C.E.M. Joad Quotes

That some contrivance has been devised or some increment of power obtained which will enabled human beings to move faster … or later more rapidly the position of matter in space than before is in the contemporary world regarded as a sufficient reason for making use of it. Nobody ever asks whether the use of the contrivance, the employment of the power, will make us happier, wiser, or better.

It all depends what you mean by ...

In the most civilized and progressive countries freedom of discussion is recognized as a fundamental principle.

War provides an outlet for every evil element in man's nature. It enfranchises cupidity and greed gives a charter to petty tyranny, glorifies cruelty and places in positions of power the vulgar and base.

Conscience was the barmaid of the Victorian soul. Recognizing that human beings were fallible and that their failings, though regrettable, must be humored, conscience would permit, rather ungraciously perhaps, the indulgence of a number of carefully selected desires.

A good soul like a good body should be as unobtrusive as possible; in so far as it functions properly, it should not be noticed for good or for ill.

The secret of successful journalism is to make your readers so angry they will write half your paper for you.

There are those who feel an imperative need to believe, for whom the values of a belief are proportionate not to its truth, but to its definiteness. Incapable of either admitting the existence of contrary judgments or of suspending their own, they supply the place of knowledge by turning other men's conjectures into dogmas.

My life is spent in perpetual alternation between two rhythms,
the rhythm of attracting people for fear I may be lonely
and the rhythm of trying to get rid of them
because I know that I am bored.