He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
VoltaireRead
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
Interpretation
Prejudices hinder rational thought and understanding.
This quote by Voltaire emphasizes the detrimental effect of prejudices on our ability to think critically and make sound judgments. It suggests that those who rely on preconceived notions rather than rationality are foolish, as such biases can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of critical thinking in education.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.
The wine of this fleeting world caused your head to ache.
There aren't many such enthusiasts born. The average person is not especially curious about the world. He is alive, and being somehow obliged to deal with this condition, feels the less effort it requires, the better. Whereas learning about the world is labor, and a great all-consuming one at that. Most people develop quite antithetical talents, in fact - to look without seeing, to listen without hearing, mainly to preserve onself within oneself.
The rewrites are a struggle right now. Sometimes I wish writing a book could just be easy for me at last. But when I think about it practically, I am glad it's a struggle. I am (as usual) attempting to write a book that's too hard for me. I'm telling a story I'm not smart enough to tell. The risk of failure is huge. But I prefer it this way. I'm forced to learn, forced to smarten myself up, forced to wrestle. And if it works, then I'll have written something that is better than I am.
Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow and only one thing endures - character.
Wisdom, humanity & courage, these three are universal virtues. The way by which they are practiced are one.
Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods
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