Humans always segregate — on their most observable characteristics, when left to themselves; when interfered with, on characteristics less observable.
Apr 072021
Being
Identity, that spectator of what he calls himself,
That net and aggregate of energies in transient combination.
—Cunningham
Apr 062021
Great geniuses, Emerson said, have the shortest biographies. They do not: but for most of us our personal history is all that we are and for them it is next to nothing.
Mar 192021
Fame is wasted on the famous.
Mar 172021
Unrequited love drives men to suicide, and unrequited hate drives them to murder.
Feb 242021
Our politics is what we call the violence we wish to visit on our fellows and lack the strength and courage to undertake personally: a neatly-bound, clearly-labeled package of all our worst impulses.
Feb 092021
The good are not holy, and the holy are not good.
Feb 032021
If you must have the last word, it’s because you need it, and if you need it, it won’t help.
Jan 292021
Humans, though naturally curious, are also highly trainable, and when we are punished often enough for noticing something we will eventually refrain.
Jan 212021
To fend for oneself in a high civilization demands a certain cognitive minimum; when too many lack it the civilization lowers itself to meet them, and the process is hastened by letting them vote.
Jan 012021
Compared with virtue, all vice is harmless.