It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.
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Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.
Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.
The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.
The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.
...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.
Education rears disciples, imitators, and routinists, not pioneers of new ideas and creative geniuses. The schools are not nurseries of read more
Education rears disciples, imitators, and routinists, not pioneers of new ideas and creative geniuses. The schools are not nurseries of progress and improvement, but conservatories of tradition and unvarying modes of thought.
Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to read more
Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.
...we are entitled to make almost any reasonable assumption, but should resist making conclusions until evidence requires that we do read more
...we are entitled to make almost any reasonable assumption, but should resist making conclusions until evidence requires that we do so.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while read more
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
When the Greeks said, "Whom the gods love die young," they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored read more
When the Greeks said, "Whom the gods love die young," they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored by the gods stay young till the day they die; young and playful.
Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steady gains in strength, At first it may be read more
Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steady gains in strength, At first it may be but as a spider's web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.
