“What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of one's knowledge, and what is to be their end? What can be more deeply disheartening than to wonder whether one's soul is, perhaps, a material thing, like a stone or a reptile, corruptible like these base creatures? Is there not more strength and greatness of mind in admitting the idea of a being superior to all other beings, who has made them all and to whom all owe their existence; of a being supremely perfect, who is pure, who had no beginning and can have no ending, of whom our soul is the image and, so to speak, a portion, being a spiritual and immortal thing?” IfsMenMindMayDoeMadeIdeasSoulEndsAbleSpiritualPerfectDoubtSubjectsMaterialsPureProveCreaturesAll ThingsStonesCorruptionSuperiorsImmortalDiscouragingGrandeurStrength Of MindReptiles Author:Jean de la Bruyere
“Scientists animated by the purpose of proving that they are purposeless constitute an interesting subject for study.” PurposeInterestingStudySubjectsProveScientistAnimated Book:Whitehead's The Function of Reason Source: Whitehead's The Function of Reason
“If there is a soul, what is it, and where did it come from, and where does it go? Can anyone who is guided by his reason possibly imagine a soul independent of a body, or the place of its residence, or the character of it, or anything concerning it? If man is justified in any belief or disbelief on any subject, he is warranted in the disbelief in a soul. Not one scrap of evidence exists to prove any such impossible thing.” IfsMenDoeSoulReasonCharacterBodyBeliefImagineImpossibleAtheismSubjectsProveEvidenceIndependentPositive AtheismJustifiedDisbeliefScrapImpossible ThingsResidence Book:Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays Source: Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays
“There is yet another kind of matrimonial dialect (which naturally succeeds this of talking at each other), which may very properlybe styled The Language Contradictory.... In the former, however plain the object of satire may be exhibited to the whole company, yet there always remains some little covering.... But in this last method, the defiance becomes more open and the impetuosity with which these contradictions are uttered (although the subjects of them are often of the most indifferent nature) evidently prove that they arise from passion.” KindMayLittlesWholeLastsPassionLanguageCompanyTalkingMarriageSubjectsObjectsSucceedProveMethodRemainsAriseFormerContradictionSatireIntoleranceIndifferentContradictoryCoveringDefianceDialect Author:Sarah Fielding
“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
“In order to write about the machine you have to know it, to live with it, to love it (or hate it). I think that true writing could be done on industrial subjects by people who work in industry, who are firmly linked with it. But ... and here is the opposite 'but', the technology of literary craftsmanship is itself a very fine and complex matter. Qualified specialists from industry prove themselves dilettantes in the field of literature. The needed synthesis is not yet in sight.” PeopleThinkingKnowsInspirationalWritingArtMatterDoneHateOrderLiteratureTechnologySubjectsFieldsFineIndustryNeededProveMachinesOppositesSightComplexesLinkedQualifiedSpecialistsSynthesisCraftsmanshipDilettantes Author:Yevgeny Zamyatin
“Experience proves that anyone who has studied geometry is infinitely quicker to grasp difficult subjects than one who has not.” DifficultSubjectsProveGeometryDifficult Subjects Author:Plato