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...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.
It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper read more
It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper aim, is most productive of evil. It behooves the well-intentioned, therefore, vigorously to watch the tendency of even their most highly prized institutions, since that which was established in the interests of the right, may so easily become the agent of the wrong.
...most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.
...most scientific problems are far better understood by studying their history than their logic.
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.
None save great men have been the authors of great heresies.
None save great men have been the authors of great heresies.
The tapestry of history has no point at which you can cut it and leave the design intelligible.
The tapestry of history has no point at which you can cut it and leave the design intelligible.
One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.
One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.
If the gods do evil then they are not gods.
If the gods do evil then they are not gods.
Some tribes [of monkeys] have taken to washing potatoes in the river before eating them, others have not. Sometimes migrating read more
Some tribes [of monkeys] have taken to washing potatoes in the river before eating them, others have not. Sometimes migrating groups of potato-washers meet non-washers, and the two groups watch each other's strange behavior with apparent bewilderment. But unlike the inhabitants of Lilliput, who fought holy crusades over the question at which end to break the egg, the potato-washing monkeys do not go to war with the non-washers, because the poor creatures have no language which would enable them to declare washing a diving commandment and eating unwashed potatoes a deadly heresy.
