Friday, November 26, 2004

The Abolition of Man

Top Quotes From 'The Abolition of Man' by CS Lewis:

1. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. 2. The heart never takes the place of the head: but it can, and should, obey it. 3. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so. 4. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the fuction. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful. 5. An open mind, in questions that are not ultimate, is useful. But an open mind about the ultimate foundations either of theoretical or of practical reason is idiocy. If a man's mind is open on these things, let his mouth at least be shut. 6. Man's conquest of nature, if the dreams of some scientific planners are realized, means the rule of a few hundreds of men over billions upon billions of men. 7. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the steet or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles.

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