A machine is characterized by sustained, autonomous action. It is set up by human hands and then is more or less set loose from hu...man control. It is designed to come between man and nature, to affect the natural world without requiring or indeed allowing humans to come into contact with it. Such is the clock, which abstracts the measurement of time from the sun and the stars: such is the steam engine, which turns coal into power to move ships or pump water without the intervention of human muscles. A tool, unlike a machine, is not self-sufficient or autonomous in action. It requires the skill of a craftsman and, when handled with skill, permits him to reshape the world in his way.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Males more often operate in a detached and isolated fashion. Solitary work to master a skill is a common characteristic of male li...fe, and men are more quick to dismiss the claims of other people and even of their own emotions. This approach tends to make things (machines, ideas) at least as important as people in the man's inner life. Words such as rational, independent, and objective describe positive aspects of this tendency; cold, detached, unfeeling are words for the more destructive aspects. In contrast, women's lives are more likely to embody the theme of connection--both connection between people and connection between the emotional and intellectual parts of oneself. Women have less of a penchant for deciding things independent of the relevant network of connections. In most instances people matter more to them than things and they will put a faithfulness to human ties above dedication to "principle" or pure "independence" of judgment. It is testament to the male bias of our society that such qualities are often referred to with the demeaning names of "dependence" or "conformity."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating... relationships. Emphasis is placed on displaying similarities and matching experiences. From childhood, girls criticize peers who try to stand out or appear better than others. People feel their closest connections at home, or in settings where they feel close to and comfortable with--in other words, during private speaking. But even the most public situations can be approached like private speaking. For most men, talk is primarily a means to preserve independence and negotiate and maintain status in a hierarchical social order. This is done by exhibiting knowledge and skill, and by holding center stage through verbal performance such as storytelling, joking, or imparting information. From childhood, men learn to use talking as a way to get and keep attention. So they are more comfortable speaking in larger groups made up of people they know less well--in the broadest sense, "public speaking." But even the most private situations can be approached like public speaking, more like giving a report than establishing rapport.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of ...the wise and their riddles.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have bu...ilt!LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understan...ding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »