Where everything is bad it must be good to know the worst.
F. H. BradleyRead
The hunter for aphorisms on human nature has to fish in muddy water, and he is even condemned to find much of his own mind.
Interpretation
Understanding human nature requires delving into complex and unclear aspects of existence.
F. H. Bradley's quote suggests that exploring human nature and trying to articulate profound truths is a challenging endeavor, often muddied by personal biases and subjective opinions. The act of seeking wisdom about humanity is akin to fishing in murky waters, where clarity is hard to find, and one may frequently encounter reflections of their own thoughts rather than objective truths.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the complexities of understanding why people act the way they do.
Where everything is bad it must be good to know the worst.
The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness.
True penitence condemns to silence. What a man is ready to recall he would be willing to repeat.
Our live experiences, fixed in aphorisms, stiffen into cold epigrams. Our heart's blood, as we write it, turns to mere dull ink.
Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe on instinct.
One said of suicide, As long as one has brains one should not blow them out. And another answered, But when one has ceased to have them, too often one cannot.
Sustainability can't be like some sort of a moral sacrifice or political dilemma or a philanthropical cause. It has to be a design challenge.
Tragedy is like strong acid - it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth.
Each of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
I didnβt want any flowers, I only wanted to lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty. How free it is, you have no idea how free.
Pornographers are the enemies of women only because our contemporary ideology of pornography does not encompass the possibility of change, as if we were the slaves of history and not its makers. . . . Pornography is a satire on human pretensions.
Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.
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