Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Supreme Court Justice
“True Americanism” (1915).
Extra-judicial writings
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 116
Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Supreme Court Justice
“True Americanism” (1915).
Extra-judicial writings
“The development of the individual to his highest potential for the benefit of the group.”
Ella Baker (1903–1986) African-American civil rights and human rights activist
The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: documents, speeches and firsthand accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle, 1954–1990, ed. Clayborne Carson et al. (Penguin Books, 1991), p. 121.
John Dewey (1859–1952) American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer
Time and Individuality (1940)
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) German poet, critic and scholar
Grade die Individualität ist das Ursprüngliche und Ewige im Menschen; an der Personalität ist so viel nicht gelegen. Die Bildung und Entwicklung dieser Individualität als höchsten Beruf zu treiben, wäre ein göttlicher Egoismus.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) # 60
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
Letter to Charles Bray (15 November 1857)
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis
Leonardo da Vinci (1916)
1910s
Alfredo Rocco (1875–1935) Italian politician and jurist
Source: The Political Doctrine of Fascism (1925), p. 112
Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)
Source: Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929), p. 145
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
"Einstein's Reply to Criticisms" (1949), The World As I See It (1949)
Context: A man's value to the community depends primarily on how far his feelings, thoughts, and actions are directed towards promoting the good of his fellows. We call him good or bad according to how he stands in this matter. It looks at first sight as if our estimate of a man depended entirely on his social qualities.
And yet such an attitude would be wrong. It is clear that all the valuable things, material, spiritual, and moral, which we receive from society can be traced back through countless generations to certain creative individuals. The use of fire, the cultivation of edible plants, the steam engine — each was discovered by one man.
Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society — nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. Without creative, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.
The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.
John Dewey (1859–1952) American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer
Time and Individuality (1940)