All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not read more

All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them.

Society is one vast conspiracy for carving one into the kind of statue likes, and then placing it in the read more

Society is one vast conspiracy for carving one into the kind of statue likes, and then placing it in the most convenient niche it has.

It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.

It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.

Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts...

Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts...

The 'missing link' between ape and man will probably never be found- because it was an embryo.

The 'missing link' between ape and man will probably never be found- because it was an embryo.

Every failure teaches a man something, to wit, that he will probably fail again.

Every failure teaches a man something, to wit, that he will probably fail again.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

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.

The individual is not a killer, but the group is, and by identifying with it the individual is transformed into read more

The individual is not a killer, but the group is, and by identifying with it the individual is transformed into a killer.