“The constitutional questions are in the first instance not questions of right but questions of might.” FirstsMightInstance Author:Ferdinand Lassalle
“If you'll think about various series you've read, can you think of any instance in which, say, the tenth volume of the series is notably better than the first nine? I can't.” IfsThinkingFirstsI CanSeriesVariousNineInstanceVolume Author:Thomas Perry
“Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of human activities, in habits and practices. And each change in the actions of those affected in the first instance will require further adjustments that will gradually extend through the whole of society. Every change thus in a sense creates a "problemfor society, even though no single individual perceives it as such; it is gradually "solvedby the establishment of a new overall adjustment.” FirstsHumansKindWholeUseActionIndividualPracticeSocietyConditionsHabitActivityResourcesInstancePerceiveAffectedEstablishmentAdjustmentHuman Activity Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
“Book burning is a charming old custom, hallowed by antiquity. It has been practiced for centuries by fascists, communists, atheists, school children, rival authors, and tired librarians. Like everything of importance since the invention of the cloak and the shroud, its origins are cloaked in mystery and shrouded in secrecy. Some scholars believe that the first instance of book burning occurred in the Middle Ages, when a monk was trying to illuminate a manuscript. All agree that book burning was almost non-existent during the period when books were made of stone.” TryingFirstsBelieveChildrenHas BeensMadeBookAgeSchoolMysteryMiddleCenturyPeriodsStonesImportanceAgreeTiredAtheistInventionInstanceBurningCustomsCommunistScholarCharmingMonkRivalsSecrecyMiddle AgesLibrarianFascistsAntiquityManuscriptsCloaksShroudsBook Burning Author:Richard Armour
“I am never very forward in offering spiritual consolation to any one in distress or disease. I believe that such resources, to be of any service, must be self-evolved in the first instance. I am something of the Quaker's mind in this, and am inclined to wait for the spirit.” MindFirstsBelieveSelfSpiritualSpiritI BelieveWaitingDiseaseResourcesInstanceOfferingDistressConsolationQuaker Book:Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Source: Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“In obedience to the feeling of reality, we shall insist that, in the analysis of propositions, nothing "unreal" is to be admitted. But, after all, if there is nothing unreal, how, it may be asked, could we admit anything unreal? The reply is that, in dealing with propositions, we are dealing in the first instance with symbols, and if we attribute significance to groups of symbols which have no significance, we shall fall into the error of admitting unrealities, in the only sense in which this is possible, namely, as objects described.” IfsFirstsMayFeelingsRealityFallGroupsObjectsErrorsInstanceSymbolsObedienceAnalysisSignificanceAttributesPropositionsUnrealAdmittingUnreality Book:Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy Source: Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy
“Poetry is a bad medium for philosophy. Everything in the philosophical poem has to satisfy irreconcilable requirements: for instance, the last demand that we should make of philosophy (that it be interesting) is the first we make of a poem; the philosophical poet has an elevated and methodical, but forlorn and absurd air as he works away at his flying tank, his sewing-machine that also plays the piano.” ShouldFirstsPhilosophyPlayLastsInterestingAirPoetDemandMachinesPhilosophicalFlyingAbsurdMediumsInstancePianoPoetry IsRequirementsTanksSewingForlornMethodical Author:Randall Jarrell