If we are to create balanced human beings, capable of entering into world-wide co-operation with all other men of good will - and that is the supreme task of our generation, and the foundation of all its other potential achievements - we must give as much weight to the arousal of the emotions and to the expression of moral and esthetic values as we now give to science, to invention, to practical organization. One without the other is impotent. And values do not come ready-made: they are achieved by a resolute attempt to square the facts of one's own experience with the historic patterns formed in the past by those who devoted their whole lives to achieving and expressing values. If we are to express the love in our own hearts, we must also understand what love meant to Socrates and Saint Francis, to Dante and Shakespeare, to Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, to the explorer Shackleton and to the intrepid physicians who deliberately exposed themselves to yellow fever. These historic manifestations of love are not recorded in the day's newspaper or the current radio program: they are hidden to people who possess only fashionable minds.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- To create balanced people, we must value emotions and ethics as much as science and organization.
- In plain terms
- Balance emotions and values with science to create good people.
- What can you take from it?
- Science needs values to build balanced humans.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Are we valuing science too much?
- How do you balance values and logic?
Another view
Science and organization are also vital for modern life.
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Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.
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