The one thing that unifies men in a given age is not their individual philosophies but the dominant problem that these philosophies are designed to solve.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People are unified by the dominant problem of their age, not their individual philosophies.
- In plain terms
- Shared problems unite people more than their personal beliefs.
- What can you take from it?
- Focus on shared problems to unite people.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What unites people in your time?
Another view
Shared ideologies can also unite people.
More from Jacques Barzun
The greatest artists have never been men of taste. By never sophisticating their instincts they have never lost the awareness of the great simplicities, which …
Permalink to quote #8 We are accustomed to the artist scoundrel or specialist in vice, and unaccustomed to the creator in whom passion and reason and moral integrity hold in balance…
Permalink to quote #10 Many of us affect a tone of irony about gadgets, as if we lived always in realms above and dealt with trifles only during rare descents from sublime thoughts. …
Permalink to quote #7
Related quotes
There is one living spirit, prevalent over this world ... which assumes a multitude of forms according to subordinate laws. There is one thinking sensible prin…
Charles DarwinCharles Darwin quote #1 Neither is it accidental that the Upanishads contain no internal evidence as to when, where or by whom they were composed. Their very thesis is that we dwell i…
Robert T. OliverRobert T. Oliver quote #1 I am nature.
Jackson PollockJackson Pollock quote #2