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Insight is really more important than exact scientific knowledge.

Morality found the upper class cynical and sophisticated, the lower classes brutalised and debauched, but from the middle classes they received a ready response.

... faith might be a delusion but was still a valuable instrument of social control, and anything that kept the masses quiet was too useful to be discarded.

Science gives us rules, but understanding them only from a distance and in rough outline is not easy, and if one has understood them, then the difficult part begins, which is how they apply to local conditions.

... extreme rationalism leads to complete skepticism.

science, so rich in understanding, is less so practical outcomes

In peace, most people destroy themselves through slothfulness and a sense of security. In war, they would be destroyed by others, were it not for the wisdom and courage of the valiant.

... there is never peace where full liberty is not given, nor never stable peace where more than full liberty is granted.

Let all the world learn to give mortal men no greater power than they are content they shall use, for use it they will

Maps are normally printed so that the north is at the top, but there is really no logical reason why this should be so. Early medieval mapmakers set east to the top in deference to the holy places of the Orient - hence the term orientation and the modern sport of orienteering. The practice of orienting maps to the north was established by Italian and Catalan chartmakers.

Are you a politician asking what your country can fo for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country.

Life is determination in youth, strife during manhood, and wisdom in maturity

Byblos was not the mightiest cities, but it was the greatest religious center. The Old Testament was called the Book of Byblos. The head deity of the city was El, the father of all gods. El is the name in the Bible often referred to as Elohim, and in Arabic, it is called Elah.

Truth, like light blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.

... true debauchery is liberating because it creates no obligation.