"Men have never fully used [their] powers to advance the good in life,
because they have waited upon some power external to themselves and to
nature to do the work they are responsible for doing."
"The routine of custom tends to deaden even scientific inquiry; it
stands in the way of discovery and of the active scientific worker. For
discovery and inquiry are synonymous as an occupation. Science is a
pursuit, not a coming into possession of the immutable; new theories as
points of view are more prized than discoveries that quantitatively
increase the store on hand."
"Reason is experimental intelligence, conceived after the pattern of
science, and used in the creation of social arts; it has something to
do. It liberates man from the bondage of the past, due to ignorance and
accident hardened into custom. It projects a better future and assists
man in its realization. And its operation is always subject to test in
experience... The principles which man projects as guides... are not
dogmas. They are hypotheses to be worked out in practice, and to be
rejected, corrected and expanded as they fail or succeed in giving our
present experience the guidance it requires. We may call them programmes
of action, but since they are to be used in making our future acts less
blind, more directed, they are flexible. Intelligence is not something
possessed once for all. It is in constant process of forming, and its
retention requires constant alertness in observing consequences, an
open-minded will to learn and courage in re-adjustment."
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy,
education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would
indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment
and hope of reward after death."
"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us,
restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons
nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by
widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and
the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this
completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of
the liberation and a foundation for inner security."
...........................(as quoted in Quantum Reality, Beyond the NewPhysics, p. 250)
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in
nothing: they believe in everything."
-- Umberto Eco
"I truly believe the book of philosophy to be that which stands
perpetually open before our eyes, though since it is written in
characters different from those of our alphabet it cannot be read by
everyone."
-- Galileo Galilei
"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid
people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of
doubts."
-- Bertrand Russell