What happened to me personally is only anecdotal evidence,” Harry explained. “It doesn’t carry the same weight as a replicated, peer-reviewed journal article about a controlled study with random assignment, many subjects, large effect sizes and strong statistical significance.
Listen to hypotheses as they plead their cases before you, but remember that you are not a hypothesis, you are the judge. Therefore do not seek to argue for one side or another, for if you knew your destination, you would already be there.
Homo sapiens didn’t become the dominant species on this planet by having the sharpest claws or hardest armor – though I suppose some of that point may be lost on wizards. Still, it’s beneath my dignity as a human being to be scared of anything that isn’t smarter than I am.
Politics is an extension of war by other means. Arguments are soldiers. Once you know which side you’re on, you must support all arguments of that side, and attack all arguments that appear to favor the enemy side; otherwise it’s like stabbing your soldiers in the back – providing aid and comfort to the enemy. Politics is the Mind-Killer.
As you would be kind to others, be kinder to yourself as well.
If there is no black and white, there is yet lighter and darker, and not all grays are the same.
If you see your activities and situation originally, you will be able to originally see your goals as well. If you can look with fresh eyes, as though for the first time, you will see yourself doing things that you would never dream of doing if they were not habits.
When you think about nonviolence, you think of Gandhi – not an anonymous protestor in one of Gandhi’s marches who faced down riot clubs and guns, and got beaten, and had to be taken to the hospital, and walked with a limp for the rest of her life, and no one ever remembered her name.
Be careful... any time you find yourself defining the “winner” as someone other than the agent who is currently smiling from on top of a giant heap of utility.
Paolo Freire said, “Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.
If science is a religion, it is the religion that heals the sick and reveals the secrets of the stars.
But what happens after you break – that, too, is part of being a hero.
People who have time to plan are scary.
You can never have enough books. But you certainly tried. It was a really, really, really good try.
Nonviolent ideals were cheap to hold if you were a scientist, living inside the Protego bubble cast by the police officers and soldiers whose actions you had the luxury to question.
It wasn’t cheating, but it was Science, which was almost as good.
To figure out a strange plot, look at what happens, then ask who benefits.
It’s amazing how many Noble Liars and their ilk are eager to embrace ethical violations – with all due bewailing of their agonies of conscience – when they haven’t spent even five minutes by the clock looking for an alternative.
Why do you believe what you believe? What do you think you know and how do you think you know it?
A Gryffindor would say that people don’t become who they should be, because they’re afraid.