Recent posts - Windows on Humanity

Karl Popper on knowledge and ignorance From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (105 days old)

The more we learn about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of our ignorance. For this,… more

Charles Darwin on rejecting progress in science From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (159 days old)

It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” - Charles Darwin, in the introduction to Descent o… more

Albert Einstein on violence From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (218 days old)

Heroism by order, senseless violence, and all the pestilent nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how I hate them! War seems to me a mean, contemptible thing: I would rather be hacked in … more

Seneca the Younger on fortune From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (226 days old)

We are all chained to fortune: the chain of one is made of gold, and wide, while that of another is short and rusty. But what difference does it make? The same prison surrounds all of us, and even… more

Karl Popper on misunderstanding From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (239 days old)

"Always remember that it is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood: there will always be some who misunderstand you." - Karl Popper in "Unended Quest: An Intellectu… more

Buckminster Fuller on thinking From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (239 days old)

We are powerfully imprisoned in these Dark Ages simply by the terms in which we have been conditioned to think." - Buckminster Fuller in "Cosmography" (1992) Some of my own thoughts on the l… more

Lucretius on death From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (256 days old)

Therefore death is nothing to us, it matters not one jot, since the nature of the mind is understood to be mortal.” - Lucretius in De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) Book III, line 831. … more

Francis Bacon on death From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (317 days old)

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. - Francis Bacon in "Essays, Of Death" (1597) My own thoughts… more

Isaac Asimov on violence From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (322 days old)

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov in "Foundation", published in "Astounding Science-Fiction" (May 1942) My own thoughts on the quote: Of course, the quote … more

George Orwell on controlling history From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (328 days old)

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." - George Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Chapter 3. Some of my own thoughts on the issue of h… more

Albert Einstein on work From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (334 days old)

Every individual should have the opportunity to develop the gifts which may be latent in him. Alone in that way can the individual obtain the satisfaction to which he is justly entitled; and alone… more

John Lennon on imagining From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (337 days old)

“Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today... Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to … more

E.O. Wilson on religions and tribalism From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (342 days old)

The toxic mix of religion and tribalism has become so dangerous as to justify taking seriously the alternative view, that humanism based on science is the effective antidote, the light and the way… more

Jaakko Wallenius on understanding quotes From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (352 days old)

"A great quote will make people see problems that they had not realized even to exist. However, a great quote will not provide any kind of final answers, but just opens one's eyes to see the possi… more

Edward and Robert Skidelsky on making money as an end in itself From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (354 days old)

Making money cannot be an end in itself - at least for anyone not suffering from acute mental disorder. To say that my purpose in life is to make more and more money is like saying that my aim in … more

Bertrand Russell on the tyranny of the fortunate From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (357 days old)

Advocates of capitalism like to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.” … more

Samuel Johnson on age and judgment From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (365 days old)

Sir, as a man advances in life, he gets what is better than admiration, — judgement, to estimate things at their true value." - Samuel Johnson, reported in James Boswell: "The Life of Samuel Jo… more

Bertrand Russell on the passions governing his life From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (365 days old)

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like grea… more

Howard H. Aiken on stealing ideas From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (368 days old)

Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats." - Howard H. Aiken, as quoted in Portraits in Silicon (1987) by Robert Slater Some o… more

Ursula K. Le Guin on the nature of ideas From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (370 days old)

"It is of the nature of idea to be communicated: written, spoken, done. The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on crossbreeding, grows better for being stepped on." - Ur… more

Frank Herbert on worshiping life From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (373 days old)

"If you need something to worship, then worship life — all life, every last crawling bit of it! We're all in this beauty together!" - Frank Herbert in "Dune Messiah" (1969) My own ideas on t… more

Kurt Vonnegut on behaving decently From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (374 days old)

"I am a humanist, which mean, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I'm dead. My German-American ancestors, the earliest of whom set… more

Rubén Blades on dying of ignorance From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (375 days old)

I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance.” - Rubén Blades, in a conference at Harvard University (1993) Some of my own thoughts on the subject: H… more

Bertrand Russell on prejudices and thinking From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (376 days old)

We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think — in fact they do so."… more

Arthur Schopenhauer on free will From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (378 days old)

"Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.” - Arthur Schopenhauer in "On The Freedom Of The Will" (1839) My own ideas on the quote: I personally understand this marvelous… more

Marcus Aurelius on achieving happiness by doing From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (381 days old)

The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends, not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing. - Marcus Aurel… more

Robert G. Ingersoll on the freedom of speech From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (387 days old)

I am a believer in liberty. That is my religion — to give to every other human being every right that I claim for myself, and I grant to every other human being, not the right — because it is his … more

Bertrand Russell on human race as one family From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (398 days old)

For love of domination we must substitute equality; for love of victory we must substitute justice; for brutality we must substitute intelligence; for competition we must substitute co-operation. … more

Will Durant on present as merely the past rolled up and concentrated From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (401 days old)

"It is a mistake to think that the past is dead. Nothing that has ever happened is quite without influence at this moment. The present is merely the past rolled up and concentrated in this second … more

Bertrand Russell on reason, faith and persecution From jaskaw ^Pro in Windows on Humanity (407 days old)

If you think that your belief is based upon reason, you will support it by argument, rather then by persecution, and will abandon it if the argument goes against you. But if your belief is based o… more