“Since the Greeks the predominant attitude of thinkers towards intellectual activity was to glorify it insofar as (like aesthetic activity) it finds its satisfaction in itself, apart from any attention to the advantages it may procure. Most thinkers would have agreed with Renan's verdict that the man who loves science for its fruits commits the worst of blasphemies against that divinity. The modern clercs have violently torn up this charter. They proclaim the intellectual functions are only respectable to the extent that they are bound up with the pursuit of concrete advantage.” MenMayAttentionAttitudeModernWorstHe ManActivityIntellectualAdvantageFunctionFruitBoundsSatisfactionPursuitCommitGreekDivinityThinkerAestheticConcreteTornRespectableGlorifyBlasphemyCharterVerdictScience Love Author:Julien Benda
“In a democracy such as ours the leading minds seldom achieve a place of permanent influence. And the men who sit in Congress or even in the White House are usually not our leading minds. They are not the thinkers. Still less have they time for reflection.” MenMindStillsGovernmentHouseWhiteDemocracyInfluenceAchieveHe ManReflectionCongressPermanentWhite HouseThinker Book:My Several Worlds: A Personal Record Source: My Several Worlds: A Personal Record
“The man of genius whether as artist or thinker requires a mass of accidental variations to select from and a rigidly selective process of attention.” MenArtistProcessAttentionHe ManGeniusMassThinkerVariationSelectSelective Author:Boris Sidis
“Is there any man that thinks in chains like the man who calls himself a free-thinker? Is there any man so credulous as the man who will not believe in the Bible? He swallows a ton of difficulties, and yet complains that we have swallowed an ounce of them. He has much more need of faith of a certain sort than we have, for skepticism has far harder problems than faith.” ThinkingMenNeedsBelieveProblemCertainHe ManDifficultyHarderComplainingChainsThinkerSkepticismFree Thinkers Author:Charles Spurgeon