Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. The imagination must be given not wings but weights. Henry Adams More Quotes by Henry Adams More Quotes From Henry Adams Wild as man was, and disgusting as the more degraded tribes and communities were, the best of them, and all those from which further advance came, were marked by good qualities, or they could never have risen to a higher stage. Henry Adams qualitycommunitymen The common view of marriage as a primitive institution implies in the man more than arbitrary superiority, such as he exercised over the child, which still remained free. The woman's slavery was assumed to be for life. Henry Adams marriagemenchildren No man can instruct more than half-a-dozen students at once. The whole problem of education is one of its cost in money. Henry Adams costteachingmen Probably the institution of marriage had its origin in love of property. Both men and women were united in this--that whatever they loved best, they wished to possess. The usual theory holds that the communal system would not permit the gratification of this desire at the expense of communal rights, and that therefore men were driven to gratify their passion by purchasing or by capturing women from neighboring and hostile tribes. Henry Adams passionmarriagemen The less a tourist knows, the fewer mistakes he need make, for he will not expect himself to explain ignorance. Henry Adams ignorancemistaketravel Nothing is more tiresome than a superannuated pedagogue. Henry Adams tiresometeaching Power is poison. Its effect on Presidents has been always tragic, chiefly as an almost indecent excitement at first, and a worse reaction afterwards; but also because no mind is so well balanced as to bear the strain of seizing unlimited force without habit or knowledge of it; and finding it disputed with him by hungry packs of wolves and hounds whose lives depend on snatching the carion. Henry Adams presidentmindfirsts Susceptibility to the highest forces is the highest genius. Henry Adams highestforcegenius Intimates are predestined. Henry Adams predestined No historian can take part with--or against--the forces he has to study. To him even the extinction of the human race should merely be a fact to be grouped with other vital statistics. Henry Adams statisticsracehistory Artists... disappeared long ago as social forces. So did the church. Henry Adams long-agochurchartist Average human nature is very coarse, and its ideals must necessarily be average. The world never loved perfect poise. What the world does love is commonly absence of poise, for it has to be amused. Henry Adams perfectlove-isaverage Every syllable that can be struck out is pure profit, and every page that can be economised is a five-per-cent dividend. Nature rebels against this rule; the flesh is weak, and shrinks from the scissors; I groan in retrospect over the weak. Henry Adams pagesfleshediting As for piracy, I love to be pirated. It is the greatest compliment an author can have. The wholesale piracy of Democracy was the single real triumph of my life. Anyone may steal what he likes from me. Henry Adams democracyrealmay An artist's business is only to see. Henry Adams artist There have been times when the church seemed afraid, but she is no longer. Analyze, dissect, use your microscope or your spectrum till the last atom of matter is reached; reflect and refine till the last element of thought is made clear; the church now knows with the certainty of science what she once knew only by the certainty of faith, that you will find enthroned behind all thought and matter only one central idea--that idea which the church has never ceased to embody--I AM! Henry Adams atomschurchideas All State education is a sort of dynamo machine for polarizing the popular mind; for turning and holding its lines of force in the direction supposed to be most effective for State purposes. Henry Adams purposemindeducation Education should try to lessen the obstacles, diminish the friction, invigorate the energy, and should train minds to react, not at haphazard, but by choice, on the lines of force that attract their world. What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know how to learn. Henry Adams choicesmindeducation Unbroken Evolution under uniform conditions pleased every one -- except curates and bishops; it was the very best substitute for religion; a safe, conservative practical, thoroughly Common-Law deity. Henry Adams bishopsunbrokenlaw Man loves most that which is his own. Henry Adams lovemen
