Freedom for the wolves has often meant death to the sheep.
Isaiah BerlinRead
Utopias have their value -- nothing so wonderfully expands the imaginative horizons of human potentialities -- but as guides to conduct they can prove literally fatal.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Utopias inspire imagination but should not be strictly followed as they can lead to disastrous outcomes.
Isaiah Berlin highlights the dual nature of utopiasβwhile they serve to broaden human imagination and push the boundaries of what is possible, they can also lead individuals and societies to dangerous paths if pursued as concrete guides for action. The idea is that having lofty ideals is important, but they should not dictate real-world conduct without consideration of practical implications.
Themes
UtopiaImaginationPotentialConductReality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a philosophical debate about the role of ideals in society.
More from Isaiah Berlin
All quotes βInjustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.
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All central beliefs on human matters spring from a personal predicament.
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The underlying assumption that human nature is basically the same at all times, everywhere, and obeys eternal laws beyond human control, is a conception that only a handful of bold thinkers have dared to question.
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The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.
Isaiah BerlinRead
But to manipulate men, to propel them toward goals which you-the social reformers-see, but they may not, is to deny their human essence, to treat them as objects without wills of their own, and therefore to degrade them.
Isaiah BerlinRead
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Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.... The subjection of individuals will increase amongst democratic nations, not only in the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance.
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In a society where the roles everyone plays are obvious, the refusal to conform to any standard will excite interest. Be both masculine and feminine, impudent and charming, subtle and outrageous. Let other people worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine.
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He knew how to say many false things that were like true sayings.
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