Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

What one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity.

What one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity.

No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice read more

No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice man who wishes that she were not.

If you pray hard enough, water will run uphill. How hard? Why, hard enough to make water run uphill, of read more

If you pray hard enough, water will run uphill. How hard? Why, hard enough to make water run uphill, of course!

However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.

However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.

Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that read more

Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that without such structuring of complex systems into sub-assemblies, there could be no order and stability- except the order of a dead universe filled with a uniformly distributed gas.

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.

The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized read more

The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized the parts, the more elaborate co-ordination is needed to create a well-balanced whole. The ultimate criterion of the value of a functional whole is the degree of its internal harmony or integratedness, whether the "functional whole" is a biological species or a civilization or an individual. A whole is defined by the pattern of relations between its parts, not by the sum of its parts; and a civilization is not defined by the sum of its science, technology, art and social organization, but by the total pattern which they form, and the degree of harmonious integration in that pattern.

Society is like a large piece of frozen water; and skating well
is the great art of social life.

Society is like a large piece of frozen water; and skating well
is the great art of social life.