“Under ordinary circumstances, bad art naturally gets sorted out and disappears. That is how history works when it is left alone to do its job.” ArtJobsLeftCircumstancesStandardsOrdinaryDisappearLeft Alone Author:Michael Kimmelman
“The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance lose their prestige, their influence disappears.” ShouldLosesLeaderAtheismInfluenceCircumstancesDegreesArgumentPositive AtheismDuesDisappearProofPrestige Book:The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind Source: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
“The highest greatness, surviving time and stone, is that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, generals and admirals, with the pomp of court and the circumstance of war, in the lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers of truth, though poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates human nature, and teaches the rights of man, so that "a government of the people, by the people, for the people, may not perish from the earth;" such a harbinger can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads co-extensive with the cause they served so well.” PeopleMenHumansWellsMayWarSoulGovernmentEarthCausesPoorTeachRightsHuman NatureExampleGreatnessCircumstancesFameHighestStonesSightCourtForgottenSpreadDisappearSurvivingPioneersCabinetsMonarchsLapsesRenownAdmiralHarbinger Author:Charles Sumner
“Monotheistic religions in the West have tended to conflate having a general orientation in life, having a specific theory of the world, having a sense of the positive meaningfulness of one's existence, and having a fixed set of rules for behavior, but these elements are in principle separable. ... The "metaphysical need," ... both Marx and Nietzsche held, is a historical phenomenon that arises under determinate circumstances, and could be expected to disappear under other circumstances that we could relatively easily envisage.” WorldNeedsExistencePrinciplesTheoryCircumstancesBehaviorElementsHistoricalWestDisappearExpectedAriseFixedPhenomenonMetaphysicalOrientationMeaningfulness Author:Raymond Geuss