The thoughts of Plato and Machiavelli... don't seem quite enough armor for a world beset with splitting the atoms, urban guerrillas, nineteen varieties of psychotherapists, amplified guitars, napalm, computers, astronauts, and an atmosphere polluted simultaneously with auto exhaust and TV commercials.
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When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart read more
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.
A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes read more
A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.This minding of other people's business expresses itself in gossip, snooping and meddling, and also in feverish interest in communal, national and racial affairs. In running away from ourselves we either fall on our neighbor's shoulder or fly at his throat.
Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world.
Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world.
We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
In human affairs, the best stimulus for running ahead is to have something we must run from.
In human affairs, the best stimulus for running ahead is to have something we must run from.
All rising to great place is by winding stair.
All rising to great place is by winding stair.
Literacy is not, as it is considered in our schools, a PORTION of education. It IS education. It is at read more
Literacy is not, as it is considered in our schools, a PORTION of education. It IS education. It is at once the ability AND the inclination of the mind to find knowledge, to pursue understanding, and out of knowledge and understanding, not out of received attitudes and values or emotional responses, however "worthy," to make judgments.
When reality becomes unbearable, the mind must withdraw from it and create a world of artificial perfection. Plato's world of read more
When reality becomes unbearable, the mind must withdraw from it and create a world of artificial perfection. Plato's world of pure Ideas and Forms, which alone is to be considered as real, whereas the world of nature which we perceive is merely its cheap Woolworth copy, is a flight into delusion.
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only read more
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.
