Academic

Explore 85 quotes by Academics

Little do they know that they meet under an empty sky from which the gods have departed.

Hans Morgenthau

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Topic

Disenchanted world Decline of religion Realpolitik Religion and politics International politics

Author

Hans Morgenthau

Source

Politics Among Nations

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morgenthau, Hans. Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.

In so far as a scientific statement speaks about reality, it must be falsifiable: and in so far as it is not falsifiable, it does not speak about reality.

Karl Popper

The Logic of Scientific Discovery

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Topic

Scientific theory Nature of science

Author

Karl Popper

Source

The Logic of Scientific Discovery

Genre

Scientific literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

German

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Popper, Karl. Logik der Forschung [The Logic of Research]. Julius Springer, 1934, pt. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge, 2002, pt. 1, ch. 1.

I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom.

Noam Chomsky

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Topic

Power relations Social hierarchy Domination and subordination

Speaker

Noam Chomsky

Medium

Interview

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chomsky, Noam. "Noam Chomsky on Anarchism, Marxism and Hope for the Future." Interviewed by Kevin Doyle. Red and Black Revolution, May 1995.

Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization.

G.M. Trevelyan

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Topic

Curiosity Progress

Author

G.M. Trevelyan

Source

English Social History

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trevelyan, George Macaulay. English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries Chaucer to Queen Victoria. Longmans, Green and Company, 1942, introduction.

To have power means not to have to give in, and to force the environment or the other person to do so. Power in this narrow sense is the priority of output over intake, the ability to talk instead of listen. In a sense, it is the ability to afford not to learn.

Karl Deutsch

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Topic

Nature of power Power

Author

Karl Deutsch

Source

The Nerves of Government

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Deutsch, Karl. The Nerves of Government: Models of Political Communication and Control. Free Press, 1963, ch. 7.

The Law is the killy-loo bird of the sciences. The killy-loo, of course, was the bird that insisted on flying backward because it didn't care where it was going but was mightily interested in where it had been... Only The Law, inexorably devoted to all its most ancient principles and precedents, makes a vice of innovation and a virtue of hoariness.

Fred Rodell

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Topic

Nature of law Law

Author

Fred Rodell

Source

Woe Unto You, Lawyers!

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rodell, Fred. Woe Unto You, Lawyers! Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939, ch. 2.

The mores come down to us from the past. Each individual is born into them as he is born into the atmosphere, and he does not reflect on them, or criticise them any more than a baby analyzes the atmosphere before he begins to breathe it.

William Graham Sumner

Folkways

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Topic

Society and the individual

Author

William Graham Sumner

Source

Folkways

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sumner, William Graham. Folkways: A Study of Mores, Manners, Customs and Morals. Ginn & Company, 1906, ch. 2.

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

A. Bartlett Giamatti

The Green Fields of the Mind

On baseball.

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Read The Green Fields of the Mind in the Yale Alumni Magazine

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Topic

Baseball Sports Seasons

Author

A. Bartlett Giamatti

Source

The Green Fields of the Mind

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Giamatti, A. Bartlett. "The Green Fields of the Mind." The Yale Alumni Magazine, 1977.

We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

Robert Wilensky

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Topic

The internet

Author

Robert Wilensky

Source

Mail on Sunday

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Wilensky, Robert. "Quotes of the Week." Mail on Sunday, 16 Feb. 1997.

Crime is a sociopolitical artifact, not a natural phenomenon. We can have as much or as little crime as we please, depending on what we choose to count as criminal.

Herbert L. Packer

The Limits of the Criminal Sanction

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Topic

Crime

Author

Herbert L. Packer

Source

The Limits of the Criminal Sanction

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Packer, Herbert L. The Limits of the Criminal Sanction. Stanford University Press, 1968, conclusion.

If we put together all that we have learned from anthropology and ethnography about primitive men and primitive society, we perceive that the first task of life is to live. Men begin with acts, not with thoughts.

William Graham Sumner

Folkways

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Topic

Taking action Thoughts vs. actions

Author

William Graham Sumner

Source

Folkways

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sumner, William Graham. Folkways: A Study of Mores, Manners, Customs and Morals. Ginn & Company, 1906, ch. 1.

Few have heard of Fra Luca Pacioli, the inventor of double-entry bookkeeping; but he has probably had much more influence on human life than has Dante or Michelangelo.

Herbert J. Muller

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Topic

Accounting Unsung heroes

Author

Herbert J. Muller

Source

Uses of the Past

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Muller, Herbert. Uses of the Past: Profiles of Former Societies. Oxford University Press, 1952, ch. 8.

By the power elite, we refer to those political, economic, and military circles which as an intricate set of overlapping cliques share decisions having at least national consequences. In so far as national events are decided, the power elite are those who decide them.

C. Wright Mills

The Power Elite

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Topic

American elite Elites

Author

C. Wright Mills

Source

The Power Elite

Genre

Sociology

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mills, C. Wright. The Power Elite. Oxford University Press, 1956, ch. 1.

Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Topic

Life and death Nature of death Death

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

German

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. "Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung [Logical-Philosophical Treatise]." Annalen der Naturphilosophie [Annales of Natural Philosophy], 1921.

Current Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, translated by Michael Beaney. Oxford University Press, 2023.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

William James

The Principles of Psychology

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Topic

Wisdom Judgment

Author

William James

Source

The Principles of Psychology

Genre

Psychological literature

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 2, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890, ch. 22.

Genius... Means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

William James

The Principles of Psychology

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Topic

Genius Different perspectives

Author

William James

Source

The Principles of Psychology

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 2, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890, ch. 19.

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Topic

Limits of knowledge Language Philosophy

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source

Philosophical Investigations

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophische Untersuchungen [Philosophical Investigations]. Suhrkamp, 1953, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations, translated by G. E. M. Anscombe, et. al., edited by P. M. S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte. Wiley Blackwell, 2009, pt. 1.

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.

William James

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Topic

Indecision Decisions and choices

Author

William James

Source

The Principles of Psychology

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 1, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890, ch. 4.

Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.

Karl Popper

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Topic

Science and religion Science Myth

Author

Karl Popper

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Popper, Karl. "Philosophy of Science: A Personal Report." British Philosophy in the Mid-Century: A Cambridge Symposium, edited by C. A. Mace. Cambridge University Press, 1957.

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

James Q. Wilson

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Topic

Civic virtue Political theory

Author

James Q. Wilson

Source

The Rediscovery of Character: Private Virtue and Public Policy The Public Interest

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wilson, James Q. "The Rediscovery of Character: Private Virtue and Public Policy." The Public Interest, no. 81, Fall 1985.