Preface to the First Edition
The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945)
Context: If in this book harsh words are spoken about some of the greatest among the intellectual leaders of mankind, my motive is not, I hope, the wish to belittle them. It springs rather from my conviction that, if our civilization is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men. Great men may make great mistakes; and as the book tries to show, some of the greatest leaders of the past supported the perennial attack on freedom and reason. Their influence, too rarely challenged, continues to mislead those on whose defence civilization depends, and to divide them. The responsibility of this tragic and possibly fatal division becomes ours if we hesitate to be outspoken in our criticism of what admittedly is a part of our intellectual heritage. By reluctance to criticize some of it, we may help to destroy it all.
“Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken.”
“Fearless people,
Careless needle.
Harsh words spoken,
And lives are broken.”
"Prayer For The Dying"
Seal (1994)
“My greatest wish — other than salvation — was to have a book.”
Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 73, p. 230
Oh, You Are the Roots That Sleep Beneath My Feet and Hold the Earth in Place
Don't Be Frightened of Turning the Page (2001)
