We shall assume that what each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but by pictures made read more

We shall assume that what each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but by pictures made by himself or given to him. If his atlas tells him the world is flat he will not sail near what he believes to be the edge of our planet for fear of falling off. If his maps include a fountain of eternal youth, a Ponce de Leon will go off in quest of it. If someone digs up yellow dirt that looks like gold, he will for a time act exactly as if he has found gold. The way in which the world is imagined determines at any particular moment what men will do. It does not determine what they will achieve. It determines their effort, their feelings, their hopes, not their accomplishments and results.

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.

Nothing defines the quality of life in a community more clearly than people who regard themselves, or whom the consensus read more

Nothing defines the quality of life in a community more clearly than people who regard themselves, or whom the consensus chooses to regard, as mentally unwell.

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.

...it is curiosity, initiative, originality, and the ruthless application of honesty that count in research- much more than feats of read more

...it is curiosity, initiative, originality, and the ruthless application of honesty that count in research- much more than feats of logic and memory alone.

If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so read more

If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.

Always behave like a duck- keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath.

Always behave like a duck- keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath.

Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to read more

Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to understand sex.