We Never Know What We Are Talking

I May Be Wrong And You May Be Right, And By An Effort, We May Get Nearer To The Truth

Every Intellectual Has A Very Special Responsibility. He Has The Privilege And The Opportunity Of Studying. In Return, He Owes It To His Fellow Men (or 'to Society') To Represent The Results Of His Study As Simply, Clearly And Modestly As He Can. The Worst Thing That Intellectuals Can Do - The Cardinal Sin - Is To Try To Set Themselves Up As Great Prophets Vis-à-vis Their Fellow Men And To Impress Them With Puzzling Philosophies. Anyone Who Cannot Speak Simply And Clearly Should Say Nothing And Continue To Work Until He Can Do So.

Why Do I Think That We, The Intellectuals, Are Able To Help? Simply Because We, The Intellectuals, Have Done The Most Terrible Harm For Thousands Of Years. Mass Murder In The Name Of An Idea, A Doctrine, A Theory, A Religion - That Is All "our" Doing, "our" Invention: The Invention Of The Intellectuals. If Only We Would Stop Setting Man Against Man - Often With The Best Intentions - Much Would Be Gained. Nobody Can Say That It Is Impossible For Us To Stop Doing This.

I Have Insisted That We Must Be Tolerant. But I Also Believe That This Tolerance Has Its Limits. We Must Not Trust Those Anti-humanitarian Religions Which Not Only Preach Destruction But Act Accordingly. For If We Tolerate Them, Then We Become Ourselves Responsible For For Their Deeds.

A Rationalist Is Simply Someone For Whom It Is More Important To Learn Than To Be Proved Right; Someone Who Is Willing To Learn From Others - Not By Simply Taking Over Another's Opinions, But By Gladly Allowing Others To Criticize His Ideas And By Gladly Criticizing The Ideas Of Others