
“I convinced myself that sadness and compromise were the ways of the world…”
How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
“I convinced myself that sadness and compromise were the ways of the world…”
How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
“He seeks not to convince but to arouse — to challenge others to form free opinions.”
On Freedom (1958)
Context: The true Enlightenment thinker, the true rationalist, never wants to talk anyone into anything. No, he does not even want to convince; all the time he is aware that he may be wrong. Above all, he values the intellectual independence of others too highly to want to convince them in important matters. He would much rather invite contradiction, preferably in the form of rational and disciplined criticism. He seeks not to convince but to arouse — to challenge others to form free opinions.
As quoted in Ms. magazine (August 1972) p. 42
Variant: First, I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll convince myself that I'm an actress.
Letter to Larry Callen (30 October 1957), p. 71
1990s, The Proud Highway : The Fear and Loathing Letters Volume I (1997)
Context: They say that "he who flies highest, falls farthest" — and who am I to argue? But we can't forget that "he who doesn't flap his wings, never flies at all". And with that, I'll stop trying to convince myself that I can't fail; how dull the whole thing would be if that were true.
Quoted by Malvina Hoffman in her Memoir - Yesterday is Tomorrow 1961
“Thoughts convince thinkers; for this reason, thoughts convince seldom.”
Denken überzeugt Denkende; darum überzeugt Denken selten.
Nur Lebendiges schwimmt gegen den Strom, Aphorismen. 1985.