“An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones.”

— Samuel Butler

Incoherency of New Ideas
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy
Context: An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better.

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Samuel Butler 232

novelist 1835–1902

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“An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

Incoherency of New Ideas
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy

“The one good thing about being kind of shy is that nobody bugs you when you want to be left alone.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

“The idea of motherland is not a false idea, but it is a little idea, and one which must remain little.”

Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist

Light (1919), Ch. XX The Cult
Context: The idea of motherland is not a false idea, but it is a little idea, and one which must remain little.
There is only one common good. There is only one moral duty, only one truth, and every man is the shining recipient and guardian of it. The present understanding of the idea of motherland divides all these great ideas, cuts them into pieces, specializes them within impenetrable circles. We meet as many national truths as we do nations, and as many national duties, and as many national interests and rights — and they are antagonistic to each other.