It is not a fragrant world.

It is not a fragrant world.

Science is facts. Just as houses are made of stones, so science is made of facts. But a pile of read more

Science is facts. Just as houses are made of stones, so science is made of facts. But a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.

The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow if tomorrow might improve the odds.

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow if tomorrow might improve the odds.

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but read more

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

The sort of dependence that results from exchange, i.e., from commercial transactions, is a reciprocal dependence. We cannot be dependent read more

The sort of dependence that results from exchange, i.e., from commercial transactions, is a reciprocal dependence. We cannot be dependent upon a foreigner without his being dependent on us. Now, this is what constitutes the very essence of society. To sever natural interrelations is not to make oneself independent, but to isolate oneself completely.

...it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in read more

...it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something read more

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on.