Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.
Interpretation
Self-love is essential for our survival and well-being, yet it often remains hidden.
In this quote, Voltaire emphasizes the importance of self-love as a fundamental aspect of human existence. It serves as a means of preserving ourselves and our happiness, indicating that while it is vital and valuable, it is often kept concealed due to societal norms or expectations.
In practice
Using this quote in a self-help workshop to encourage participants to value themselves.
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
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.
I think as a whole America is dealing with the issue of homophobia. We got to be really honest about whether we believe in civil rights for all people or not. As Black people we need to remember the moment that we say it's okay to disenfranchise one segment of society, we're opening the door to move backward on ourselves.
Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.
When man tries to imagine Paradise on earth, the immediate result is a very respectable Hell.
I built my soul a lordly pleasure-house, Wherein at ease for aye to dwell.
No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.
When a truth is necessary, the reason for it can be found by analysis, that is, by resolving it into simpler ideas and truths until the primary ones are reached. It is this way that in mathematics speculative theorems and practical canons are reduced by analysis to definitions, axioms and postulates.
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