Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.
When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.
We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Where everything is possible miracles become commonplaces, but the familiar ceases to be self-evident.
We have rudiments of reverence for the human body, but we consider as nothing the rape of the human mind.
We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and contagious.
A man by himself is in bad company.
An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.
It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents.
We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
The greatest weariness comes from work not done.
Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.
Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.
Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible.
Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.
A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.
The misery of a child is interesting to a mother, the misery of a young man is interesting to a young woman, the misery of an old man is interesting to nobody.
It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living.
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
Pages: 1 2
