Sublime

Against all the religious vitriol curiosity had sustained, Francis Bacon, onetime lord chancellor of England and staunch proponent of empiricism, defends it, characterizing it as absolutely “natural” and in fact “useful” when tasked with building knowledge in the service of humankind.

For religion all men are equal, as all pennies are equal, because the only value in any of them is that they bear the image of the King.

When, in the past, opinions so arguable have been enforced by State violence, it has been at the instigation of fanatics who held them for fixed and flaming certainties. If truths could not be evaded by their enemies, neither could they be altered even by their friends. But what are the certain truths that the secular arm must now lift the sword to

Socrates had said something about ignorance: All I know is that I know nothing.

The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal.

Brooke is a very good fellow, but pulpy; he will run into any mould, but he won’t keep shape.’

Fast forward to the Renaissance, and Thomas More was taking quote whoredom to a new level, asking his friend Erasmus to ensure that his book Utopia ‘be handsomely set off with the highest of recommendations, if possible, from several people, both intellectuals and distinguished statesmen’.