“Piety is not an end, but a means: a means of attaining the highest culture by the purest tranquility of soul. Hence it may be observed that those who set up piety as an end and object are mostly hypocrites.” MayMeanSoulEndsCultureObjectsHighestTranquilityHypocritePiety Book:Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)
“Calling something exotic emphasizes its distance from the reader. We don't refer to things as exotic if we think of them as ordinary. We call something exotic if it's so different that we see no way to emulate it or understand how it came to be. We call someone exotic if we aren't especially interested in viewing them as people - just as objects representing their culture.” PeopleIfsThinkingWayDifferentCultureObjectsReaderCallingOrdinaryDistanceRepresentingExoticEmulate Author:N.K. Jemisin
“Historically, art has always had a market. When one medieval fiefdom defeated another they would drag back its jewels, gold, tapestries and art objects as the spoils of war. Art equaled power, riches and culture.” ArtWarCultureObjectsGoldRichesDragDefeatedJewelsSpoilMedievalTapestry Author:Arne Glimcher
“Ours has been called a culture of narcissism. The label is apt but can be misleading. It reads colloquially as selfishness and self-absorption. But these images do not capture the anxiety behind our search for mirrors. We are insecure in our understanding of ourselves, and this insecurity breeds a new preoccupation with the question of who we are. We search for ways to see ourselves. The computer is a new mirror, the first psychological machine. Beyond its nature as an analytical engine lies its second nature as an evocative object.” WayFirstsHas BeensSelfLyingCultureUnderstandingBehindsObjectsAnxietyComputerMachinesMirrorsPsychologicalLabelsSelfishnessWho We AreInsecurityCaptureEnginesNarcissismInsecureMisleadPreoccupationAbsorptionSelf Absorption Book:The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit Source: The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit
“The member of a culture ... purposely avoids the relationship of intimacy; he wants the object somehow depicted and fictionalized. ... He is embarrassed when this is taken out of its context of proper sentiments and presented bare, for he feels that this is a reintrusion of that world which his whole conscious effort has sought to banish. Forms and conventions are the ladder of ascent. And hence the speechlessness of the man of culture when he beholds the barbarian tearing aside some veil which is half adornment, half concealment.” MenWorldWantFeelsWholeFormCultureEffortHalfTakenObjectsHe ManMembersConsciousIntimacySentimentsConventionsEmbarrassedVeilsLaddersBarbariansAscentConcealmentAdornment Author:Richard M. Weaver
“Tracing the progress of mankind in the ascending path of civilization, and moral and intellectual culture, our fathers found that the divine ordinance of government, in every stage of the ascent, was adjustable on principles of common reason to the actual condition of a people, and always had for its objects, in the benevolent councils of the divine wisdom, the happiness, the expansion, the security, the elevation of society, and the redemption of man. They sought in vain for any title of authority of man over man, except of superior capacity and higher morality.” PeopleMenReasonGovernmentCultureFoundFatherCommonMoralPrinciplesPathProgressConditionsMankindStageSecurityObjectsDivineHigherMoralityCivilizationAuthorityIntellectualCapacityIndependenceSuperiorsRedemptionVainTitlesExpansionCouncilOur FatherBenevolentIndependence DayElevationAscentOrdinancesTracingAscendingDivine Wisdom Author:William M. Evarts