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The Life of the Mind

Book by Hannah Arendt · 3 quotes · Appearances, Concealment, Fascism

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The Life of the Mind Quotes

“By shielding people against the dangers of examination, it teaches them to hold fast to whatever the prescribed rules of conduct may be at a given time in a given society. What people then get used to is not so much the content of the rules, a close examination of which would always lead them into perplexity, as the possession of rules under which to subsume particulars. If somebody appears who, for whatever purposes, wishes to abolish the old values or virtues, he will find that easy enough provided he offers a new code and he will need relatively little force and no persuasion—that is proof that the new values are better than the old—to impose it. The more firmly men hold to the old code, the more eager will they be to assimilate themselves to the new one. Which means that, in practice, the readiest to obey will be those who were the most respectable pillars of society.”

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“The truth is not only do appearances never reveal what lies beneath them of their own accord, but also, generally speaking, they never just reveal; they also conceal. No thing, no side of a thing shows itself except by actively hiding the others. They expose and they also protect from exposure and as far as what lies beneath is concerned, this protection may even be their most important function. This is true for living things, whose surface hides and protects the inner organs that are their source of life.”

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Book:The Life of the Mind
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