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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We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his read more
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
We should listen first and foremost to our own experience...We should stop looking for saviors... Society has not existed for read more
We should listen first and foremost to our own experience...We should stop looking for saviors... Society has not existed for thousands of years because it had a succession of saviors. It's existed because it has institutions and processes through which people can realize their own goals.
It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict read more
It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world.
Who shoots at the mid-day sun, though he be so sure he shall never hit the mark, yet as sure read more
Who shoots at the mid-day sun, though he be so sure he shall never hit the mark, yet as sure as he is, he shall shoot higher than he who aims at a bush.
All cruelty springs from weakness.
All cruelty springs from weakness.
The more deeply the path is etched, the more it is used, and the more it is used, the more read more
The more deeply the path is etched, the more it is used, and the more it is used, the more deeply it etched.
A fool hath no dialogue within himself, the first thought carrieth him without the reply of a second.
A fool hath no dialogue within himself, the first thought carrieth him without the reply of a second.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
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.
