What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history. He is far more at home in a society that weighs his every word and keeps close watch on his attitudes then in a society that cares not what he says or does. He would rather be persecuted than ignored.
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If the gods do evil then they are not gods.
If the gods do evil then they are not gods.
Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own.
Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own.
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, read more
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games to which it is most attached is called, ''Keep tomorrow dark,'' and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) ''Cheat the Prophet.'' The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.
Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths being in and out of favor.
Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths being in and out of favor.
[They say] "We do not know how this is, but we know that God can do it." You poor fools! read more
[They say] "We do not know how this is, but we know that God can do it." You poor fools! God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so.
We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which read more
We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a read more
I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it out.
The methods of the natural sciences cannot be applied to human behavior because this behavior...lacks the peculiarity that characterizes events read more
The methods of the natural sciences cannot be applied to human behavior because this behavior...lacks the peculiarity that characterizes events in the field of the natural sciences, viz., regularity.
