Boys and young men acquire readily the moral sentiments of their social milieu, whatever these sentiments may be |
By religion I mean a set of beliefs held as dogmas, dominating the conduct of life, going beyond or contrary to evidence, and inculcated by methods which are emotional or authoritarian, not intellectual |
By self-interest, Man has become gregarious, but in instinct he has remained to a great extent solitary; hence the need of religion and morality to reinforce self-interest |
Can a society in which thought and technique are scientific persist for a long period, as, for example, ancient Egypt persisted, or does it necessarily contain within itself forces which must bring either decay or explosion? |
Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm. |
Change is scientific, progress is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy. |
Civilized life has altogether grown too tame, and, if it is to be stable, it must provide a harmless outlets for the impulses which our remote ancestors satisfied in hunting |
Civilized people cannot fully satisfy their sexual instinct without love |
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. |
Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race |
Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves. |
Cruelty is in theory a perfectly adequate ground for divorce, but it may be interpreted so as to become absurd |
Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who'll get the blame. |
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. |
Do not feel certain of anything |