Jacob Bronowski on Civilization from The Ascent of Man

The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. Civilization is not a collection of finished artifacts, it is the elaboration of processes. In the end, the march of man is the refinement of the hand in action.

The most powerful drive in the ascent of man is his pleasure in his own skill. He loves to do what he does well and, having done it well, he loves to do it better. You see it in his science. You see it in the magnificence with which he carves and builds, the loving care, the gaiety, the effrontery. The monuments are supposed to commemorate kings and religions, heroes, dogmas, but in the end the man they commemorate is the builder.

Jacob Bronowski on Science & Magic

Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast over nature.

Jacob Bronowski on Conformity

Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.

Jacob Bronowski on Reality

Dream or nightmare, we have to live our experience as it is, and we have to live it awake. We live in a world which is penetrated through and through by science and which is both whole and real. We cannot turn it into a game simply by taking sides.

The Dalai Lama on Reason & Evidence from The Universe in a Single Atom

There is a dictum in Buddhist philosophy that to uphold a tenant that contradicts reason is to undermine ones credibility. To contradict empirical evidence is a still greater fallacy.