“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.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illu…" by Robert Wilson Lynd?
Robert Wilson Lynd photo
Robert Wilson Lynd 6
Irish writer 1879–1949

Related quotes

Karl Popper photo
Italo Calvino photo

“The novels that attract me most… are those that create an illusion of transperancy around a knot of human relationships as obscure, cruel and perverse as possible.”

Italo Calvino (1923–1985) Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels

Source: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Hanif Kureishi photo

“How disturbing it is that our illusions are often our most important beliefs.”

Hanif Kureishi (1954) English playwright, screenwriter, novelist

Source: Intimacy: das Buch zum Film von Patrice Chéreau

Camille Paglia photo

“The idea that emotion can be separated from sex is a Christian illusion, one of the most ingenious but finally unworkable strategies in Christianity’s ancient campaign against pagan nature.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Source: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), p. 35

Fran Lebowitz photo
Robert Sheckley photo
John Gray photo
A. C. Grayling photo

“The one thing that is more dangerous than true ignorance is the illusion of understanding.”

A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher

Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 57, “Becoming Philosophical” (p. 226)

Simone Weil photo

“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.

Related topics