We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.
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The theory of evolution must be considered as a scientific theory, as theory, that is, proposed to explain or systemize read more
The theory of evolution must be considered as a scientific theory, as theory, that is, proposed to explain or systemize a set of facts, and that no one has any claim to be considered as a serious rival to Darwin in the "discovery" of this theory who did not conduct his evolutionary studies upon a reasonably wide basis of facts. To have ideas, apercus, is not enough, and it is the overevalutation of such clever but uncontrolled guesses which is apt to produce the ludicrous fallacy of combination, in which fragments of the final theory are collected from widely scattered sources and are combined in such a way as to impugn the originality of him who was the first to see how such a synthesis was possible.
To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is read more
To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is only when we see ourselves as actors in a staged (and therefore unreal) performance that death loses its frightfulness and finality and becomes an act of make-believe and a theatrical gesture. It is one of the main tasks of a real leader to mask the grim reality of dying and killing by evoking in his followers the illusion that they are participating in a grandiose spectacle, a solemn or lighthearted dramatic performance.
Eagles soar, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.
Eagles soar, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.
The noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and
dissipation without pleasure.
The noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and
dissipation without pleasure.
It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows read more
It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous...The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.
There arises from a bad and inapt formation of words, a wonderful obstruction to the mind.
There arises from a bad and inapt formation of words, a wonderful obstruction to the mind.
If a donkey bray at you, don't bray at him.
If a donkey bray at you, don't bray at him.
We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
