Celia Green Quotes

In an autocracy, one person has his way; in an aristocracy a few people have their way; in a democracy, no one has his way.

The psychology of committees is a special case of the psychology of mobs.

The human race knows enough about thinking to prevent it.

What is scandalous is not that stupid people should sometimes inherit private incomes; but that clever people should sometimes not.

The most exciting thing possible is actually true.

Lack of clarity is always a sign of dishonesty.

When people talk about 'the sanctity of the individual' they mean 'the sanctity of the statistical norm'.

The starting point is that one is interested in the universe, one observes that one is finite and that this is intolerable. One has a limited time and apparently limited capacity with which to find anything out. Therefore it is possible to despair. There are many orders of despair, and none of them are known to normal psychology. This is demonstrated by the fact that it has not become existential. Normal psychology will never devalue anything. Existential psychology, at least to a certain point, consists of exploiting the recoil from the despair of finiteness. The recoil is a drive with at least the instinctive immediacy of the survival instinct. There is no point in saying, 'What is there to do? What could such a drive possibly tend towards?'. The survival instinct tends to prolong life. The fundamental drive tends to inform itself about the universe.

The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment.

It is inconceivable that anything should be existing. It is not inconceivable that a lot of people should also be existing who are not interested in the fact that they exist. But it is certainly very odd.

In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is lucky to escape with his life.

I have long had a theory that the popularity of Christianity has always depended on its appeal to the sadism of its adherents. The exceptional should be crucified, saith Society; and somehow everyone suspects (in spite of all arguments to the contrary) that if there is a God, he may be exceptional in some way. So the figure of Christ crucified becomes the figure of the dangerous exceptional alien—suitably defeated. 'Only a suffering God can help', said Bonhoeffer, licking his lips.

Human nature: vindictiveness lightly coated with dishonesty.

The fact that something is far-fetched is no reason why it should not be true; it cannot be as far-fetched as the fact that something exists.

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.