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Much of what now passes for social science is concerned not to explain human differences but to explain them away.

— John Hirst Sense and Nonsense in Australian History (2005)

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More quotes by John Hirst

It is somewhat odd that those who are most opposed to tradition and fixed roles in European society hold up as a model Aboriginal society with its pre-programmed roles sanctioned by an unquestionable tradition.

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History (2005)

... if rights are to be protected there must be a community to which people are warmly attached so that they will care about each other's rights.

The Australians: Insiders and Outsiders on the National Character since 1770 (2007)

European civilisation is unique because it is the only civilisation which has imposed itself on the rest of the world. It did this by conquest and settlement; by its economic power; by the power of its ideas; and because it had things that everyone else wanted. Today every country on earth uses the discoveries of science and the technologies that flow from it, and science was a European invention.

The Shortest History of Europe (2009)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Henri Poincaré Science and Hypothesis (1901)

Attribution

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