“He was astute enough to realise that ‘in a modern totalitarian system of government, there is no limit to the principle of state security, so that anyone who is in charge of it is bound to acquire almost unrestricted power.”
Source: The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS Butcher of Prague
“It is a week since I arrived in Mecco, and for the first time I have leisure to write up my journal. The life of a Foreign Observer is very strenuous, for the Meccanian method of seeing everything according to programme and timetable is very fatiguing. Already I feel that a holiday will be welcome at the end of my tour. In the whole of this vast city of Mecco there is nothing casual, nothing incidental, nothing unprovided for. Although I am only a spectator, I feel like a little cog in the huge complicated machine. The machine seems to absorb everything; the individual counts for nothing. That is perhaps the reason why it seems impossible to get into contact with any human being other than the officials who instruct me and conduct me every moment of my time. I begin to wonder whether the individual Meccanian really exists, or whether his personality is merged in the official personality which is all that is visible to me.”
Source: Meccania, the Super-State
“Girls’ bodies were inspected, documented, and shared—because the state believed innocence was something it could measure.”
Source: Love in Communism: A Young Woman's Adult Story
“Any connoisseur knows you've got to be drunk to really enjoy a good romance.”
Source: Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy
“I went to interview a man with a high reputation for wisdom, because I felt that here if anywhere I should succeed in disproving the oracle and pointing out to my divine authority 'You said that I was the wisest of men, but here is a man who is wiser than I am.' Well, I gave a thorough examination to this person... and in conversation with him I formed the impression that although in many people's opinion, and especially in his own, he appeared to be wise, in fact he was not. Then when I began to try to show him that he only thought he was wise and was not really so, my efforts were resented both by him and by many of the other people present. However, I reflected as I walked away: 'Well, I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know... [A]s I pursued my investigation at the god's command,... my honest impression was... that the people with the greatest reputations were almost entirely deficient, while others who were supposed to be their inferiors were much better qualified in practical intelligence.”
Source: Apology, Crito And Phaedo Of Socrates.
“In order to reach for the stars, you must have both feet planted firmly on the ground.”
Source: Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life
“Wrap yourself in love like a blanket.”
“I will not underrate the importance [of equipment]... But I insist that the trained mind is the first thing, and for scouting a fool on horseback is worth less than a wise man on foot.”
Source: National Life from the Standpoint of Science
“Keep your section solvent, keep your job.”
Source: Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Volume 132, Issue 6, June 2012
“...cultivation of the right mindset and the use of the right mental attitude are the ultimate goals that will deliver to us the life we have only dreamed of thus far...”
Source: Reboot Your Money Mindset: Surprising Strategies For Mastering Wealth