The prerequisite of originality is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know.

The prerequisite of originality is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know.

Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.

Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical read more

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own read more

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own image. Rather does he create Him in the image of his cravings and dreams- in the image of what man wants to be. God making could be part of the process by which a society realizes its aspirations: it first embodies them in the conception of a particular God, and then proceeds to imitate that God. The confidence requisite for attempting the unprecedented is most effectively generated by the fiction that in realizing the new we are imitating rather than originating. Our preoccupation with heaven can be part of an effort to find precedents for the unprecedented.

The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.

The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of mankind.

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.

We have no assurance that half-truth will make us free.

We have no assurance that half-truth will make us free.

The readiness to praise others indicates a desire for excellence and perhaps an ability to realize it.

The readiness to praise others indicates a desire for excellence and perhaps an ability to realize it.

The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but read more

The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.