Society and the World

Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become one himself. And when you stare for a long time into an abyss, the abyss stares back into you.

With Pleasure own your Errors past, And make each day a Critic on the last.

The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.

The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

Generally speaking, the errors of religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.

and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.

There is no such thing as “the Queen’s English.” The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.

English, no longer an English language, now grows from many roots; and those whom it once colonized are carving out large territories within the language for themselves. The Empire is striking back.

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.

It is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be in the grasp of superficially educated people.

Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand.

Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.

Eloquence may set fire to reason.

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to an human soul.

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

No great discovery was ever made in science except by one who lifted his nose above the grindstone of details and ventured on a more comprehensive vision.

If men live decently it is because discipline Saves their very lives for them.

The injustice of defeat lies in the fact that its most innocent victims are made to look like heartless accomplices.

If you bring curiosity to your work it will cease to be merely a job and become a door through which you enter the best that life has to give you.