To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement read more

To illustrate the difference between the innovator and the dull crowd of routinists who cannot even imagine that any improvement is possible, we need only refer to a passage in Engel's most famous book. Here, in 1878, Engels apodictically announced that military weapons are "now so perfected that no further progress of any revolutionizing influence is any longer possible." Henceforth "all further [technological] progress is by and large indifferent for land warfare. The age of evolution is in this regard essentially closed." This complacent conclusion shows in what the achievement of the innovator consists: he accomplishes what other people believe to be unthinkable and unfeasible.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.

Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.

Instinct is the nose of the mind.

Instinct is the nose of the mind.

The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.

The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.

Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world.

Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world.

Every intense desire is perhaps a desire to be different from what we are.

Every intense desire is perhaps a desire to be different from what we are.

The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so.

The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so.