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.
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In the world of reality, life, and human action there is no such thing as interests independent of ideas, preceding read more
In the world of reality, life, and human action there is no such thing as interests independent of ideas, preceding them temporarily and logically. What a man considers his interest is the result of his ideas.
When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention read more
When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries greater read more
We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries greater weight than our self-interest.
The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.
The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.
It is generally recognized that creativity requires leisure, an absence of rush, time for the mind and imagination to float read more
It is generally recognized that creativity requires leisure, an absence of rush, time for the mind and imagination to float and wander and roam, time for the individual to descend into the depths of his or her psyche, to be available to barely audible signals rustling for attention. Long periods of time may pass in which nothing seems to be happening. But we know that kind of space must be created if the mind is to leap out of its accustomed ruts, to part from the mechanical, the known, the familiar, the standard, and generate a leap into the new.
Informal relationships are not mere minor interstitial supplements to the major institutions of society. These informal relationships not only include read more
Informal relationships are not mere minor interstitial supplements to the major institutions of society. These informal relationships not only include important decision-making processes, such as the family, but also produce much of the background social capital without which the other major institutions of society could not function nearly as effectively as they do.
Constancy is the foundation of virtue.
Constancy is the foundation of virtue.
The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may read more
The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may be called "sciences as one would." For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride; things not commonly believed, out of deference to the opinion of the vulgar. Numberless in short are the ways, and sometimes imperceptible, in which the affections color and infect the understanding.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
