Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the foolishness of thinking one owns an idea simply because they have just encountered it.
Sydney J. Harris points out the irony and arrogance of young individuals who, upon discovering established ideas, mistakenly believe they are original thinkers. This suggests a common human tendency to overlook the history of thought and the contributions of others, often leading to a false sense of uniqueness and superiority.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion about creativity and originality in a classroom setting.
A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.
We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.
The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.
Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it.
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teachβit is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.
His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into sober and fearful gratitude by the many he had come so near to doing, yet avoided.
Meditation is the way in which we come to feel our basic inseparability from the whole universe, and what that requires is that we shut up.
There are good reasons for being obedient, but being unable to be disobedient is not one of the best reasons.
Despite the constant clamor for attention from the modern world, I do believe we need to procure a psychological space for ourselves. I apparently know some people who try to achieve this by logging off or going without their Twitter or Facebook for a limited period.
Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.
Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.
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