Source: In Defence Of Politics (Second Edition) – 1981, Chapter 1, The Nature Of Political Rule, p. 15.
Source: Personal Destinies: A Philosophy of Ethical Individualism (1976), p. 9
“Shall there be truth between us, as two men? Not as friends, but as enemies and equals?”
Source: The Gunslinger
“In the essence of truth lies deceit. Deceit dispels the boredom of the Absolute.”
“A Deceit,” p. 29
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “Skywalking”
“But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men.”
Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 13
Source: The Handmaid's Tale
Context: These pictures were supposed to be erotic, and I thought they were, at the time; but I see now what they were really about. They were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paintings about boredom. But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men.
Source: Wild Seed (1980), Chapter 6 (p. 100)
Commencement address, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (11 June 1962) http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3370
1962
Context: The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
