“Oppression tries to defend itself by its utility. But we have seen that it is one of the lies of the serious mind to attempt to give the word "useful" an absolute meaning; nothing is useful if it is not useful to man; nothing is useful to man if the latter is not in a position to define his own ends and values, if he is not free.” IfsMenGivingTryingMindEndsLyingValuesPositionSeriousAbsolutesOppressionLatterUtilityMeaning Nothing Book:The Ethics of Ambiguity Source: The Ethics of Ambiguity
“The Devil's methods of opposition are those of alliance and antagonism, and the only serious one is the first. Let us beware of it. Do not let us imagine that we can take into our fellowship and enlist under one banner men who simply affirm truth about Jesus, unless in their own lives there is an absolute loyalty to the Lord Christ. Antagonism is the creation of force for the kingdom of God. Put a man in prison for Christ's sake, and the earthquake will surely follow, and the work will spread.” MenFirstsJesusForceChristLordImagineCreationSeriousDevilAbsolutesMethodPrisonSakeSpreadLoyaltyKingdomsOppositionImagine ThatFellowshipKingdom Of GodAlliancesEarthquakesBannerAntagonism Author:G. Campbell Morgan
“Take the serious side of Disney, the Confucian side of Disney. It's in having taken an ethoswhere you have the values of courage and tenderness asserted in a way that everybody can understand. You have got an absolute genius there. You have got a greater correlation of nature than you have had since the time of Alexander the Great.” WayValuesSidesTakenGreaterSeriousGeniusAbsolutesTendernessCorrelationConfucian Author:Ezra Pound
“Do you call it doubting to write down on a piece of paper that you doubt? If so, doubt has nothing to do with any serious business. But do not make believe; if pedantry has not eaten all the reality out of you, recognize, as you must, that there is much that you do not doubt, in the least. Now that which you do not at all doubt, you must and do regard as infallible, absolute truth.” IfsWritingBelieveRealityDoubtPiecesSeriousPaperAbsolutesRegardSkepticismInfallibleMake BelieveAbsolute TruthSerious BusinessPedantry Book:Selected Writings (Values in a Universe of Chance) Source: Selected Writings (Values in a Universe of Chance)
“Even if the being is not entirely purified, varieties of inspirations and powers may come down from above but this may lead to serious errors. Inspirations from above mixing with the impurities from below get all muddled up and the sadhak takes this for an absolute command. Many a sadhak has thus fallen into danger. Therefore, one must particularly lay stress on the purification of the being.” IfsMayInspirationDangerSeriousStressAbsolutesLaysErrorsCommandVarietyFallenMixingPurificationImpurity Author:Sri Aurobindo
“You run an ad claiming that [Mitt] Romney is an absolute unfeeling, mean-spirited animal hater because in the example they gave he put his dog on the roof of the station wagon during the family vacation. Why does it work? Why did it stick?And there is an answer.When they [Democrates] ran the ads about guy's wife dying with cancer...? Remember this? This was a serious series of ads, and it was deadly effective.” MeanDoeRunningRememberGuyAnswersAnimalWifeDyingDogExampleSeriousAbsolutesSticksSeriesCancerRanStationsAdsVacationRoofRomneySpiritedWagonsUnfeelingMean SpiritedFamily Vacation Author:Rush Limbaugh