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Jacques Barzun

Jacques Barzun Quotes

Historian

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Famous Jacques Barzun Quotes

“The one drawback to print is that the uniform finality of black on white leads the innocent to believe that every word so enshrined is true. And when these truths diverge from book to book (for the incentive to write and publish is also increased), the intellectual life is changed. From being more or less a duel, it becomes a free-for-all. The scrimmage makes for a blur of ideas, now accepted as a constant and fondly believed to be, like the free market, the ideal method for sifting truth.”

IdeasPrintingTruth TellingMisinformation Of The Masses
Book:From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present
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“Can an idea a notion as abstract as Relativism produce by itself the effects alleged? cause all the harm, destroy all the lives and reputations? I am as far as anyone can be from denying the power of ideas in history, but the suggestion that a philosophy (as Relativism is often called) has perverted millions and debased daily life is on the face of it absurd. No idea working alone has ever demoralized society, and there have been plenty of ideas simpler and more exciting than Relativism.”

Has BeensIdeasPhilosophyFacesLife IsCausesMillionsEffectsProduceExcitingNotionHarmAbsurdReputationPlentyNo IdeaAbstractDaily LifeSuggestionsRelativismPower Of IdeasDemoralizedWorking Alone
Book:The Culture We Deserve
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