Source: Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3
Context: Temperament refers to the mode of reaction and is constitutional and not changeable; character is essentially formed by a person’s experiences, especially of those in early life, and changeable, to some extent, by insights and new kinds of experiences. If a person has a choleric temperament, for instance, his mode of reaction is "quick and strong.” But what he is quick or strong about depends on his kind of relatedness, his character. If he is a productive, just, loving person he will react quickly and strongly when he loves, when he is enraged by injustice, and when he is impressed by a new idea. If he is a destructive or sadistic character, he will be quick and strong in his destructiveness or in his cruelty. The confusion between temperament and character has had serious consequences for ethical theory. Preferences with regard to differences in temperament are mere matters of subjective taste. But differences in character are ethically of the most fundamental importance.
“Men must always have distinguished (e. g. in judicial matters) between hearsay and seeing with one’s own eyes and have preferred what one has seen to what he has merely heard from others. But the use of this distinction was originally limited to particular or subordinate matters. As regards the most weighty matters—the first things and the right way—the only source of knowledge was hearsay.”
Source: Natural Right and History (1953), p. 86
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Leo Strauss 78
Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservati… 1899–1973Related quotes
Indian contemporary artists have not reached my standard: SH Raza
We can quite well turn away from our true destiny, but only to fall a prisoner in the deeper dungeons of our destiny. … Theoretic truths not only are disputable, but their whole meaning and force lie in their being disputed, they spring from discussion. They live as long as they are discussed, and they are made exclusively for discussion. But destiny — what from a vital point of view one has to be or has not to be — is not discussed, it is either accepted or rejected. If we accept it, we are genuine; if not, we are the negation, the falsification of ourselves. Destiny does not consist in what we feel we should like to do; rather is it recognised in its clear features in the consciousness that we must do what we do not feel like doing.
Source: The Revolt of the Masses (1929), Chapter XI: The Self-Satisfied Age
Kosmos (1932), Above is Beginning Quote of the Last Chapter: Relativity and Modern Theories of the Universe -->
Source: Productive thinking, 1945, p. 62
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985)
“It is the distance between one's origins and one's final achievement that matters.”
Source: Success! (1977), p. 272; often quoted as "Success has always been easy to measure. It is the distance between one's origins and one's final achievement."
Context: In America, success has always been easy to measure. It is the distance between one's origins and one's final achievement that matters.
Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man, 1923, p. 20
Ch 1 : Production https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/mill-james/ch01.htm <!-- Cited in: Monthly Review https://books.google.nl/books?id=qytZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA134, 1822 And partly cited in: Karl Marx. Human Requirements and Division of Labour https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/needs.htm, Manuscript, 1844. -->
Elements of Political Economy (1821)