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.
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Every fairly intelligent person is aware that the price of respectability is a muffled soul bent on the trivial and read more
Every fairly intelligent person is aware that the price of respectability is a muffled soul bent on the trivial and the mediocre.
Considering the enormous range of human knowledge, from intimate personal knowledge of specific individuals to the complexities of organizations and read more
Considering the enormous range of human knowledge, from intimate personal knowledge of specific individuals to the complexities of organizations and the subtleties of feelings, it is remarkable that one speck in this firmament should be the sole determinant of whether someone is considered knowledgeable or ignorant in general. Yet it is a fact of life that an unlettered person is considered ignorant, however much he may know about nature and man, and a Ph.D. is never considered ignorant, however barren his mind might be outside his narrow specialty and however little he grasps about human feeling or social complexities.
The inertia of the human mind and its resistance to innovation are most clearly demonstrated not, as one might expect, read more
The inertia of the human mind and its resistance to innovation are most clearly demonstrated not, as one might expect, by the ignorant mass- which is easily swayed once its imagination is caught- but by professionals with a vested interest in tradition and in the monopoly of learning. Innovation is a twofold threat to academic mediocrities: it endangers their oracular authority, and it evokes the deeper fear that their whole, laboriously constructed intellectual edifice might collapse. The academic backwoodsmen have been the curse of genius from Aristarchus to Darwin and Freud; they stretch, a solid and hostile phalanx of pedantic mediocrities, across the centuries.
My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.
My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.
Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of read more
Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of phenomenological adequacy, inner consistency, and practical-moral consequences. Reason may err, but it can be moral. If we must err, let it be on the side of our creativity, our freedom, our betterment.
...it is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.
...it is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.
...the more original a discovery the more obvious it seems afterwards.
...the more original a discovery the more obvious it seems afterwards.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is read more
He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
