I always get back to the question, is it really necessary that men should consume so much of their bodily and mental energies in t...he machinery of civilised life? The world seems to me to do much of its toil for that which is not in any sense bread. Again, does not the latent feeling that much of their striving is to no purpose tend to infuse large quantities of sham into men's work?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
One of the most significant effects of age-segregation in our society has been the isolation of children from the world of work. W...hereas in the past children not only saw what their parents did for a living but even shared substantially in the task, many children nowadays have only a vague notion of the nature of the parent's job, and have had little or no opportunity to observe the parent, or for that matter any other adult, when he is fully engaged in his work.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. Nearly all men of science, all men of learning for that matter, and men of s...imple ways too, have it in some form and in some degree. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission. If we abandon that mission under stress we shall abandon it forever, for stress will not cease. Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being. None can define its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home, Let him combat for that of his neighbors;... Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome, And get knocked on the head for his labors.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stic...k where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
... most bereaved souls crave nourishment more tangible than prayers: they want a steak. What is more, they need a steak. Preferab...ly they need it rare, grilled, heavily salted, for that way it is most easily digested, and most quickly turned into the glandular whip their tired adrenals cry for.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is nothing easier for us than to be wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and pity, we are absurdly j...ust, we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to be a little more strict with ourselves; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little vice of emotion, in ourselves from time to time. It may be hard on us; and among ourselves we may perhaps laugh at the spectacle we present in doing so. But what can be done about it? We have no other sort of self-overcoming open to us: this is our asceticism, our penance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I have everything in the world that is necessary to happiness, good faith, good friends and all the work I can possibly do. I thin...k God's greatest blessing to the human race was when He sent man forth into the world to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. I believe in toil, in the dignity of labor, but I also believe in adequate compensation for that toil.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
O I know they make war because they want peace; they hate so that they may live; and they destroy the present to make the world sa...fe for the future. When have they not done and said they did it for that?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to b...e allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »