil so fully and so happily as when they do it for conscience's sake.

As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every read more

As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher.

There is only one step from fanaticism to barbarism.

There is only one step from fanaticism to barbarism.

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there read more

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises read more

The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises these men need the guidance of some kind of theory; but, being unfamiliar with the field of ideas, they do not know that alternatives to the popular theories are possible. They know only what they have always been taught.

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.