This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Niels Bohr, fully Neils Henrik David Bohr
The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
Truth |
Quite often, as life goes on, when we feel completely secure as we go on our way, we suddenly notice that we are trapped in error, that we have allowed ourselves to be taken in by individuals, by objects, have dreamt up an affinity with them which immediately vanishes before our waking eye; and yet we cannot tear ourselves away, held fast by some power that seems incomprehensible to us. Sometimes, however, we become fully aware and realize that error as well as truth can move and spur us on to action. Now because action is always a decisive factor, something really good can result from an active error, because the effect of all that has been done reaches out into infinity. So although creative action is certainly always best, destroying what has been done is also not without happy consequence.
Action | Error | Good | Happy | Life | Life | Power | Truth |
Reason provides a means of escaping from the constraints of belief-systems backed by authority and from the resentment which clever people feel at the power of their own passions. Because reason--in admittedly varying degrees--is available to everybody, it has a potential advantage over the truth you feel and the truth you are told.
Authority | Belief | Means | People | Power | Reason | Resentment | Truth |
Opinions about the perfect state of human society are only that; no road to ethical truth exists to moderate between them.
Petro G. Grigorenko, or Petro Hryhorovych Hryhorenko or Pyotr Grigoryevich Grigorenko
Concealment of the historical truth is a crime against the people.
Concealment | Crime | People | Truth |