“The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.”
Searchlights and Nightingales https://books.google.com/books?id=z7pCAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22The+belief+in+the+possibility+of+a+short+decisive+war+appears+to+be+one+of+the+most+ancient+and+dangerous+of+human+illusions.%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22human+illusions%22 [Google Books snippet view only] (1939), p. 67.
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Robert Wilson Lynd 6
Irish writer 1879–1949Related quotes

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“How disturbing it is that our illusions are often our most important beliefs.”
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Cross-correspondences (p. 69)
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“The one thing that is more dangerous than true ignorance is the illusion of understanding.”
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Introductory Essay 'Setting the Scene'
Not Without Glory, 1976

“From modern thought to ancient wisdom the path would be short and direct, if one cared to take it.”
The Need for Roots (1949), p. 292
Context: Concern for the symbol has completely disappeared from our science. And yet, if one were to give oneself the trouble, one could easily find, in certain parts at least of contemporary mathematics... symbols as clear, as beautiful, and as full of spiritual meaning as that of the circle and mediation. From modern thought to ancient wisdom the path would be short and direct, if one cared to take it.