Nothing can save us from a perpetual headlong fall into a bottomless abyss but a solid footing of dogma; and we no sooner agree to... that than we find that the only trustworthy dogma is that there is no dogma.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The subject of sex is a remarkable one, since, though its phenomena concern us so much, both directly and indirectly, and, sooner ...or later, it occupies the thoughts of all, yet all mankind, as it were, agree to be silent about it, at least the sexes commonly one to another. One of the most interesting of all human facts is veiled more completely than any mystery. It is treated with such secrecy and awe as surely do not go to any religion. I believe that it is unusual even for the most intimate friends to communicate the pleasures and anxieties connected with this fact,--much as the external affair of love, its comings and goings, are bruited.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers,... completely cut off from our habits and friends.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. They agree to live in it. The ...air there is nauseating: they can breathe it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always think what is true and do what is right, on condition of being tu...rned into a sort of clock and would up every morning before I got out of bed, I should instantly close with the offer.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is neither possible nor desirable to be always attuned to the moods of children because this thwarts their need to test and enr...ich their individuality by standing up to adult authority. What is possible and desirable is to cultivate an attitude of partnership: to be willing to listen, acknowledge that parents and children at times have different goals, try to reconcile the differences, and agree to disagree if this is not possible.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
[Children] do not yet lie to themselves and therefore have not entered upon that important tacit agreement which marks admission i...nto the adult world, to wit, that I will respect your lies if you will agree to let mine alone. That unwritten contract is one of the clear dividing lines between the world of childhood and the world of adulthood.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »