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Schopenhauer, Arthur, 1788-1860

"The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism"

Or he is like Gulliver at Lilliput,
overwhelmed by an enormous number of little men.
* * * * *
A mother gave her children Aesop's fables to read, in the hope of
educating and improving their minds; but they very soon brought the
book back, and the eldest, wise beyond his years, delivered himself as
follows: _This is no book for us; it's much too childish and stupid.
You can't make us believe that foxes and wolves and ravens are able to
talk; we've got beyond stories of that kind_!
In these young hopefuls you have the enlightened Rationalists of the
future.
* * * * *
A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in
winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills,
they were obliged to disperse. However the cold drove them together
again, when just the same thing happened. At last, after many turns of
huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off
by remaining at a little distance from one another. In the same way
the need of society drives the human porcupines together, only to be
mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable qualities of
their nature.


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