Sublime

It is said that Galileo delayed publicly advocating the heliocentric theory for some years, not for fear of the Inquisition but simply for fear of ridicule.

The Asian is civilized but slavish; the European barbarian is uncivilized, unlearned, but free. In this formula is assumed Aristotle believed in a “balance” between these two extremes,

You know that some people have a perverse way of talking: they speak by opposites. 3 They used to call him a prosperous man; what of it? Was he one in fact? Neither do I care that some perceive him as excessively rough and grim.

People tend to gladly express an attitude of discontent,

Defending free speech means defending the rights of those whose speech we despise. Uncontroversial ideas require no such protection.

When they saw him making money, they said, “He is a merchant.” When they saw the way in which he scattered his money, they said, “He is ambitious.” When they saw him refuse honors, they said, “He is an adventurer.” When they saw him repel the advances of the fashionable, they said, “He is a brute.”

No greater mistake can be made than to imagine that what has been written latest is always the more correct; that what is written later on is an improvement on what was written previously; and that every change means progress. Men who think and have correct judgment, and people who treat their subject earnestly, are all exceptions only. Vermin is t

In practice, bureaucratic procedure invariably means ignoring all the subtleties of real social existence and reducing everything to preconceived mechanical or statistical formulae.

In almost every age, whether it be in literature or art, we find that if a thoroughly wrong idea, or a fashion, or a manner is in vogue, it is admired. Those of ordinary intelligence trouble themselves inordinately to acquire it and put it in practice. An intelligent man sees through it and despises it, consequently he remains out of the fashion.