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.

A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it read more

A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaningless of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring upon them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves- and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole.

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.

Avoid self-righteousness like the devil- nothing is so self-blinding.

Avoid self-righteousness like the devil- nothing is so self-blinding.

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.

Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club
that will accept me as a member.

Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club
that will accept me as a member.

The Darwinian theory is in principle capable of explaining life. No other theory that has ever been suggested is in read more

The Darwinian theory is in principle capable of explaining life. No other theory that has ever been suggested is in principle capable of explaining life.

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him read more

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity.

Society is joint action and cooperation in which each participant sees the other partner's success as a means for the read more

Society is joint action and cooperation in which each participant sees the other partner's success as a means for the attainment of his own.