Even by proving that a certain view is indispensable for living well, one proves merely that the view in question is a salutary myth: one does not prove it to be true. Leo Strauss More Quotes by Leo Strauss More Quotes From Leo Strauss The Jewish people and their fate are the living witness for the absence of redemption. This, one could say, is the meaning of the chosen people; the Jews are chosen to prove the absence of redemption. Leo Strauss redemptionfatepeople Absolute tolerance is altogether impossible; the allegedly absolute tolerance turns into ferocious hatred of those who have stated clearly and most forcefully that there are unchangeable standards founded in the nature of man and the nature of things. Leo Strauss tolerancehatredmen No bloody or unbloody change of society can eradicate the evil in man: as long as there will be men, there will be malice, envy and hatred, and hence there cannot be a society which does not have to employ coercive restraint. Leo Strauss evilmenlong According to our social science, we can be or become wise in all matters of secondary importance, but we have to be resigned to utter ignorance in the most important respect: we cannot have any knowledge regarding the ultimate principles of our choices, i.e. regarding their soundness or unsoundness... We are then in the position of beings who are sane and sober when engaged in trivial business and who gamble like madmen when confronted with serious issues. Leo Strauss issuesignorancewise All political action aims at either preservation or change. When desiring to preserve, we wish to prevent a change for the worse; when desiring to change, we wish to bring about something better. All political action is then guided by some thought of better or worse. Leo Strauss politicalwishaction One cannot refute what one has not thoroughly understood. Leo Strauss understood Liberal relativism has its roots in the natural right tradition of tolerance or in the notion that everyone has a natural right to the pursuit of happiness as he understands happiness; but in itself it is a seminary of intolerance. Leo Strauss pursuit-of-happinesstoleranceroots It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the former one does not deprive the low of the freedom to reveal itself as fully as what it is. Leo Strauss lightdoetrying The silence of a wise man is always meaningful. Leo Strauss wisemeaningfulmen The adjective "political" in "political philosophy" designates not so much the subject matter as a manner of treatment; from this point of view, I say, "political philosophy" means primarily not the philosophic study of politics, but the political, or popular, treatment of philosophy, or the political introduction to philosophy the attempt to lead qualified citizens, or rather their qualified sons, from the political life to the philosophic life. Leo Strauss philosophymeanson Education to perfect gentlemanship, to human excellence, liberal education consists in reminding oneself of human excellence, of human greatness. Leo Strauss greatnessexcellenceperfect Liberal education, which consists in the constant intercourse with the greatest minds, is a training in the highest form of modesty. ... It is at the same time a training in boldness. ... It demands from us the boldness implied in the resolve to regard the accepted views as mere opinions, or to regard the average opinions as extreme opinions which are at least as likely to be wrong as the most strange or least popular opinions Leo Strauss trainingviewsaverage Life is too short to live with any but the greatest books. Leo Strauss life-is-too-shortlife-isbook Philosophizing means, then, to ascend from public dogma to essentially private knowledge. Leo Strauss dogmamean For try as one may to expel nature with a hayfork, it will always come back. Leo Strauss maytrying The contemporary rejection of natural right leads to nihilism - nay, it is identical with nihilism. Leo Strauss rejectionnihilismnatural A conservative, I take it, is a man who despises vulgarity; but the argument which is concerned exclusively with calculations of success, and is based on blindness to the nobility of the effort, is vulgar. Leo Strauss conservativeeffortmen If the highest things are unknowable, then the highest capacity or virtue of man cannot be theoretical wisdom. Leo Strauss virtuewisdommen It is as absurd to expect members of philosophy departments to be philosophers as it is to expect members of art departments to be artists. Leo Strauss philosopherphilosophyart The most superficial fact regarding the 'Discourses,' the fact that the number of its chapters equals the number of books of Livy's 'History,' compelled us to start a chain of tentative reasoning which brings us suddenly face to face with the only New Testament quotation that ever appears in Machiavelli's two books and with an enormous blasphemy. Leo Strauss numberstwobook
