A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completer life of one--
And read more

A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completer life of one--
And those who live as models for the mass
Are singly of more value than they all.

Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.

Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something read more

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on.

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.

There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for read more

There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same. - The Deer Park.

If everything's under control, you're going too slow.

If everything's under control, you're going too slow.

We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.

We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.

Never soar aloft on an enemy's pinions.

Never soar aloft on an enemy's pinions.

Men have ascribed to God imperfections that they would deplore in themselves.

Men have ascribed to God imperfections that they would deplore in themselves.