“Disgust is expressed by violence, and it is to be noted of our intellectual temper that violence is a quality which is felt to have a peculiarly intellectual sanction. Our preference, even as articulated by those who are most mild in their persons, is increasingly for the absolute and extreme, of which we feel violence to be the true sign. The gentlest of us will know that the tigers of wrath are to be preferred to the horses of instruction and will consider it intellectual cowardice to take into account what happens to those who ride tigers.” KnowsFeelsPersonsHappensFeltQualityViolenceIntellectualAccountsHorseAbsolutesExtremesTemperInstructionCowardiceDisgustingTigersPreferenceWrathSanctions Author:Lionel Trilling
“David Irving has consistenly applied an evidential double standard, demanding absolute documentary proof to convict the Germans (as when he sought to show that Hitler was not responsible for the Holocaust), while relying on circumstantial evidence to condemn the British (as in his account of the Allied bombing of Dresden).” ShowsStandardsEvidenceAccountsAbsolutesResponsibleBritishProofHolocaustDocumentariesBombingDouble StandardBritish HistoryDresdenConvictsCircumstantial Evidence Book:History in Our Time Source: History in Our Time
“Our friends should be our incentives to right, but not only our guiding, but our prophetic, stars. To love by right is much, to love by faith is more; both are the entire love, without which heart, mind, and soul cannot be alike satisfied. We love and ought to love one another, not merely for the absolute worth of each, but on account of a mutual fitness of temporary character.” ShouldMindHeartSoulCharacterStarsFriendsOughtAccountsAbsolutesSatisfiedMutualTemporaryIncentivesLove One AnotherPropheticHeart Mind And Soul Author:Margaret Fuller
“As soon as the theoretician attempts to take account of so-called 'utility' and 'reality' instead of absolute truth, his work will cease to be a polar star of seeking humanity and instead will become a prescription for everyday life.” RealityHumanityStarsAccountsAbsolutesEverydaySeekingCeaseEveryday LifeUtilityPrescriptionsAbsolute Truth Book:Mein Kampf Source: Mein Kampf
“A modern theory of knowledge which takes account of the relational as distinct from the merely relative character of all historical knowledge must start with the assumption that there are spheres of thought in which it is impossible to conceive of absolute truth existing independently of the values and position of the subject and unrelated to the social context.” CharacterValuesSocialKnowledgeImpossibleModernSubjectsPositionTheoryAccountsAbsolutesHistoricalAssumptionRelativeSpheresAbsolute TruthTheory Of KnowledgeHistorical Knowledge Author:Karl Mannheim
“Any measurement must take into account the position of the observer. There is no such thing as measurement absolute, there is only measurement relative.” JusticePositionDiversityAccountsAbsolutesSocial JusticeRelativeObserversMeasurement Author:Jeanette Winterson
“When a man has fulfilled all four of these requisites-to be wide awake, to have fear, respect, and absolute assurance-there are no mistakes for which he will have to account; under such conditions his actions lose the blundering quality of the acts of a fool. If such a man fails, or suffers a defeat, he will have lost only a battle, and there will be no pitiful regrets over that.” IfsMenActionSufferingLostLosesMistakeQualityCourageFourFailingConditionsRegretFoolBattleRespectAccountsAbsolutesDefeatWideAwakeFulfilledAssurancePitifulWide Awake Author:Carlos Castaneda
“Sarcastic Science, she would like to know, In her complacent ministry of fear, How we propose to get away from here When she has made things so we have to go Or be wiped out. Will she be asked to show Us how by rocket we may hope to steer To some star off there, say, a half light-year Through temperature of absolute zero? Why wait for Science to supply the how When any amateur can tell it now? The way to go away should be the same As fifty million years ago we came- If anyone remembers how that was I have a theory, but it hardly does.” IfsKnowsWayShouldYearsMayDoeMadeShowsLightRememberScienceStarsWaitingHalfMillionsTheoryYears AgoAccountsAbsolutesFiftyGet AwaySarcasticGoing AwayZeroMinistryTemperatureProposeRocketsSteersComplacentLight Years Author:Robert Frost