“While there are many causes for which a state goes to war, its fundamental object can be epitomized as that of ensuring the continuance of its policy - in face of the determination of the opposing state to pursue a contrary policy. In the human will lies the source and mainspring of conflict.” HumansWarStatesFacesLyingCausesMilitaryPolicyObjectsSourceConflictDeterminationFundamentalsContraryPursueOpposingHuman WillContinuance Author:B. H. Liddell Hart
“Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare them for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood.” IfsMenWould BeParentRaceWatchesPowerFateChildhoodMinutesObjectsAuthorityAbsolutesContraryOppressionSecurePerpetualImmenseManhoodGratification Book:Democracy in America Source: Democracy in America
“La ve rite , comme la lumie' re, aveugle. Le mensonge, au contraire, est un beau cre puscule qui met chaque objet en valeur. Truth, like light, blinds. A lie, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight which shows the value of each object.” ShowsLightBeautifulLyingValuesObjectsMetsContraryTwilightRite Author:Albert Camus
“The object of a dialogical-liberterian action is not to 'dislodge' the oppressed from a mythological reality in order to 'bind' them to another reality. On the contrary, the object of dialogical action is to make it possible for the oppressed, by perceiving their adhesion, to opt to transform an unjust reality." "In order for the oppressed to unite they must first cut the umbilical cord of magic and myth which binds them to the world of oppression; the unity which links them to each other must be of a different nature.” WorldFirstsDifferentRealityActionOrderCuttingMagicObjectsUnityMythContraryOppressionLinksOppressedUnjustCordsUmbilical Cord Author:Paulo Freire
“It is important to understand what I mean by semiosis. All dynamic action, or action of brute force, physical or psychical, either takes place between two subjects, whether they react equally upon each other, or one is agent and the other patient, entirely or partially, or at any rate is a resultant of such actions between pairs. But by "semiosis" I mean, on the contrary, an action, or influence, which is, or involves, a cooperation of three subjects, such as a sign, its object, and its interpretant, this tri-relative influence not being in any way resolvable into actions between pairs.” WayMeanTwoImportantActionThreeForceInfluenceSubjectsObjectsPatientRateContraryAgentsPairsCooperationRelativeBrutesBrute Force Author:Charles Sanders Peirce
“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those ... who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.” StatesWholeGovernmentCareFormSpiritUnitedPowerUnited StatesSupportNovelFieldsObjectsTheoryFitAuthorityJudgmentLettersConstitutionAssumingUnionsCharityContraryWelfareProvidingPhilanthropyLegislationFederal GovernmentCalamitySubversivePropriety Author:Franklin Pierce
“I HAVE no patience with the hypothesis occasionally expressed, and often implied, especially in tales written to teach children to be good, that babies are born pretty much alike, and that the sole agencies in creating differences between boy and boy, and man and man, are steady application and moral effort. It is in the most unqualified manner that I object to pretensions of natural equality. The experiences of the nursery, the school, the University, and of professional careers, are a chain of proofs to the contrary.” MenChildrenSchoolBornNaturalDifferencesEffortMoralBoysCareersTeachWrittenObjectsBabyCreatingUniversityBe GoodProofContraryTalesChainsAgencyApplicationSteadySoleHypothesisPretensionNurseryImpliedUnqualifiedNo PatienceProfessional CareerI Have No Patience Book:Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry Into Its Laws and Consequences Source: Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry Into Its Laws and Consequences
“Beauty is, in some way, boring. Even if its concept changes through the ages... a beautiful object must always follow certain rules. A beautiful nose shouldn't be longer than that or shorter than that, on the contrary, an ugly nose can be as long as the one of Pinocchio, or as big as the trunk of an elephant, or like the beak of an eagle, and so ugliness is unpredictable, and offers an infinite range of possibility. Beauty is finite, ugliness is infinite like God.” IfsWayLongBigsAgeBeautifulCertainPossibilityObjectsOffersConceptsInfiniteUglyBoringContraryRangeNosesElephantsUnpredictableFiniteUglinessEaglesTrunksBeaksBeautiful Objects Author:Umberto Eco
“Tis a barbarous temper, and a sign of a very ill nature, to take delight in shocking any one: and, on the contrary, it is the mark of an amiable and a beneficent temper, to say all the kind things one can, without flattery or playing the hypocrite,--and what never fails of procuring the love and esteem of every one; which, next to doing good to a deserving object who wants it, is one of the greatest pleasures of this life.” WantKindNextLanguagePleasureFailingObjectsMarkIllDelightContraryEsteemThis LifeMannersTemperShockingFlatteryHypocriteDoing GoodDeservingAmiableGreatest Pleasures Author:Samuel Richardson
“Superficial knowledge ... is hurtful to those who possess true genius; for it necessarily draws them away from their main object, wastes their industry over details and subjects foreign to their needs and natural talent, and lastly does not serve, as they flatter themselves, to prove the breadth of their mind. In all ages there have been men of very moderate intelligence who knew much, and so on the contrary, men of the highest intelligence who knew very little. Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, nor knowledge a proof of genius.” MenNeedsMindLittlesDoeHas BeensAgeNaturalSubjectsTalentObjectsIgnoranceIndustryGeniusProveWasteHighestDrawsDetailsProofContrarySuperficialModeratesHurtfulBreadthNatural TalentTrue GeniusSuperficial Knowledge Author:Luc de Clapiers
“The nude gains its enduring value from the fact that it reconciles several contrary states. It takes the most sensual and immediately interesting object, the human body, and puts it out of reach of time and desire; it takes the most purely rational concept of which mankind is capable, mathematical order, and makes it a delight to the senses; and it takes the vague fears of the unknown and sweetens them by showing that the gods are like men and may be worshiped for their life-giving beauty rather than their death-dealing powers.” MenGivingHumansMayStatesFactsBodyDesireValuesOrderInterestingMankindObjectsCapableConceptsGainsEndureDelightContrarySensesRationalSensualMathematicalVagueHuman BodyReconcileFear Of The Unknown Author:Kenneth Clark