Doctrine Quotes - Page 13

• We shall see that the mathematical treatment of the subject [of electricity] has been greatly developed by writers who express themselves in terms of the 'Two Fluids' theory. Their results, however, have been deduced entirely from data which can be proved by experiment, and which must therefore be true, whether we adopt the theory of two fluids or not. The experimental verification of the mathematical results therefore is no evidence for or against the peculiar doctrines of this theory.

  James Clerk Maxwell

  Data, Two, Peculiar

  James Clerk Maxwell (1873). “A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism”, p.38

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• To plead the organic causation of a religious state of mind, then, in refutation of its claim to possess superior spiritual value, is quite illogical and arbitrary, unless one have already worked out in advance some psycho-physical theory connecting spiritual values in general with determinate sorts of physiological change. Otherwise none of our thoughts and feelings, not even our scientific doctrines, not even our dis -beliefs, could retain any value as revelations of the truth, for every one of them without exception flows from the state of their possessor's body at the time.

  William James

  Spiritual, Religious, Feelings

  William James (2013). “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, p.14, Courier Corporation

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• When lost in a forest go always down hill. When lost in a philosophy or doctrine go upward.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Philosophy, Forests, Hills

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2692, Delphi Classics

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• By preaching the doctrine that nothing is to be admired except steel and concrete, one merely makes it a little surer that human beings will have no outlet for their surplus energy except in hatred and leader worship.

  George Orwell

  Hatred, Leader, Steel

  George Orwell, Ian Angus, Sheila Davison (1998). “The Complete Works of George Orwell: Smothered under journalism, 1946”

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• Antisemitism, for instance, is simply not the doctrine of a grown-up person.

  George Orwell

  Instance, Persons

  George Orwell, Ian Angus, Sheila Davison (1998). “The Complete Works of George Orwell: I have tried to tell the truth, 1943-1944”

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• I know that a Christian should be humble, but against the Pope I am going to be proud and say to him: "You, Pope, I will not have you for my boss, for I am sure that my doctrine is divine.

  Martin Luther

  Christian, Humble, Boss

  Martin Luther (2007). “Commentary on Galatians”, p.28, Lulu.com

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• We must not regard what or how the world esteems us, so we have the Word pure, and are certain of our doctrine.

  Martin Luther

  World, Certain, Esteem

  Martin Luther (2017). “Martin Luther's Table Talk”, p.94, Gideon House Books

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• This error of free will is a special doctrine of the Antichrist.

  Martin Luther

  Errors, Special, Free Will

  "Grund und Ursach aller Artikel D. Martin Luthers so durch römische Bulle unrechtlich verdammt sind" Article 36 in "D. Martin Luthers Werke: kritische Gesamtausgabe" by Martin Luther, Volume 7, (p. 451), 1897.

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• I attacked those Western playwrights who use their influence and affluence to preach to the world the nihilistic doctrine that life is pointless and irrationally destructive, and that there is nothing we can do about it. Until everyone is fed, clothed, housed and taught, until human beings have equal leisure to contemplate the overwhelming fact of mortality, we should not (I argued) indulge in the luxury of "privileged despair."

  Kenneth Tynan

  Indulge In, Luxury, Despair

  "Conference at Edinburgh (1963)". "Tynan Right and Left: Plays, Films, People, Places and Events". Book by Kenneth Tynan, p. 146, 1967.

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• All doctrines relating to the creation of the world, the government of man by superior beings, and his destiny after death, are conjectures which have been given out as facts, handed down with many adornments by tradition, and accepted by posterity as "revealed religion". They are theories more or less rational which uncivilised men have devised in order to explain the facts of life, and which civilised men believe that they believe.

  William Winwood Reade

  Believe, Destiny, Men

  William Winwood Reade (1874). “The Martyrdom of Man”, p.179

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• Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions', but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries.

  Ludwig Wittgenstein

  Philosophy, Philosophical, Giving

  Ludwig Wittgenstein (1961). “Tractatus Logico-philosophicus: The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung”, p.57, Linkgua digital

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• The true value of the Christian religion rests, not upon speculative views of the Creator, which must necessarily be different in each individual, according to the extent of the knowledge of the finite being, who employs his own feeble powers in contemplating the infinite: but it rests upon those doctrines of kindness and benevolence which that religion claims and enforces, not merely in favour of man himself but of every creature susceptible of pain or of happiness.

  Charles Babbage

  Christian, Pain, Kindness

  "Passages from the Life of a Philosopher". Book by Charles Babbage, 1864.

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• There are contingency plans in the NATO doctrine to fire a nuclear weapon for demonstrative purposes, to demonstrate to the other side that they are exceeding the limits of toleration in the conventional area.

  Alexander Haig

  Power, Fire, Nuclear

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• True zeal is connected with a holy life. It is remarkable how often the greatest zealots for God, the Church, and sound doctrine (as they regard it), have been unholy and even immoral in their lives.

  Charles Hodge

  Church, Sound Doctrine, Holy

  Charles Hodge (2004). “Conference Papers”, p.284, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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• Because we don't have a Fairness Doctrine, and because we have further media consolidation, and because we have a craptastic corporate media, WE DON'T HAVE NEWS! We don't have an informed populous and we don't have a democracy... Everyone in the world knows that America, (in its current state, because of right-wingers) that the right wing arm of this country (that speaks for this country unfortunately) has no credibility when it comes to human rights or independent media.

  Janeane Garofalo

  Country, Independent, Media

  "The Majority Report" with Janeane Garofalo, April 21, 2005.

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• The doctrine of population has been conspicuously absent, not because I doubt in the least its truth and vast importance, but because it forms no part of the direct problem of economics.

  Thomas Malthus

  Doubt, Population, Problem

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• Any comprehensive doctrine, religious or secular, can be introduced into any political argument at any time, but I argue that people who do this should also present what they believe are public reasons for their argument. So their opinion is no longer just that of one particular party, but an opinion that all members of a society might reasonably agree to, not necessarily that they would agree to. What's important is that people give the kinds of reasons that can be understood and appraised apart from their particular comprehensive doctrines.

  John Rawls

  Religious, Party, Believe

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• There are two kinds of comprehensive doctrines, religious and secular. Those of religious faith will say I give a veiled argument for secularism, and the latter will say I give a veiled argument for religion. I deny both. Each side presumes the basic ideas of constitutional democracy, so my suggestion is that we can make our political arguments in terms of public reason. Then we stand on common ground. That's how we can understand each other and cooperate.

  John Rawls

  Religious, Ideas, Two

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• The fault of the utilitarian doctrine is that it mistakes impersonality for impartiality.

  John Rawls

  Mistake, Faults, Utilitarian

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.190, Harvard University Press

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• Elegance of language must give way before simplicity in preaching sound doctrine.

  Girolamo Savonarola

  Giving, Simplicity, Way

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 481, 1895.

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• Religion has never befriended the cause of humaneness. Its monstrous doctrine of eternal punishment and the torture of the damned underlies much of the barbarity with which man has treated man; and the deep division imagined by the Church between the human being, with his immortal soul, and the soulless "beasts", has been responsible for an incalculable sum of cruelty.

  Henry Stephens Salt

  Men, Soul, Church

  "Seventy Years Among Savages". Book by Henry Stephens Salt, 1921.

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• O, let us understand that the power of Christianity lies not in a hazy indefiniteness, not in shadowy forms, not so much even in definite truths and doctrines, but in the truth and the doctrine. There is but one Christ crucified. All the gathered might of the infinite God is in that word.

  Herrick Johnson

  Lying, Might, Infinite

  Herrick Johnson (1881). “Christianity's Challenge: And Some Phases of Christianity Submitted for Candid Consideration”

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• To Marx the claim of the theory of ideology is that all doctrine is a derivative of social circumstance.

  Bernard Crick

  Derivatives, Social, Claims

  Bernard Crick (1962). “In Defence of Politics”

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• Every politician, every member of the clerical profession, ought to incur the reasonable suspicion of being an interested supporter of false doctrines, who becomes angry at opposition, and endeavors to cast an odium on free inquiry. Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.

  Thomas Cooper

  Truth, Religion, Inquiry

  Thomas Cooper (1829). “Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy ...”, p.375

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• How are we to adjudicate among rival ontologies? Certainly the answer is not provided by the semantical formula "To be is to be the value of a variable"; this formula serves rather, conversely, in testing the conformity of a given remark or doctrine to a prior ontological standard.

  Willard Van Orman Quine

  Answers, Variables, Rivals

  Willard Van Orman Quine, Roger F. Gibson (2004). “Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W.V. Quine”, p.189, Harvard University Press

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