Ignorance cannot lead to evil, misconceptions lead to evil. It’s not what people do know, it’s what they pretend that they do.
~ Jean Jacques Rousseau
Elsewhere, this is 4a1066. — slipbox
Misconceptions →
Criticism →
Ours is the age of criticism. Religion and law try to escape from criticism, religion by saying that it is divine and law by showing that it is powerful. But some suspicions arise from this escape, because we can respect only those things which stand up in free and public trial.
~ Immanuel Kant
Elsewhere, this is 4a1065. — slipbox
Darkness must fall →
For it’s always that way with the sacred value of life. We forget it as long as it belongs to us, and give it as little attention during the unconcerned hours of our life as we do the stars in the light of day. Darkness must fall before we are aware of the majesty of the stars above our heads.
~ Stefan Zweig
Elsewhere, this is 4a1064. — slipbox
Restraint →
Because that’s all that could restrain us (if anything could)—the only thing that could make us want to stay here: The chance to live with those who share our vision. But now? Look how tiring it is—this cacophony we live in. Enough to make you say to death, “Come quickly. Before I start to forget myself, like them.”
~ Marcus Aurelius, 9.3
Elsewhere, this is 4a1063. — slipbox
Knowledge →
What is important in knowledge is not quantity, but quality. It is important to know what knowledge is significant, what is less so, and what is trivial.
~ Leo Tolstoy
Elsewhere, this is 4a1062. — slipbox
The quality of your mind →
You determine the quality of your mind by the nature of your daily thoughts. If they circle around the same obsessions and dramas, you create an arid and monotonous mental landscape, and this secretly makes you miserable. Instead, you must seek to radiate your mind outward, to unleash your imagination and intensify your experience of life. […] You are in fact surrounded every day by endless marvels, and to the degree you let them into your daily consciousness, you expand your mind and reinvigorate its immense powers.
~ Robert Greene
Elsewhere, this is 4a1061. — slipbox
Conversation →
We—mankind—are a conversation.
~ Martin Heidegger
Elsewhere, this is 4a1059. — slipbox
Sunset →
“Important” work →
Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else. It is equally unfortunate to waste your precious life in mechanical tasks or in a profusion of important work.
~ Baltasar Gracián
Elsewhere, this is 4a1057. — slipbox
State violence →
State violence cannot be destroyed by decree, only by truth and love. Maybe state violence was necessary for previous generations; Maybe it is even necessary now, but people should conceive of a kind of future government in which violence will not be necessary.
~ Leo Tolstoy
Elsewhere, this is 4a1056. — slipbox