Source: The City and the Stars (1956), Chapter 7 (p. 44)
“The revolutionary and critical thinker is in a certain way always outside of his society while of course he is at the same time also in it.”
Human Nature and Social Theory (1969)
Context: The revolutionary and critical thinker is in a certain way always outside of his society while of course he is at the same time also in it. That he is in it is obvious, but why is he outside it? First, because he is not brainwashed by the ruling ideology, that is to say, he has an extraordinary kind of independence of thought and feeling; hence he can have a greater objectivity than the average person has. There are many emotional factors too. And certainly I do not mean to enter here into the complex problem of the revolutionary thinker. But it seems to me essential that in a certain sense he transcends his society. You may say he transcends it because of the new historical developments and possibilities he is aware of, while the majority still think in traditional terms.
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Erich Fromm 119
German social psychologist and psychoanalyst 1900–1980Related quotes
Source: The Little White Bird (1902), Ch. 14
Context: If you ask your mother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a little girl she will say, "Why, of course, I did, child," and if you ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days she will say, "What a foolish question to ask; certainly he did." Then if you ask your grandmother whether she knew about Peter Pan when she was a girl, she also says, "Why, of course, I did, child," but if you ask her whether he rode on a goat in those days, she says she never heard of his having a goat. Perhaps she has forgotten, just as she sometimes forgets your name and calls you Mildred, which is your mother's name. Still, she could hardly forget such an important thing as the goat. Therefore there was no goat when your grandmother was a little girl. This shows that, in telling the story of Peter Pan, to begin with the goat (as most people do) is as silly as to put on your jacket before your vest.
Of course, it also shows that Peter is ever so old, but he is really always the same age, so that does not matter in the least.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
(1742–1799) German scientist, satirist
J 85
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook J (1789)
Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "Tales of Power" (Chapter 10)
Rollo May
(1909–1994) US psychiatrist
Source: Power and Innocence (1972), Ch. 11 : The Humanity of the Rebel
Eli Siegel
(1902–1978) Latvian-American poet, philosopher
Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)
Ho Chi Minh
(1890–1969) Vietnamese communist leader and first president of Vietnam
"On Revolutionary Morality" (1958)
1950's, On Revolutionary Morality (1958)
Kim Gordon
(1953) American musician, bassist of Sonic Youth
On life after divorce and a health scare in “Fabulous at Every Age: Kim Gordon, 60s” https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a10255/kim-gordon-0415/ in Harper’s Bazaar (12 Mar 2015)