The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf. |
The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent Philosophers for many ages. As a man, we may believe him admitted to the communion of saints; but as a philosopher he needs a long residence in a scientific purgatory |
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. |
The professional moralist in our day is a man of less than average intelligence |
The professors must not prevent us from realizing that history is fun, and that the most bizarre things really happen |
The pursuit of knowledge is, I think, mainly actuated by love of power |
The qualities most needed are charity and tolerance, not some form of fanatical faith such as is offered to us by the various rampant isms |
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses |
The root of the matter… the thing I mean… is love, Christian love, or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide for action, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty. |
The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile. |
The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible |
The slave is doomed to worship time and fate and death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. |
The splendor of human life, I feel sure, is greater to those who are not dazzled by the divine radiance |
The teacher, like the artist and the philosopher, can perform his work adequately only if he feels himself to be an individual directed by an inner creative impulse, not dominated and fettered by an outside authority. |
The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilized men. |