Why I am an atheist? (1930)
Context: Any man who stands for progress has to criticize, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of the prevailing faith. If after considerable reasoning one is led to believe in any theory or philosophy, his faith is welcomed. His reasoning can be mistaken, wrong, misled and sometimes fallacious. But he is liable to correction because reason is the guiding star of his life. But mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain, and makes a man reactionary.
“It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.”
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Theodore Roosevelt 445
American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858–1919Related quotes
“It seems to me that those who complain of man's progress confuse ends with means.”
Ch III : The Tool
Terre des Hommes (1939)
Context: Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures — in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together. Do our dreamers hold that the invention of writing, of printing, of the sailing ship, degraded the human spirit?
It seems to me that those who complain of man's progress confuse ends with means. True, that man who struggles in the unique hope of material gain will harvest nothing worth while. But how can anyone conceive that the machine is an end? It is a tool. As much a tool as is the plough. The microscope is a tool. What disservice do we do the life of the spirit when we analyze the universe through a tool created by the science of optics, or seek to bring together those who love one another and are parted in space?
Part I. Généralités (Generalities), Chapter I. Prolégomènes (Prolegomena).
Treatise on Elegant Life (1830)
Original: (fr) Or les trois classes d'être créés par les mœurs sont :
L'homme qui travaille ;
L'homme qui pense ;
L'homme qui ne fait rien.
Stobaeus, Florilegium, XL, VI, 24, as reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of Quotations (1897), p. 515.
Speech to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in Chattanooga, Tennessee (8 September 2013). http://books.google.de/books?id=7_3uugarOF0C&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=theodore+roosevelt+I+don't+pity+any+man+who+does+hard+work+worth+doing.+I+admire+him.+I+pity+the+creature+who+does+not+work,+at+whichever+end+of+the+social+scale+he+may+regard+himself+as+being.&source=bl&ots=seVM4pX9IN&sig=gd7yTZMy3X2h6rIgQVVp5uR0Xu4&hl=de&sa=X&ei=M5FZUvW4M8LXtQby1YD4AQ&ved=0CG8Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=theodore%20roosevelt%20I%20don't%20pity%20any%20man%20who%20does%20hard%20work%20worth%20doing.%20I%20admire%20him.%20I%20pity%20the%20creature%20who%20does%20not%20work%2C%20at%20whichever%20end%20of%20the%20social%20scale%20he%20may%20regard%20himself%20as%20being.&f=false
1900s
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man.”
Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1843)
“Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
Life Without Principle (1863)