The Danger in Cleverness and Advocacy

It was Leo Tolstoy who saidI know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabrics of their life.But if the truths are simple and obvious, can you refuse to accept them? Well, the clever men actually often do accept them, but often by weaving a veritable scaffold to uphold the house they built on sand. More » Comments: 3