When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives.
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If a donkey bray at you, don't bray at him.
If a donkey bray at you, don't bray at him.
That is the whole trouble with being a heretic. One usually must think out everything for oneself.
That is the whole trouble with being a heretic. One usually must think out everything for oneself.
For every social wrong there must be a remedy. But the remedy
can be nothing less than the abolition read more
For every social wrong there must be a remedy. But the remedy
can be nothing less than the abolition of the wrong.
The avowed aim of all utopian movements is to put an end to history and to establish a final and read more
The avowed aim of all utopian movements is to put an end to history and to establish a final and permanent calm.
Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of read more
Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of human activities, in habits and practices. And each change in the actions of those affected in the first instance will require further adjustments that will gradually extend through the whole of society. Every change thus in a sense creates a "problem" for society, even though no single individual perceives it as such; it is gradually "solved" by the establishment of a new overall adjustment.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that read more
Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that a special warning strip of land around the edge of a baseball field lets a player know that he is about to run into a concrete wall when he is preoccupied with catching the ball. The wider that strip of land and the more sensitive the player is to the changing composition of the ground under his feet as he pursues the ball, the more effective the warning. Romanticizing or lionizing as "individualistic" those people who disregard social cues and inducements increases the danger of head-on collisions with inherent social limits. Decrying various forms of social disapproval is in effect narrowing the warning strip.
Progress cannot be organized.
Progress cannot be organized.
The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are read more
The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are more fateful than the product.
