The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves read more

The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like a giving hand is often a holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

A wonderful discovery--psychoanalysis. Makes quite simple people feel they're complex.

A wonderful discovery--psychoanalysis. Makes quite simple people feel they're complex.

Take man's most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what read more

Take man's most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds to imitate that image, vie with it, and strive to overcome it.

Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.

Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.

Brain-washing starts in the cradle.

Brain-washing starts in the cradle.

You will not become a saint through other people's sins.

You will not become a saint through other people's sins.

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a read more

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. ('What else could it be?') I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and I am told some of the ancient Greeks thought the brain functions like a catapult. At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.