The consciousness in each man is a sliding scale, which identifies him now with the First Cause, and now with the flesh of his bod...y; life above life, in infinite degrees.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In the one instance, the dreamer ... loses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestions ... until ... he fin...ds the incitamentum, or first cause of his musings,... forgotten. In my case, the primary object was invariably frivolous, although assuming, through the medium of my distempered vision, a refracted and unreal importance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The women of this century are neither idle nor indifferent. They are working with might and main to mitigate the evils which stare... them in the face on every side, but much of their work is without knowledge. It is aimed at the effects, not the cause; it is plucking the spoiled fruit; it is lopping off the poisonous branches of the deadly upas tree, which but makes the root more vigorous in sending out new shoots in every direction. A right understanding of physiological law teaches us that the cause must be removed; the tree must be girdled; the tap-root must be severed. The tap-root of our social upas lies deep down at the very foundations of society. It is woman's dependence. It is woman's subjection. Hence, the first and only efficient work must be to emancipate woman from her enslavement.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I have not been asked, as I should have been asked, what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth, the mouth of the first immoral...ist: for what constitutes the tremendous historical uniqueness of that Persian is just the opposite of this. Zarathustra was the first to consider the struggle between good and evil as the very wheel in the machinery of things: a translation of morals into the metaphysical, as force, cause, and end-in-itself, is his work. But this question itself is at bottom its own answer. Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality: as a result, he must also be the first to recognize it. Not only has he more experience in this matter, for a longer time, than any other thinker--all history is after all the refutation by experiment of the principle of this so-called "moral world order"Mwhat is more important is that Zarathustra is more truthful than any other thinker. His doctrine, and his alone, posits truthfulness as the supreme virtue--this means exactly the opposite of the cowardice of the "idealist" who flees from reality; Zarathustra has more intestinal fortitude than all other thinkers put together. To speak the truth and to shoot well with arrows, that is Persian virtue.--Am I understood?--The self- overcoming of morality, out of truthfulness, the self-overcoming of the moralist, into his opposite--into me--that is what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If I were asked what are the greatest obstacles to the speedy enfranchisement of women I should answer: There are three; the first... is militarism.... The second obstacle is the unconscious, unmeasured influence upon the estimate in which women as a whole are held that emanates from that most debasing of our evil institutions, prostitution.... [ellipsis in source] The third great cause is the inertia in the growth of democracy which has come as a reaction following the aggressive movements that with possibly ill-advised haste enfranchised the foreigner, the Negro and the Indian. Perilous conditions, seeming to follow from the introduction into the body politic of vast numbers of irresponsible citizens, have made the nation timid.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
As blacks, we need not be afraid that encouraging moral development, a conscience and guilt will prevent social action. Black chil...dren without the ability to feel a normal amount of guilt will victimize their parents, relatives and community first. They are unlikely to be involved in social action to improve the black community. Their self-centered personalities will cause them to look out for themselves without concern for others, black or white.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Self-trust is the first secret of success, the belief that if you are here the authorities of the universe put you here, and for c...ause, or with some task strictly appointed you in your constitution, and so long as you work at that you are well and successful.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We must learn to differentiate between fears and anxieties. Fears are states of apprehension which focus on isolated and recogniza...ble dangers so that they may be judiciously appraised and realistically countered. Anxieties are diffuse states of tension (caused by a loss of mutual regulation and a consequent upset in libidinal and aggressive controls) which magnify and even cause the illusion of an outer danger, without pointing to appropriate avenues of defense or mastery. These two forms of apprehension obviously often occur together, and we can insist on a strict separation only for the sake of the present argument. If, in an economic depression, a man is afraid that he may lose his money, his fear may be justified. But if the idea of having to live on an income only ten times, instead of twenty-five times as large as that of his average fellow-citizen causes him to lose his nerve and to commit suicide, then we must consult our clinical formulas.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Increasingly in recent times we have come first to identify the remedy that is most agreeable, most convenient, most in accord wit...h major pecuniary or political interest, the one that reflects our available faculty for action; then we move from the remedy so available or desired back to a cause to which that remedy is relevant.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Let us consider for a moment the following argument. The child plays in complete--we can well say, in sacred--earnest. But it play...s and knows that it plays. The sportsman, too, plays with all the fervour of a man enraptured, but he still knows that he is playing. The actor on the stage is wholly absorbed in his playing, but is all the time conscious of "the play." The same holds true of the violinist, though he may soar to realms beyond the world. The play-character, therefore may attach to the sublimest forms of action. Can we now extend the line to ritual and say that the priest performing the rites of sacrifice is only playing? At first sight it seems preposterous, for if you grant it for one religion you must grant it for all. Hence our ideas of ritual, magic, liturgy, sacrament, mystery would all fall within the play concept.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »