Where intellectuals have played a role in history, it has not been so much by whispering words of advice into read more

Where intellectuals have played a role in history, it has not been so much by whispering words of advice into the ears of political overlords as by contributing to the vast and powerful currents of conceptions and misconceptions that sweep human action along.

But now being lifted into high society,
And having pick'd up several odds and ends
Of free read more

But now being lifted into high society,
And having pick'd up several odds and ends
Of free thoughts in his travels for variety,
He deem'd, being in a lone isle, among friends,
That without any danger of a riot, he
Might for long lying make himself amends;
And singing as he sung in his warm youth,
Agree to a short armistice with truth.

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.

I find it valid to understand man as an animal before I am prepared to know him as a man.

I find it valid to understand man as an animal before I am prepared to know him as a man.

In strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way there- a direct approach to the object exhausts the read more

In strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way there- a direct approach to the object exhausts the attacker and hardens the resistance by compression, whereas an indirect approach loosens the defender's hold by upsetting his balance.

In a society in which it is a moral offense to be different from your neighbor your only escape is read more

In a society in which it is a moral offense to be different from your neighbor your only escape is never to let them find out.

I think I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

I think I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of read more

The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of the whole problem- at least in their imagination.

You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.

You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.