The king said, -Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman whose son was alive... said to the king -because compassion for her son burned within her - -Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him! The other said, -It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it. Then the king responded: -Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Musick is certainly a very agreeable Entertainment, but if it would take the entire Possession of our Ears, if it would make us in...capable of hearing Sense, if it would exclude Arts that have a much greater Tendency to the Refinement of human Nature; I must confess I would allow it no better Quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his Common-wealth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
But among all our Methods of moving Pity or Terror, there is none so absurd and barbarous, and what more exposes us to the Contemp...t and Ridicule of our Neighbours, than that dreadful butchering of one another, which is so very frequent upon the English Stage. To delight in seeing Men stabbed, poisoned, racked, or impaled, is certainly the Sign of a cruel Temper: And as this is often practised before the British Audience, several French Criticks, who think these are grateful Spectacles to us, take Occasion from them to represent us a People that delight in Blood.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Therefore even the fool agrees that that than which a greater cannot be thought exists in the understanding, because he understand...s this when he hears it and whatever is understood is in the understanding. And certainly that than which a greater cannot be thought cannot exist only in the understanding. For if it exists only in the understanding, then it can be thought to exist in reality, which is greater. Therefore, if that than which a greater cannot be thought is in the understanding only, then that than which a greater cannot be thought can be thought to be greater. But certainly this is impossible.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
... the loss of belief in future states is politically, though certainly not spiritually, the most significant distinction between... our present period and the centuries before. And this loss is definite. For no matter how religious our world may turn again, or how much authentic faith still exists in it, or how deeply our moral values may be rooted in our religious systems, the fear of hell is no longer among the motives which would prevent or stimulate the actions of a majority.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is quite gratifying to feel guilty if you haven't done anything wrong: how noble! Whereas it is rather hard and certainly depre...ssing to admit guilt and to repent.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
But then in what way are things called good? They do not seem to be like the things that only chance to have the same name. Are go...ods one then by being derived from one good or by all contributing to one good, or are they rather one by analogy? Certainly as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul, and so on in other cases.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
'Lead us not into temptation and evil for our sake.' They will come all right, don't worry; probably in a form... That we do not expect, and certainly with a force More dreadful than we can imagine.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »