It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress. In the process by which opinion is formed, it is very probable that, by the time any view becomes a majority view, it is no longer the best view: somebody will already have advanced beyond the point which the majority have reached. It is because we do not yet which of the many competing new opinions will prove itself the best that we wait until it has gained sufficient support.
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Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.
Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.
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.
We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it.
It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it.
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.
All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them, read more
All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them, irrespective of the doctrine they preach and the program they project, breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; all of them are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity in certain departments of life; all of them demand blind faith and singlehearted allegiance.
The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.
The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but read more
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
