“Those whose conduct gives room for talk
Are always the first to attack their neighbors.”
Ceux de qui la conduite offre le plus à rire
Sont toujours sur autrui les premiers à médire.
Act I, sc. i
Tartuffe (1664)
“It is a poor technic when attempting to convert one's neighbor to attack his beliefs directly, especially those of the sacred variety.”
Source: The Human Comedy : As Devised and Directed by Mankind Itself (1937), Ch. 1
Context: It is a poor technic when attempting to convert one's neighbor to attack his beliefs directly, especially those of the sacred variety. We may flatter ourselves that we are undermining them by our potent reasoning only to find that we have shored them up so that they are firmer than ever. Often history will work where nothing else will. It very gently modifies one's attitude. Refutations are weak compared with its mild but potent operation. To become historically-minded is to be grown-up.
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James Harvey Robinson9
American historian 1863–1936Related quotes
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Prologue
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