One must open men's eyes, not tear them out. Alexander Herzen More Quotes by Alexander Herzen More Quotes From Alexander Herzen You can no more bridle passions with logic than you can justify them in the law courts. Passions are facts and not dogmas. Alexander Herzen passion law facts Everything in Italy that is particularly elegant and grand borders upon insanity and absurdity or at least is reminiscent of childhood. Alexander Herzen childhood borders insanity A generation which has passed through the shop has absorbed standards and ambitions which are not of those of spaciousness, and cannot get away from them. Everything with them is done as though for sale, and they naturally have in view the greatest possible benefit, profit and that end of the stuff that will make the best show. Alexander Herzen business ambition views Would it be possible to stand still on one spot more majestically -- while simulating a triumphant march forward -- than it is done by the two English Houses of Parliament? Alexander Herzen done house two If nations always moved from one set of furnished rooms to another -- and always into a better set -- things might be easier, but the trouble is that there is no one to prepare the new rooms. The future is worse than the ocean -- there is nothing there. It will be what men and circumstances make it. Alexander Herzen ocean might men It seems to me that you are solving a problem which goes beyond the limits of physiology in too simple a way. Physiology has realized its problem with fortitude, breaking man down into endless actions and counteractions and reducing him to a crossing, a vortex of reflex acts. Let it now permit sociology to restore him as a whole. Sociology will wrest man from the anatomical theatre and return him to history. Alexander Herzen theatre simple men Modern Western thought will pass into history and be incorporated in it, will have its influence and its place, just as our body will pass into the composition of grass, of sheep, of cutlets, and of men. Alexander Herzen body sheep men Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development. Alexander Herzen introducing generations development It must not be thought that the cowardly feeling of caution and uneasy self-preservation is innate in the English character. It is the consequence of a corpulence derived from wealth and of the training of all thoughts and passions for acquisitiveness. Alexander Herzen passion self character Strong drink stupefies a man and makes it possible for him to forget; it gives him an artificial cheeriness, an artificial excitement; and the pleasure of this state is increased by the low level of civilization and the narrow empty life to which these men are confined. Alexander Herzen strong men civilization Slavery is the first step towards civilization. In order to develop it is necessary that things should be much better for some and much worse for others, then those who are better off can develop at the expense of others. Alexander Herzen slavery civilization order Never was Catholicism, never were the ideas of chivalry, impressed on men so deeply, so multifariously, as the bourgeois ideas. Alexander Herzen chivalry men ideas Every man who has lived for fifty years has buried a whole world or even two; he has grown used to its disappearance and accustomed to the new scenery of another act: but suddenly the names and faces of a time long dead appear more and more often on his way, calling up series of shades and pictures kept somewhere, "just in case," in the endless catacombs of the memory, making him smile or sigh, and sometimes almost weep. Alexander Herzen men memories years Compassionate love may be strong. It sobs, it burns, then it wipes away its tears – and it does nothing. Alexander Herzen tears strong doe All religions have based morality on obedience, that is to say, on voluntary slavery. That is why they have always been more pernicious than any political organization. For the latter makes use of violence, the former - of the corruption of the will. Alexander Herzen atheism political organization History knocks at a thousand gates at every moment, and the gatekeeper is chance. We shout into the mist for this one or that one to be opened for us, but through every gate are a thousand more. We need wit and courage to make our way while our way is making us. Alexander Herzen chance way needs I believe what I write to be the truth...every man who is not indifferent to the truth has a weakness for spreading it about. Alexander Herzen writing men believe Human development is a form of chronological unfairness, since late-comers are able to profit by the labors of their predecessors without paying the same price. Alexander Herzen progress able development [T]he departing world leaves behind... not an heir, but a pregnant widow. Alexander Herzen heirs widows world We have wasted our spirit in the regions of the abstract and general just as the monks let it wither in the world of prayer and contemplation. Alexander Herzen spirit prayer world
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