Without publicity, no good is permanent; under the auspices of publicity, no evil can continue.
Jeremy BenthamRead
Even when you err, it is a thousand times better to err out of conviction than to hide your true opinion to respect some authority.
Interpretation
It's better to express your genuine beliefs, even if they're wrong, than to suppress them to please others.
This quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity and personal conviction in one’s beliefs and opinions. It suggests that making mistakes while being true to oneself is far more valuable than conforming to societal pressures or authority figures by hiding one’s true thoughts. By advocating for honesty and integrity, it promotes the idea that personal growth and understanding can arise from our errors and misunderstandings.
In practice
During a debate, you can quote this to emphasize the importance of standing by your beliefs.
Without publicity, no good is permanent; under the auspices of publicity, no evil can continue.
Pride is at the bottom of a great many errors and corruptions, and even of many evil practices, which have a great show and appearance of humility.
Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make the attempt. That's morality, that's religion, that's art, that's life.
The layman always means, when he says "reality" that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.
No salvation without regeneration - no spiritual life without a new birth - no heaven without a new heart.
The next step in human evolution is to transcend thought. This is now our urgent task. It doesn't mean not to think anymore, but simply not to be completely identified with thought, possessed by thought.
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