To be willing to die for an idea is to set a rather high price upon a conjecture.
—Anatole France, 1914
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
—Bertrand Russell, 1961
The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything - or nothing.
—Nancy Astor
25
To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.
—Confucius, fifth century BC
All movements go too far.
—Bertrand Russell, 1950
I feel uneasy at the very idea of a Movement. I see every insight degenerating into a dogma,
and fresh thoughts freezing into lifeless party line.
—I. F. Stone, 1969
There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will
defend it to the death.
—Isaac Asimov, 1974
The more fantastic an ideology or theology, the more fanatic its adherents.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.
—George Santayana, 1905
***
Usually, terrible things that are done under the excuse that progress requires them are not
really the progress at all, but just terrible things.
—Russell Baker, 1970
What we call ‘Progress’ is the exchange of one Nuisance for another Nuisance.
26
—Havelock Ellis, 1914
What the world turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply another
error, and maybe one worse than the first one.
—H. L. Mencken, 1922
25
As quoted, without a date, by many, including several reliable sources, starting not later than
1992.
26
This aphorism (just as the next three quotes) is essentially a twist of the famous Goethe’s
characterization (in Part 2 of his Faust) of the perennial “struggles for liberation” as the
replacements of one enslavement with another enslavement. (Sorry, I could not find a fair poetic
English translation of that verse).
On Society and Solitude, Liberty and Civilization
157
—Anatole France, 1914
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
—Bertrand Russell, 1961
The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything - or nothing.
—Nancy Astor
25
To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.
—Confucius, fifth century BC
All movements go too far.
—Bertrand Russell, 1950
I feel uneasy at the very idea of a Movement. I see every insight degenerating into a dogma,
and fresh thoughts freezing into lifeless party line.
—I. F. Stone, 1969
There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will
defend it to the death.
—Isaac Asimov, 1974
The more fantastic an ideology or theology, the more fanatic its adherents.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.
—George Santayana, 1905
***
Usually, terrible things that are done under the excuse that progress requires them are not
really the progress at all, but just terrible things.
—Russell Baker, 1970
What we call ‘Progress’ is the exchange of one Nuisance for another Nuisance.
26
—Havelock Ellis, 1914
What the world turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply another
error, and maybe one worse than the first one.
—H. L. Mencken, 1922
25
As quoted, without a date, by many, including several reliable sources, starting not later than
1992.
26
This aphorism (just as the next three quotes) is essentially a twist of the famous Goethe’s
characterization (in Part 2 of his Faust) of the perennial “struggles for liberation” as the
replacements of one enslavement with another enslavement. (Sorry, I could not find a fair poetic
English translation of that verse).
On Society and Solitude, Liberty and Civilization
157