“Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare them for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood.” IfsMenWould BeParentRaceWatchesPowerFateChildhoodMinutesObjectsAuthorityAbsolutesContraryOppressionSecurePerpetualImmenseManhoodGratification Book:Democracy in America Source: Democracy in America
“The sole fact of having a school to train creative people is absolute lunacy... The idea of 'pedagogical vision' is ignoble, it has nothing to do with art, it's contrary to art. I really believe in teaching, despite what I say.” PeopleBelieveArtIdeasFactsSchoolEducationVisionCreativeTeachingAbsolutesTrainContraryDespiteSoleCreative PeopleIgnobleLunacy Author:Christian Boltanski
“Contrary to many of the rumors and innuendo in circulation, I wholeheartedly believe that Obama views Israels security as absolute.” BelieveViewsSecurityAbsolutesIsraelContraryRumorCirculationWholeheartedlyInnuendo Author:Edgar Bronfman, Sr.
“[H]e that thinks absolute power purifies men's blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need read the history of this, or any other age, to be convinced to the contrary.” ThinkingMenNeedsHumansAgeBloodHuman NatureAbsolutesConvincedContraryAbsolute PowerBaseness Book:The Second Treatise of Civil Government Source: The Second Treatise of Civil Government
“The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the world as a whole, are not absolute things, but on the contrary, are the phenomena of perception... If we were all alike: if we were millions of people saying do, re, mi, in unison, One poet would be enough... But we are not alone, and everything needs expounding all the time because, as people live and die, each one perceiving life and death for himself, and mostly by and in himself, there develops a curiosity about the perceptions of others. This is what makes it possible to go on saying new things about old things.” PeopleIfsWorldNeedsEnoughWholeWould BeDiesMillionsObjectsPoetGoes OnPerceptionAbsolutesCuriosityContraryLife And DeathNew ThingsNot AloneOld ThingsUnisonPerception Of Others Author:Wallace Stevens
“Extremes are for us as though they were not, and we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them. This is our true state; this is what makes us incapable of certain knowledge and of absolute ignorance... This is our natural condition, and yet most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desire to find solid ground and an ultimate sure foundation whereon to build a tower reaching to the Infinite. But our whole groundwork cracks, and the earth opens to abysses.” StatesWholeEarthDesireCertainNaturalKnowledgeConditionsIgnoranceUltimateAbsolutesInfiniteFoundationExtremesContraryReachingCracksTowersIncapableAbyssInclinationGroundworkCertain Knowledge Author:Blaise Pascal