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.
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A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
Society is like air; very high up, it is sublimated--too low down, a perfect choke-damp.
Society is like air; very high up, it is sublimated--too low down, a perfect choke-damp.
The smashing of idols is in itself such a preoccupation that it is almost impossible for the iconoclast to look read more
The smashing of idols is in itself such a preoccupation that it is almost impossible for the iconoclast to look clearly into a future when there will not be many idols left to smash.
It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.
It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.
What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in read more
What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history. He is far more at home in a society that weighs his every word and keeps close watch on his attitudes then in a society that cares not what he says or does. He would rather be persecuted than ignored.
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'd rather be dead than cool.
I'd rather be dead than cool.
There is apparently no surer way of turning a thing into its opposite than by exaggerating it.
There is apparently no surer way of turning a thing into its opposite than by exaggerating it.
