Too much faith is the worst ally. When you believe in something literally, through your faith you'll turn it into something absurd. One who is a genuine adherent, if you like, of some political outlook, never takes its sophistries seriously, but only its practical aims, which are concealed beneath these sophistries. Political rhetoric and sophistries do not exist, after all, in order that they be believed; rather, they have to serve as a common and agreed upon alibi. Foolish people who take them in earnest sooner or later discover inconsistencies in them, begin to protest, and finish finally and infamously as heretics and apostates. No, too much faith never brings anything good...

It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.

you put too much faith in the power of the gods, if you think they can give and take away the shape of things

Too many people, when they reject God, go on believing in the devil. Many intellectuals have a sense of evil without a confidence in good.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.

Men of this class, whether the favorites of a king or of a people, have in too many instances abused the confidence they possessed; and assuming the pretext of some public motive, have not scrupled to sacrifice the national tranquillity to personal advantage or personal gratification.

It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement — that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.

I am worried about our tendency to over invest in things and under invest in people.

there’s an ingrained distrust in our society of highly intelligent, highly trained, highly competent persons. One need only look at the last presidential election for proof of that. The public obviously wanted a figurehead, who’d look good and make comforting noises —

People overvalue their knowledge and underestimate the probability of their being wrong.

People think they are all sort of things they aren't' he had sad. 'They think they are talented when they're not; they think they're powerful when they're actually just bullies; they think they're good when they're bad. People fools themselves all the time, and they don't know that they're fools

The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.

Most people are living on an illusion based on someone else's beliefs.