Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.

Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.

The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one read more

The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self.

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which read more

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

The prerequisite of originality is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know.

The prerequisite of originality is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know.

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.

When you want to organize knowledge. you will be careful to base the classification upon essential qualities. You will thus read more

When you want to organize knowledge. you will be careful to base the classification upon essential qualities. You will thus derive classes in which the members have the greatest amount of resemblance to one another and the greatest amount of difference from the members of other classes. But suppose that, instead of organizing knowledge, you set out to organize ignorance and prejudice. You will then do precisely the opposite...You will keep the classification vague and flexible, so that it can be made to include just whatever individuals you choose.

The great questions are those an intelligent child asks and, getting no answers, stops asking.

The great questions are those an intelligent child asks and, getting no answers, stops asking.

A man is but what he knows.

A man is but what he knows.

...the evils of mankind are caused, not by the primary aggressiveness of individuals, but by their self-transcending identification with groups read more

...the evils of mankind are caused, not by the primary aggressiveness of individuals, but by their self-transcending identification with groups whose common denominator is low intelligence and high emotionality.