For life is tendency, and the essence of a tendency is to develop in the form of a sheaf, creating, by its very growth, divergent directions among which its impetus is divided.
Henri BergsonRead
The motive power of democracy is love
Interpretation
Democracy thrives on the love and care of its citizens towards one another and their society.
Henri Bergson's quote emphasizes that the fundamental driving force behind democracy is the love that individuals have for each other and their collective well-being. In a democratic society, it is this affection and concern that motivates people to participate actively in governance, promote justice, and foster solidarity, thereby creating a more harmonious and thriving community.
In practice
In a speech about community involvement, one might say, 'As Henri Bergson said, the motive power of democracy is love.'
For life is tendency, and the essence of a tendency is to develop in the form of a sheaf, creating, by its very growth, divergent directions among which its impetus is divided.
To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks.
I believe that the time given to refutation in philosophy is usually time lost. Of the many attacks directed by many thinkers against each other, what now remains? Nothing, or assuredly very little. That which counts and endures is the modicum of positive truth which each contributes. The true statement is, of itself, able to displace the erroneous idea, and becomes, without our having taken the trouble of refuting anyone, the best of refutations.
Religion is to mysticism what popularization is to science
And I also see how this body influences external images: it gives back movement to them.
The peril of this Nation is not in any foreign foe! We, the people, are its power, its peril, and its hope.
It is my idea to make capitalism create socialism in China so that these two economic forces of human evolution will work side by side in future civilization.
One of the things that distinguishes man from the other animals is that he wants to know things, wants to find out what reality is like, simply for the sake of knowing. When that desire is completely quenched in anyone, I think he has become something less than human.
Fate is the raw materials of experience. They come uninvited and often unanticipated. Destiny is what a man does with these raw materials.
The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.
Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.
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