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.

All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.

All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.

One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputations.

One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputations.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because read more

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die out, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed read more

To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our noses, rammed down our throats- we know it not.

Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of read more

Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of human activities, in habits and practices. And each change in the actions of those affected in the first instance will require further adjustments that will gradually extend through the whole of society. Every change thus in a sense creates a "problem" for society, even though no single individual perceives it as such; it is gradually "solved" by the establishment of a new overall adjustment.

The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth--that the read more

The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth--that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at read more

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!