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“Law is reason without desire.”
Good law is idealized as judgment governed by reason rather than by the changing appetites or personal passions of an individual ruler.
Source note: Politics, Book III, William Ellis translation; the line appears in a discussion of law and political rule.
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“All warfare is based on deception.”
Strategy depends partly on managing what an opponent believes about intentions, strength, timing, and position rather than revealing every fact directly.
Source note: The Art of War, Chapter I “Laying Plans,” Lionel Giles translation (1910).
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“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
Emerson attacks rigid consistency when it prevents people from revising judgment in the light of new thought.
Source note: Essay “Self-Reliance”; Emerson criticizes rigid adherence to past opinions when fresh judgment requires revision.
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“Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.”
The aphoristic warning concerns excessive self-monitoring: repeatedly testing an experience for happiness can interrupt the very absorption that makes enjoyment possible.
Source note: Autobiography, Chapter V; Mill states this within his post-crisis philosophy of pursuing ends beyond happiness itself.
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“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.”
Understanding a position requires serious contact with competing arguments; familiarity with only one side can produce confidence without real comprehension.
Source note: On Liberty, Chapter 2; Mill argues for open discussion because opposing views expose weaknesses and sharpen understanding.
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“As you succeed in overcoming self you will begin to see things in their right relations.”
For Allen, clearer perception follows disciplined work on one’s own impulses and biases; self-mastery changes not only conduct but the proportions in which problems are seen.
Source note: The Way of Peace; Allen links self-mastery with clearer perception and a less distorted relationship to circumstances and other people.