Under equal conditions, the feminine psyche is closer to potential contraction than the masculine; for the simple reason that the ...woman has a more centripetal, integrated, and elastic mind. As we noted, the function charged with giving the mind its structure and cohesion is the attention. A highly unified mind presupposes a highly concentrated manner of attention. One could say that the feminine mind tends to have a single axis of attention, which at each phase of her life is set toward one thing alone.... In contrast to the concentric structure of the feminine mind there are always epicenters in that of the man. The more masculine one is, in a spiritual sense, the more his mind is disjointed in separate compartments. One part of us is deeply dedicated to politics or business, while another devotes itself to intellectual curiosity and another to sexual pleasure. There is lacking, then, a tendency toward one unified gravitation of the attention. In fact, the contrary predominates, which leads to dissociation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Cliche refers to words, commonplace to ideas. Cliche describes the form or the letter, commonplace the substance or spirit. To con...fuse them is to confuse the thought with the expression of the thought. The cliche is immediately perceivable; the commonplace very often escapes notice if decked out in original dress. There are few examples, in any literature, of new ideas expressed in original form. The most critical mind must often be content with one or the other of these pleasures, only too happy when it is not deprived of both at once, which is not too rarely the case.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Man associates ideas not according to logic or verifiable exactitude, but according to his pleasure and interests. It is for this ...reason that most truths are nothing but prejudices.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Since art is the expression of beauty and beauty can be understood only in the form of the material elements of the true idea it c...ontains, art has become almost uniquely feminine. Beauty is woman, and also art is woman.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Man, in spite of his tendency towards mendacity, has a great respect for what he calls the truth. Truth is his staff in his voyage... through life; commonplaces are the bread in his bag and the wine in his jug.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Nothing exists except by virtue of a disequilibrium, an injustice. All existence is a theft paid for by other existences; no life ...flowers except on a cemetery.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »