“The errors of a wise man are literally more instructive than the truths of a fool. The wise man travels in lofty, far-seeing regions; the fool in low-lying, high-fenced lanes; retracing the footsteps of the former, to discover where he diviated, whole provinces of the universe are laid open to us; in the path of the latter, granting even that he has not deviated at all, little is laid open to us but two wheel-ruts and two hedges.” MenLittlesTwoWholeScienceLyingUniversePathWiseSeeingFoolLowsErrorsFormerWheelsLatterRegionsLanesFootstepsLoftyProvincesRutsTwo Wheels Book:The Works of Thomas Carlyle Source: The Works of Thomas Carlyle
“Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the every-day news of the times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana, they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the burning suns of the latter; they are not the creature of climate, neither are they confined to the slaveholding or the non-slaveholding States. Alike they spring up among the pleasure-hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever then their cause may be, it is common to the whole country.” MayCountryStatesWholeFormOrderCausesPleasureCommonSunLandMastersHabitCitizensCreaturesEternalNewsSpringAccountsEnglandSlaveClimateCommittedSnowFormerBurningLatterSouthernPeculiarSteadyHuntingConfinedOutrageLouisianaNew England Book:Lincoln: Political Writings and Speeches Source: Lincoln: Political Writings and Speeches
“The psychical condition of men's minds may be compared with a set of bells close together, and so arranged that in the ordinary man a bell rings only when one beside it sounds, and the vibration lasts only a moment. In the genius, when a bell sounds it vibrates so strongly that it sets in action the whole series, and remains in action throughout life. The latter kind of movement often gives rise to extraordinary conditions and absurd impulses, that may last for weeks together and that form the basis of the supposed kinship of genius with insanity.” MenGivingMindKindMayWholeMomentsActionTogetherLastsFormSoundWeekConditionsMovementGeniusOrdinaryBasesRemainsSeriesExtraordinaryRingsAbsurdImpulseInsanityLatterBellsVibrationsKinshipOrdinary ManVibrate Author:Otto Weininger
“Stoutly as we may affirm that our disasters and vices are chargeable to luck, we never dream of ascribing our meritorious deeds, in the slightest degree to its agency. In such cases we quite unconsciously blink out of sight the magic power of the latter principle, so wondrous and all-controlling in its influence at other times, and coolly appropriate to ourselves not merely the lion's share, but the whole glory of our position.” MayWholeDreamPrinciplesCasesMagicShareInfluencePositionDegreesGlorySightLuckVicesDeedsDisasterAgencyAppropriateLatterLionsBlinkWondrousMagic Powers Author:William Matthews
“The correct relationship between the higher and lower classes, the appropriate mutual interaction between the two is, as such, the true underlying support on which the improvement of the human species rests. The higher classes constitute the mind of the single large whole of humanity; the lower classes constitute its limbs; the former are the thinking and designing [ Entwerfende ] part, the latter the executive part.” ThinkingMindHumansTwoWholeHumanityClassSupportDesignHigherSpeciesImprovementFormerAppropriateLatterExecutivesMutualInteractionLimbsHuman SpeciesLower Class Author:Johann Gottlieb Fichte