Reformers are apt to forget, in their reasoning, that the world is not made up entirely of the wicked and the hungry, there are persons hungry for the food of the mind, the wants of which are as imperious as those of the body […] Reformers are apt to forget too, that the social chain is indomitable; that link by link it acts together, you … [ Read more ]
Author: Maria Mitchell | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
Not many years ago, it was access to information and movement that seemed our greatest luxury; nowadays it’s often freedom from information, the chance to sit still, that feels like the ultimate prize. Stillness is not just an indulgence for those with enough resources — it’s a necessity for anyone who wishes to gather less visible resources. Going nowhere […] is not about austerity so … [ Read more ]
Author: Pico Iyer | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Information, Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Senses
One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him.
Author: Thomas Schelling | Subjects: Concepts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Life & Society, Miscellaneous, Perception | Observation
The disease of modern character is specialization. The specialist system fails from a personal point of view because a person who can do only one thing can do virtually nothing for himself.
Author: Wendell Berry | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Personal Improvement
It is hardly possible to overrate the value […] of placing human beings in contact with other persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar. […] Such communication has always been […] one of the primary sources of progress.
Author: John Stuart Mill | Subjects: Communication, Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Thought | Inquiry
It is experience which shapes a language; and it is language which controls an experience.
Author: James Baldwin | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Insight, Language, Life & Society
The quality of an individual self is determined by his qualities: they are his capital, to invest well or foolishly.
Author: Amelie Rorty | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement
When a society has changed so that individuals acquire their rights by virtue of their powers, rather than having their powers defined by their rights, the concept of person has been transformed to a concept of self.
Author: Amelie Rorty | Subjects: Concepts, Freedom | Liberty, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Power
To know what sort of character a person is, is to know what sort of life is best suited to bring out his potentialities and functions […] Not all characters are suited to the same sorts of lives: there is no ideal type for them all […] If one tries to force the life of a bargainer on the character of a philosopher, one is … [ Read more ]
Author: Amelie Rorty | Subjects: Character, Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
The squalid cash interpretation put on the word “success” is our national disease.
Author: William James | Subjects: Life & Society, Material Possessions
If we do not remember our heroes, we will produce no heroes. If we do not record their sacrifices, their sacrifices would have been in vain. […] the greatest strength we have as people is our common memories of the past and our common hopes for the future. […] For without those memories, the next generation will not have the fighting spirit to carry on. … [ Read more ]
Author: George Yeo | Subjects: History, Life & Society, Sociology | Anthropology
[Thrasymachus argues] in Plato’s Republic that justice is the advantage of the stronger and that injustice “if it is on a large enough scale, is stronger, freer, and more masterly than justice.”
Authors: Bret Stephens, Thrasymachus | Subjects: Concepts, Freedom | Liberty, Good & Evil, Life & Society
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
Author: Dwight D. Eisenhower | Subjects: Change, Concepts, History, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
Author: Dwight D. Eisenhower | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.
Author: Harlan Ellison | Subjects: Communication, Concepts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Life & Society, Personal Improvement
Forgiveness, of others and one’s self, can be a powerful, life-altering process. It can change the trajectory of a relationship or even one’s life. It is not the only response one can make to being hurt or hurting others, but it is an effective way to manage the inevitable moments of conflict, disappointment, and pain in our lives. Forgiveness embraces both the reality of the … [ Read more ]
Author: Nathaniel Wade | Source: AEON | Subjects: Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships
Trying to change the world without wanting to change our world is a classic sign of mid-life and a common defense when our worldviews collapse. Only offering to lend one’s hand and means can be a way to assure that one will remain valuable and central even in a new world. (It’s also a way to pursue the most ultra-capitalist of aspirations—a revolution without revolutionaries).
… [ Read more ]
Author: Gianpiero Petriglieri | Source: Harvard Business Review (HBR) | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior
If the bond we share with others is simply that we hate the same people, the intimacy that we experience is often intense, immediately gratifying, and an easy way to discharge outrage and pain. It is not, however, fuel for real connection.
Author: Brene Brown | Source: Instrument of Mercy | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships
The point of protest is rarely to swing a single race, however momentous that race may be. It is to change the terms of political debate, and ultimately to change society itself. And indeed, protest has always foreshadowed the most radical shifts in American history. Protest calls attention to problems with the status quo—and often spells political doom for those who have upheld it.
Author: Daniel Q. Gillion | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
Discussions are always better than arguments, because an argument is to find out who is right, and a discussion is to find out what is right.
Author: Unknown | Subjects: Communication, Personal Improvement, Relationships