“The "determinist" swears that if we knew everything we should also be able to deduce and foretell the conduct of every man in every circumstance, and that is obvious enough. But the expression "know everything" means nothing.” IfsKnowsMenShouldMeanEnoughAbleExpressionCircumstancesObviousEvery ManSwear Author:Paul Valery
“Interruption, incoherence, surprise are the ordinary conditions of our life. They have even become real needs for many people, whose minds are no longer fed by anything but sudden changes and constantly renewed stimuli. We can no longer bear anything that lasts. We no longer know how to make boredom bear fruit. So the whole question comes down to this: can the human mind master what the human mind has made?” PeopleKnowsNeedsMindHumansMadeRealWholeLastsKnow HowOur LivesConditionsMastersBearsOrdinarySurpriseFruitBoredomFedsHuman MindStimulusInterruptionsIncoherenceSudden Change Author:Paul Valery
“War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.” PeopleKnowsWarPoetryKillingProfitAnti WarAntiwarMassacresKilling Each Other Author:Paul Valery
“The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best.” KnowsGivingIdeasDifferentPurposePsychologySocial PsychologyDifferent Ideas Author:Paul Valery
“Ignorance is a treasure of infinite price that most men squander, when they should cherish its least fragments; some ruin it by educating themselves, others, unable to so much as conceive of making use of it, let it waste away. Quite on the contrary, we should search for it assiduously in what we think we know best. Leaf through a dictionary or try to make one, and you will find that every word covers and masks a well so bottomless that the questions you toss into it arouse no more than an echo.” ThinkingKnowsMenShouldTryingWellsUseEducationIgnoranceWasteInfiniteContraryTreasureRuinsMaskCherishEchoesLeafsFragmentsDictionaryToss Author:Paul Valery
“Liberty is the hardest test that one can inflict on a people. To know how to be free is not given equally to all men and all nations.” PeopleKnowsMenGivenNationsLibertyKnow HowTestsEqualityHardestPropaganda Author:Paul Valery
