Blaise Pascal | Truth is so obscure in these times
"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it."
Blaise Pascal
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Carl J. Burckhardt | It is one of the most difficult things
"It is one of the most difficult things that can be imposed on a thinking man, to have to witness the course of a historical process among ignorant people, whose inevitable outcome he has long known with clarity. The time of the error of others, of false hopes, of blindly committed mistakes then becomes very long."
Carl J. Burckhardt
Maximilien de Robespierre | The secret of liberty
"The secret of liberty is to enlighten men, as that of tyranny is to keep them in ignorance."
Maximilien de Robespierre
Anselm Feuerbachn | No one judges more harshly than the uneducated
"No one judges more harshly than the uneducated; he knows neither reasons nor counter-reasons and always believes himself to be in the right."
Anselm Friedrich Feuerbach
George Bernard Shaw | We are more gullible and superstitious today
"We are more gullible and superstitious today than we were in the Middle Ages, and an example of modern credulity is the widespread belief that the Earth is round. The average man can advance not a single reason for thinking that the Earth is round. He merely swallows this theory because there is something about it that appeals to the twentieth century mentality."
George Bernard Shaw
Jonathan Swift | When a great genius appears in the world
"When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) irischer Schriftsteller
"Das Auftauchen eines wahrhaft genialen Geistes können Sie untrüglich daran erkennen, dass sich sofort alle Nieten gegen ihn verbünden."
Bill Hicks | The problem isn’t a lack of money food water or land
"The problem isn't a lack of money food water or land. The problem is that you've given control of these things to a group of greedy psychopaths who care more about maintaining their own power than helping mankind"
Bill Hicks
Marianne Williamson | Our Greatest Fear
"It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson
Bertolt Brecht | Bank robbery is an initiative of amateurs
"Bank robbery is an initiative of amateurs. True professionals establish a bank."
Bertolt Brecht
John Herschel | In entering upon any scientific pursuit, one of the student’s first endeavours
"In entering upon any scientific pursuit, one of the student’s first endeavours ought to be, to prepare his mind for the reception of truth, by dismissing, or at least loosening his hold on, all such crude and hastily adopted notions respecting the objects and relations he is about to examine as may tend to embarrass or mislead him.; and to strengthen himself, by something of an effort and a resolve, for the unprejudiced admission of any conclusion which shall appear to be supported by careful observation and logical argument, even should it prove of a nature adverse to notions he may have previously formed for himself, or taken up, without examination, on the credit of others."
John Frederick William Herschel (A Treatise on Astronomy 1833)
Marcus Aurelius | The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius
Dr. Tim O’Shea | The shackles of mental control
"The shackles of mental control, perceptual filtering and cultural conditioning are harder to throw off today than ever before.
We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever seen. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our entire consciousness seems to be subtly and relentlessly erased. The doors of our perception are carefully and precisely controlled.
It is an exhaustive and endless task to constantly explain to people how most things of their everyday wisdom are scientifically planted in the public consciousness via a thousand media clips."
Dr. Tim O’Shea
Albert Schweitzer | I am a free man
"Under no circumstances do I want to be merely a ′common′ man. I have the right to be exceptional – if I can. I want opportunities, not security. I do not want to be a citizen who is humiliated and dulled by government support. I want to encounter risk, have desires and fulfill them, suffer disaster and enjoy success. I refuse to sell my own determination for a pittance. I would prefer to face life’s difficulties rather than lead a secure existence. I prefer the exciting tension of my own success to the dull calm of Utopia. I want neither to sacrifice my freedom for benefits nor my human dignity for charity. I have learned to think and act for myself, to look the world squarely in the face and to recognize that this is my achievement. This is what is meant when we say: I am a free man!"
Albert Schweitzer
Ayn Rand | you may know that your society is doomed
"Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion- When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing- when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors- when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed."
Ayn Rand
Edward Bernays | The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."
Edward Bernays