“To recognize that some of the things our culture believes are not true imposes on us the duty of finding out which are true and which are not.”
“Western Civ,” p. 22.
Giants and Dwarfs (1990)
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Allan Bloom 29
American philosopher, classicist, and academician 1930–1992Related quotes

Source: Défense des Lettres [In Defense of Letters] (1937), p.

Source: 1920s, Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 12: Free Thought and Official Propaganda
A Voice from the Attic (1960)

“Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.”
Source: 1880s, Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885), Ch. 67.

As quoted in "Kieślowski's Many Colours" by Patrick Abrahamsson, in Oxford University Student newspaper (2 June 1995) — republished at Musicolog.com http://www.musicolog.com/kieslowski_manycolours.asp#.Vt_PAsdSj8s
Context: If there is anything worthwhile doing for the sake of culture, then it is touching on subject matters and situations which link people, and not those that divide people. There are too many things in the world which divide people, such as religion, politics, history, and nationalism. If culture is capable of anything, then it is finding that which unites us all. And there are so many things which unite people. It doesn't matter who you are or who I am, if your tooth aches or mine, it's still the same pain. Feelings are what link people together, because the word "love" has the same meaning for everybody. Or "fear", or "suffering". We all fear the same way and the same things. And we all love in the same way. That's why I tell about these things, because in all other things I immediately find division.

“Myths which are believed in tend to become true.”