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Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.

— Richard Rorty

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More quotes by Richard Rorty

To abjure the notion of the "truly human" is to abjure the attempt to divinize the self as a replacement for a divinized world.

Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989)

The usual picture of Socrates is of an ugly little plebeian who inspired a handsome young nobleman to write long dialogues on large topics.

Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989)

National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.

There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves.

Consequences of Pragmatism (1982)

Truthfulness under oath is, by now, a matter of our civic religion, our relation to our fellow citizens rather than our relation to a nonhuman power.

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Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me.

L. Frank Baum Introduction to The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

There is an inverse relationship between imagination and money.

Alan Moore

An active imagination may find a bad tendency arising out of every transaction between imperfect morals.

Edward Hall Alderson Brownlow v. Egerton (1854)

Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination, and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers.

David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature (1739)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Richard Rorty (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.