The Substance Of My Being Has Been

Every Age Is Blind To Its Own Worst Madness.

In America We Have Only The Bourgeoisie, And The Love Of The Heroic Is One Of The Few Counterpoises Available To Us. In Us The Contempt For The Heroic Is Only An Extension Of The Perversion Of The Democratic Principle That Denies Greatness And Wants Everyone To Feel Comfortable In His Skin Without Having To Suffer Unpleasant Comparisons. Students Have Not The Slightest Notion Of What An Achievement It Is To Free Oneself From Public Guidance And Find Resources For Guidance Within Oneself.

There Are Two Threats To Reason, The Opinion That One Knows The Truth About The Most Important Things And The Opinion That There Is No Truth About Them. Both Of These Opinions Are Fatal To Philosophy; The First Asserts That The Quest For Truth Is Unnecessary, While The Second Asserts That It Is Impossible. The Socratic Knowledge Of Ignorance, Which I Take To Be The Beginning Point Of All Philosophy, Defines The Sensible Middle Ground Between Two Extremes.

Freedom Of The Mind Requires Not Only, Or Not Even Especially The Absence Of Legal Constraints But The Presence Of Alternative Thoughts.

The Importance Of These [college] Years For An American Cannot Be Overestimated. They Are Civilization's Only Chance To Get To Him.