The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.
It is the mark of an educated mind, to entertain a thought without accepting it.
What counts now are the value-less facts, the material and the rational. All else is regarded with condescension as being of only sentimental value.
The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence.
If one devalues rationality, the world tends to fall apart.
An optimist believes we live in the best possible of worlds.- A pessimist fears that this is true.
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
What, therefore, is a government at its best? It is a government that “governs” least and instead finds ways to mobilise the energies of our people.