The most striking contradiction of our civilization is the fundamental reverence for truth which we profess and the thorough-going disregard for it which we practice.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the discrepancy between our proclaimed values and our actual behaviors regarding truth.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson's quote points out a significant irony in modern civilization: while society claims to hold truth in high esteem, individuals and institutions often behave in ways that contradict this professed reverence. It suggests that there is a widespread insincerity or hypocrisy in how we engage with truth, leading to a disconnect between our ideals and our actions.
In practice
In a speech about integrity at a corporate event.
In a world of democracies, in a world where the great projects that have set humanity on fire are the projects of the emancipation of individuals from entrenched social division and hierarchy; in such a world individuals must never be puppets or prisoners of the societies or cultures into which they have been born.
Since man, fragment of the universe, is governed by the same laws that preside over the heavens, it is by no means absurd to search there above for the themes of our lives, for those frigid sympathies that participate in our achievements as well as our blunderings.
There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith. All else is a dispute over trifles.
Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.
Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.
Our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring democracy the tolerance it requires to survive
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