Much of what sophisticates loftily refer to as the "complexity" of the real world is in fact the inconsistency in read more

Much of what sophisticates loftily refer to as the "complexity" of the real world is in fact the inconsistency in their own minds.

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.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation read more

Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication is the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, "it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves.".

How much easier is self-sacrifice than self-realization.

How much easier is self-sacrifice than self-realization.

Specialization is for insects.

Specialization is for insects.

One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is a null word.

One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is a null word.

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best read more

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.

Civilized man has always had a great inclination to read his conceptions and feelings into the mind of primitive man; read more

Civilized man has always had a great inclination to read his conceptions and feelings into the mind of primitive man; but he has only a limited capacity for understanding the latter's undeveloped mental life and for interpreting, as it were, his nature.