“The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. The ideal of democracy rests on the belief that the view which will direct government emerges from an independent and spontaneous process. It requires, therefore, the existence of a large sphere independent of majority control in which the opinions of the individuals are formed.” IfsShouldGovernmentIndividualBeliefProcessViewsExistenceOpinionDemocracyIdealsDirectIndependentMajorityMake SenseConceptionSpheresSpontaneousMajority Opinion Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
“If there is a soul, what is it, and where did it come from, and where does it go? Can anyone who is guided by his reason possibly imagine a soul independent of a body, or the place of its residence, or the character of it, or anything concerning it? If man is justified in any belief or disbelief on any subject, he is warranted in the disbelief in a soul. Not one scrap of evidence exists to prove any such impossible thing.” IfsMenDoeSoulReasonCharacterBodyBeliefImagineImpossibleAtheismSubjectsProveEvidenceIndependentPositive AtheismJustifiedDisbeliefScrapImpossible ThingsResidence Book:Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays Source: Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays
“Human life has no meaning independent of itself. There is no cosmic force or deity to give it meaning or significance. There is no ultimate destiny for man. Such a belief is an illusion of humankind's infancy. The meaning of life is what we choose to give it. Meaning grows out of human purposes alone. Nature provides us with an infinite range of opportunities, but it is only our vision and our action that select and realize those that we desire.” MenGivingHumansActionLife IsDesirePurposeOpportunityBeliefForceGrowsRealizingVisionDestinyAtheismIllusionUltimateInfiniteIndependentRangeHuman LifeMeaning Of LifeSignificanceCosmicHumankindDeitiesOur ActionsSelectInfancyLife Has No Meaning Author:Paul Kurtz
“That reality is 'independent' means that there is something in every experience that escapes our arbitrary control. If it be a sensible experience it coerces our attention; if a sequence, we cannot invert it; if we compare two terms we can come to only one result. There is a push, an urgency, within our very experience, against which we are on the whole powerless, and which drives us in a direction that is the destiny of our belief.” IfsMeanTwoWholeRealityBeliefTermResultsAttentionDestinyExperienceIndependentCompareSensibleRealismPowerlessArbitrarySequenceUrgencyCoerceInvert Book:The Meaning of Truth: Human Understanding Source: The Meaning of Truth: Human Understanding
“It is the long term investor who will in practice come in for the most criticism. For it is the essence of his behaviour that he should be eccentric, unconventional and rash in the eyes of the average opinion. If he is successful, that will only confirm the general belief in his rashness; and if in the short run he is unsuccessful, which is very likely, he will not receive much mercy. Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.” IfsThinkingShouldLongEyeRunningBeliefTermOpinionTeachPracticeSuccessfulFailingSucceedCriticismMercyEssenceIndependentInvestingAverageReputationLong TermInvestorsBehaviourWorldlyEccentricUnsuccessfulUnconventionalIndependent ThinkingRashnessWorldly Wisdom Author:John Maynard Keynes
“To act in an independent manner, you must begin to initiate action that you want to occur physically by creating it in your own being. This is done by combining belief, emotion and imagination, and forming them into a mental picture of the desired physical result.” WantDoneActionBeliefImaginationResultsEmotionCreatingIndependentCombiningInitiate Author:Seth