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 | "I do not agree with this century"s fashion of running down the human
species as a failed try, a doomed sport. At our worst, we may be going
through the early stages of adolescence, and everyone remembers what that
is like." | |
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Found in the topic Adolescence.
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| "The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from
sticking to the matter at hand." | |
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Found in the topic Language.
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| "We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have
language.... We have affection. We have genes for usefulness,
and usefulness is about as close to a "common goal" of nature as I can
guess at. And finally, and perhaps best of all, we have music." | |
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Found in the topic Music.
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| "The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act
of thinking. Immediately at the moment of perception, you can feel the
mind going to work, sending the odor around from place to place, setting
off complex repertories through the brain, polling one center after
another for signs of recognition, for old memories and old
connection." | |
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Found in the topic Smell.
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| "Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, embedded there,
feeding the structure like root nodules. If we were not provided with
the knack for being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We
think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and
the wrong choices have to be made as often as the right ones. We get along
in life this way." | |
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Found in the topic Mistake.
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| "We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different
people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature; we play
the music; we change our minds; we reach an understanding. Society evolves
this way, not by shouting each other down, but by the unique capacity of
unique, individual human beings to comprehend each other." | |
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Found in the topic Society.
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| "We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth?s creatures, the worrying
animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the
present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still." | |
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Found in the topic Anxiety.
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