“Each of us must have tucked away in some corner of his and her brain a contrarian -- or ipkha mistabra -- compartment whose function it is to seek out views other than those we readily consent to because they swarm around us. The devil’s advocate can well turn out to be an angelic emissary. And swimming against the stream may be the best way to avoid drowning.”
Seventy faces: articles of faith (2002)
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Norman Lamm 9
American rabbi 1927Related quotes
A Voice from the Attic (1960)

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 106.

Emancipation: A Romance of the Times to Come (1971)

Source: Cosmos (1980), p. 193
Context: For as long as there been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. This perspective is a courageous continuation of our penchant for constructing and testing mental models of the skies; the Sun as a red-hot stone, the stars as a celestial flame, the Galaxy as the backbone of night.

Source: The Lost Princess: A Double Story
“Ambition, Rose. It squeezes us into corners and turns out ugly shapes.”
Part 8, section 2 - p.293
Novels, Cloudstreet (1991)

The Best Of What's Around
Under the Table and Dreaming (1994)

The Nuts of Knowledge (1903)