“On too many occasions, especially in matters concerning purported conversations and messages from gods, mystery has been employed by charlatans to hoodwink the people.”
The Ten Commandments
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Joseph Lewis 15
American activist 1889–1968Related quotes
"Exultation and Explanation", p. 183
An Urchin in the Storm (1987)
“There is too little mystery in the world; too many people say exactly what they feel or want.”
Source: The Art of Seduction
“Anyone who tells you size doesn't matter has been seeing too many small knives.”
Source: Narcissus in Chains
Source: The Wizard of Zao (1978), Chapter 10 (p. 127)
Source: God doesn't believe in atheists (2002)
Souce: Geraldine Taylor. Behind the Ranges: The Life-changing Story of J.O. Fraser. Singapore: OMF International (IHQ) Ltd., 1998, 189.
Of the Network of Signifiers
The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho Analysis (1978)
Context: By, the subject, where it was, where it has always been, the dream. The ancients recognized all kinds of things in dreams, including, on occasion, messages from the gods—and why not? The ancients made something of these messages from the gods. And, anyway—perhaps you will glimpse this in what I shall say later—who knows, the gods may still speak through dreams. Personally, I don't mind either way. What concerns us is the that envelops these messages, the network in which, on occasion, something is caught. Perhaps the voice of the gods makes itself heard, but it is a long time since men lent their ears to them in their original state—it is well known that the ears are made not to hear with.
"Reflections on Trusting Trust" http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html, 1983 Turing Award Lecture, Communications of the ACM 27 (8), August 1984, pp. 761-763.
Context: You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself. (Especially code from companies that employ people like me.) No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code.