Too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few. There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding. Mortimer Adler More Quotes by Mortimer Adler More Quotes From Mortimer Adler One reader is better than another in proportion as he is able of a greater range of activity in reading and exerts more effort. Mortimer Adler effort able reading I find the selectivity of erotic love - the choice of this man or this woman - much more intelligible if liking the person is the origin of sexual interest, rather than the other way. Mortimer Adler choices liking-someone men Let me roughly divide books into those which compete with the movies and those with which the movies cannot compete. They are the books that can elevate or instruct. If they are fine works of fiction, they can deepen your appreciation of human life. If they are serious works of nonfiction, they can inform or enlighten you. Mortimer Adler nonfiction appreciation book Conjugal love, or the friendship of spouses, persists after sexual desires have weakened, withered, and disappeared. Mortimer Adler conjugal lost-friendship desire Aristotle uses a mother's love for her child as the prime example of love or friendship. Mortimer Adler example mother children Emancipation of human labor from economic servitude and exploitation, i.e., from organizations of production in which the conditions of work are determined by a master class who own the means of production, and in which the fruits of work are alienated from workers to the benefit of masters. Mortimer Adler wisdom class mean The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth. Mortimer Adler complexity adults way First, an angel is spiritually present at whatever place in physical space happens to be occupied by the body on which it acts. It can be present at that place without leaving Heaven which is its spiritual residence. Mortimer Adler space angel spiritual ... always keep in mind that an article of faith is not something that the faithful assume. Faith, for those who have it, is the most certain form of knowledge, not a tentative opinion. Mortimer Adler faithful opinion mind If your friend wishes to read your 'Plutarch's Lives,' 'Shakespeare,' or 'The Federalist Papers,' tell him gently but firmly, to buy a copy. You will lend him your car or your coat - but your books are as much a part of you as your head or your heart. Mortimer Adler car heart book The tragedy of being both rational and animal seems to consist in having to choose between duty and desire rather than in making any particular choice Mortimer Adler choices desire animal Erotic or sexual love can truly be love if it is not selfishly sexual or lustful. Mortimer Adler lustful erotic ifs Philosophy is everybody's business. Mortimer Adler philosopher philosophy Freud's view is that all love is sexual in its origin or its basis. Even those loves which do not appear to be sexual or erotic have a sexual root or core. They are all sublimations of the sexual instinct. Mortimer Adler roots views love-is Love wishes to perpetuate itself. Love wishes for immortality. Mortimer Adler immortality self-love wish Sin is not only manifested in certain acts that are forbidden by divine command. Sin also appears in attitudes and dispositions and feelings. Lust and hate are sins as well as adultery and murder. And, in the traditional Christian view, despair and chronic boredom - unaccompanied by any vicious act - are serious sins. They are expressions of man's separation from God, as the ultimate good, meaning, and end of human existence. Mortimer Adler hate christian attitude Ultimately, we wish the joy of perfect union with the person we love. Mortimer Adler wish perfect joy love relationship There is only one situation I can think of in which men and women make an effort to read better than they usually do. It is when they are in love and reading a love letter. Mortimer Adler women effort love men Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men. Mortimer Adler live like ants men ideas An educated person is one who, through the travail of his own life, has assimilated the ideas that make him representative of his culture. Mortimer Adler person life culture ideas
