Archive for the 'By The Pen' Category
Mon 19 Jan 2009
I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — “That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm…
Tue 20 May 2008
Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?
The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”
Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
Have no friends not equal to yourself.
When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
The Master said, “I will not be afflicted at men’s not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.”
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought…
Fri 14 Mar 2008
Ethics: The Three Systems
1. The Ethics of Buddha and Jesus:
• All men are equally precious.
• Resists evil only by returning good.
• Identifies virtues with love.
• Inclines in politics toward unlimited Democracy.
2. The Ethics of Macchiavelli and Nietzsche:
• Accepts the inequality of men.
• Relishes the risk of combat and conquest and rule.
• Identifies virtue with power.
• Exalts a hereditary aristocracy.
3. The Ethics of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle:
• Only the informed and mature mind can judge, according to diverse circumstance, when love should rule, and when power.
• Identifies virtue with intelligence and knowledge.
• Advocates a varying mixture of aristocracy and democracy in government.
Reconciliation by Spinoza: Making Happiness the goal of conduct.
(Original source: Will Durant’s “The Story of Philosophy” extracted and compiled…
Sat 8 Mar 2008
This is our creed, this is what we stand for:
Sometime a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens nearly to everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by…
Mon 19 Jan 2009
I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — “That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm…
Tue 20 May 2008
Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?
The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”
Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
Have no friends not equal to yourself.
When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
The Master said, “I will not be afflicted at men’s not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.”
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought…
Fri 14 Mar 2008
Ethics: The Three Systems
1. The Ethics of Buddha and Jesus:
• All men are equally precious.
• Resists evil only by returning good.
• Identifies virtues with love.
• Inclines in politics toward unlimited Democracy.
2. The Ethics of Macchiavelli and Nietzsche:
• Accepts the inequality of men.
• Relishes the risk of combat and conquest and rule.
• Identifies virtue with power.
• Exalts a hereditary aristocracy.
3. The Ethics of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle:
• Only the informed and mature mind can judge, according to diverse circumstance, when love should rule, and when power.
• Identifies virtue with intelligence and knowledge.
• Advocates a varying mixture of aristocracy and democracy in government.
Reconciliation by Spinoza: Making Happiness the goal of conduct.
(Original source: Will Durant’s “The Story of Philosophy” extracted and compiled…
Sat 8 Mar 2008
This is our creed, this is what we stand for:
Sometime a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens nearly to everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by…