The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.

If, as I believe, the ends of men are many, and not all of them are in principle compatible with each other, then the possibility of conflict - and of tragedy - can never wholly be eliminated from human life, either personal or social. The necessity of choosing between absolute claims is then an inescapable characteristic of the human condition. This gives its value to freedom as Acton conceived of it - as an end in itself, and not as a temporary need, arising out of our confused notions and irrational and disordered lives, a predicament which a panacea could one day put right.

Few new truths have ever won their way against the resistance of established ideas save by being overstated.

One must look at what impiety hates, what puts it in a rage, what it attacks always, everywhere, and with fury - that will be the truth.

The desire not to be impinged upon, to be left to oneself, has been the markof high civilisation both on the part of individuals and communities.

True knowledge is knowledge of why things are as they are, and not merely what they are.

Science cannot destroy the consciousness of freedom, without which there is no morality and no art, but it can refute it.