“This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. Our most persistent and spectacular efforts are concerned not with the preservation of what we are but with the building up of an imaginary conception of ourselves in the opinion of others. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter.” MenDesireEffortOpinionBuildingTheoryConcernedPraiseInsightConceptionImaginaryShelterPreservationPersistentImperativesSpectacularBuilding Up Author:Eric Hoffer
“The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. The ideal of democracy rests on the belief that the view which will direct government emerges from an independent and spontaneous process. It requires, therefore, the existence of a large sphere independent of majority control in which the opinions of the individuals are formed.” IfsShouldGovernmentIndividualBeliefProcessViewsExistenceOpinionDemocracyIdealsDirectIndependentMajorityMake SenseConceptionSpheresSpontaneousMajority Opinion Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
“It must be a very dour and pessimistic astronomer indeed who seriously doubts that there must be countless numbers of intelligent civilizations scattered throughout the universe on other planets which are orbiting around other stars. An attitude which asserts that man is the only intelligent life form in the universe is intolerably arrogant today ... anyone who holds such an opinion today is, fortunately for those who like to see some progress in human conceptions, something of an intellectual freak equivalent to a believer in the Flat Earth Theory.” MenHumansTodayEarthFormUniverseStarsNumbersAttitudeOpinionDoubtProgressPlanetsTheoryCivilizationIntellectualIntelligentBelieverFlatsConceptionFreakArrogantPessimisticAstronomersIntelligent Life Author:Robert K. G. Temple
“The habit of committing our thoughts to writing is a powerful means of expanding the mind, and producing a logical and systematic arrangement of our views and opinions. It is this which gives the writer a vast superiority, as to the accuracy and extent of his conceptions, over the mere talker. No one can ever hope to know the principles of any art or science thoroughly who does not write as well as read upon the subject.” KnowsGivingWritingMindWellsMeanDoeArtViewsPowerfulOpinionPrinciplesSubjectsHabitMereLogicalConceptionArrangementsSuperiorityOur ThoughtsExpandingAccuracySystematicTalkers Author:William Blaikie
“All the followers of science are fully persuaded that the processes of investigation, if only pushed far enough, will give one certain solution to each question to which they can be applied.... This great law is embodied in the conception of truth and reality. The opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed to by all who investigate is what we mean by the truth, and the object represented in this opinion is the real.” IfsGivingMeanRealEnoughRealityTruthLawScienceCertainProcessOpinionObjectsSolutionsConceptionFollowersInvestigationRealismTruth And Reality Book:Chance, love, and logic philosophical essays Source: Chance, love, and logic philosophical essays
“It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.” YearsChristianMoralOpinionMiddleCenturyDignityCurrentsBelieverConceptionTwentieth CenturyCalamity Book:The Knowledge of the Holy Source: The Knowledge of the Holy