Letter to Richard Rees (3 March 1949), The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Vol. 4: In front of your nose, 1945-1950 (1968), ed. Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, p. 478
Context: I always disagree, however, when people end up saying that we can only combat Communism, Fascism or what not if we develop an equal fanaticism. It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one's intelligence.
“This is the most valuable lesson one can teach a fanatic: that fanaticism is self-defeating.”
Vergere, p. 291
Traitor (2002)
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Matthew Stover 56
American writer 1962Related quotes
Thomas J. Sargent, University of California at Berkeley graduation speech (2007), quoted in David Glasner, " Memo to Tom Sargent: Economics Is More than Just Common Sense https://uneasymoney.com/2014/04/25/memo-to-tom-sargent-economics-is-more-than-just-common-sense/" (2014)
Lecture 6
Lectures on Education (1855)
Context: The most ignorant are the most conceited. Unless a man knows that there is something more to be known, his inference is, of course, that he knows every thing. Such a man always usurps the throne of universal knowledge, and assumes the right of deciding all possible questions. We all know that a conceited dunce will decide questions extemporaneous which would puzzle a college of philosophers, or a bench of judges. Ignorant and shallow-minded men do not see far enough to see the difficulty. But let a man know that there are things to be known, of which he is ignorant, and it is so much carved out of his domain of universal knowledge. And for all purposes of individual character, as well as of social usefulness, it is quite as important for a man to know the extent of his own ignorance as it is to know any thing else. To know how much there is that we do not know, is one of the most valuable parts of our attainments; for such knowledge becomes both a lesson of humility and a stimulus to exertion.
“The most valuable stage of wisdom is the stage of self-consciousness.”
Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.78, p. 352.
Regarding Knowledge & Wisdom, General
Source: " A Case of Voluntary Ignorance http://www.christiebooks.com/ChristieBooksWP/2013/11/a-case-of-voluntary-ignorance-by-aldous-huxley/" in Collected Essays (1959)
“Cerebus: The valuable lesson is that you can get what you want and still not be very happy…”
Source: Church & State volume I (1987), p. 296
“Time waxing old can many a lesson teach.”
Variant translations:
Time brings all things to pass.
Time as he grows old teaches all things.
Source: Prometheus Bound, line 981 (tr. E. H. Plumptre).
“Every book teaches a lesson, even if the lesson is only that one has chosen the wrong book.”
Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk : How We Defeat Ourselves by the Way We Talk and What to do About It (1976), p. 104
“The lessons one learns at school are not always the ones the school thinks it's teaching.”
Source: Joseph Anton: A Memoir