#critical

Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing spaces of history; at its critical turning points there is no other rule possible than the old one, that the end justifies the means. ↗

— Arthur Koestler

#critical #end #fair #history #justifies

Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. ↗

— Lawrence Kohlberg

#agreed #been #critically #defined #examined

My project was radiation damage of Si and Ge by energetic electrons, critical for the use of the recently developed semiconductor devices for applications in outer space. ↗

— Walter Kohn

#critical #damage #developed #devices #electrons

I think a moment of critical energy has suddenly emerged. But moments like this come and go unless we seize them at their height. ↗

— Jonathan Kozol

#come and go #critical #emerged #energy #go

Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change. ↗

— Frank Lloyd Wright

#between #change #choose #chose #early

It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts. ↗

— Boris Yeltsin

#deprived #encourage #especially #every #fresh

There exists in society a very special class of persons that I have always referred to as the Believers. These are folks who have chosen to accept a certain religion, philosophy, theory, idea or notion and cling to that belief regardless of any evidence that might, for anyone else, bring it into doubt. They are the ones who encourage and support the fanatics and the frauds of any given age. No amount of evidence, no matter how strong, will bring them any enlightenment. They are the sheep who beg to be fleeced and butchered, and who will battle fiercely to preserve their right to be victimized… patent offices handle an endless succession of inventors who still produce perpetual-motion machines that don't work, but no number of idle flywheels will convince these zealots of their folly; dozens of these patent applications flow in every year. In ashrams all over the world, hopping devotees of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi will never abandon their goal of blissful levitation of their bodies by mind power, despite bruises and sprains aplenty suffered as they bounce about on gym mats like demented (though smiling) frogs, trying to get airborne. Absolutely nothing will discourage them. ↗

— James Randi

#science #skepticism #age

Bush the father did well in placing his sons as governors and did not forget to pass on the expertise in fraud from the leaders of the region to Florida to use it in critical moments. ↗

— Osama bin Laden

#critical #did #expertise #father #florida

I used some vivid language that, if I could take it back, I'd take it back. It's not my intention to be personally critical of the President or of anyone else. ↗

— Paul O'Neill

#back #could #critical #else #i

Sometimes I read reviews, and without exception I will read critical essays that are sent to me. The critical essays are interesting on their own terms. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#essays #exception #i #interesting #me