Isaiah Berlin

"I think what matters most to human beings is not happiness but meaning."

"Music is the art form that comes closest to expressing the inexpressible."

"The very notion of an objective social science is perhaps a contradiction in terms."

"Those who believe that the free market will solve all problems are as naive as those who believed central planning would."

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart."

"Technology is not the solution to human problems, but often the source of new ones."

"I have spent my life trying to understand how intelligent people can believe such contradictory things."

"The capacity to imagine how things might be is what separates us from other animals."

"We are all trapped in the thought patterns of our own time, no matter how hard we try to escape them."

"The person who insists on certainty in human affairs is demanding the impossible."

"Great art is the conversation between the human spirit and the infinite."

"I have never been satisfied with the notion that we can be objective about human values."

"The study of ideas is more interesting than the study of facts."

"To be a leader is to be responsible for what you do not say as much as for what you do."

"Perseverance is often just the refusal to admit defeat, even when defeat is the only rational choice."

"The internet is a wonderful tool for connecting people who already agree with each other."

"I think the great philosophers are those who are troubled by the same questions that trouble ordinary people."

"Fear is often the best teacher, if we let it be."

"The notion that art should have a political purpose is a confusion of categories."

"Health is not the absence of illness but the capacity to function in spite of it."

"The most important thing about any revolution is what happens after the barricades come down."

"I have always believed that the purpose of thought is not to solve problems but to understand them better."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge, but both are necessary."

"The person who is certain is often the person who understands the least."

"I think we make a great mistake in trying to make everything rational."

"The capacity for kindness is what saves us from despair."

"War is not the continuation of politics by other means. It is the failure of politics."

"The greatest strength is the ability to change your mind in the face of evidence."

"I have never been impressed by those who claim to have no weaknesses."

"The purpose of studying the past is to understand why the present is as it is."