

“When societies become, in effort if not in achievement, egalitarian, we are presented with a difficulty. To give every one education and to give no one vocational training is impossible, for electricians and surgeons we must have and they must be trained. Our ideal must be to find time for both education and training: our danger is that equality may mean training for all and education for none- that every one will learn commercial French instead of Latin, book-keeping instead of geometry, and ‘knowledge of the world we live in’ instead of great literature. It is against this danger that schoolmasters have to fight, for if education is beaten by training, civilization dies. That is a thing very likely to happen.”
― Rehabilitations & Other Essays
― Rehabilitations & Other Essays

“I know a lady who, twice in her life, has lost her country. She lost it the first time as a very young woman when, in Czarist Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution occurred and she barely escaped with her life. She came to Cuba, started again from scratch, once again built up a very successful competence, was doing very well. And this time, as an elderly woman, again, she lost her country at the time Castro took over. Now, losing one’s country once would be enough for most of us, I suppose. Losing one’s country twice would be enough for the toughest person in the house—but not for this very indomitable lady. She came to the United States where again she started from scratch, and again built up a very successful competence. And now as a very elderly person, I’ve heard her tell this story on more than one occasion and invariably someone in the audience, when she is finished, will say: “You poor, unlucky woman. How you have suffered. What an ordeal you have been through.” And her answer is always the same: “I, unlucky? Ah, no. I am one of the luckiest women who ever lived. Twice I have lost my country. Twice I have had a country to which I can go. When you Americans lose your country, where will you go?” I’ve heard her ask the question more than once. I’ve never heard a convincing answer.”
―
―

“Aquinas was in some respects a better Aristotelian than Aristotle, that not only was he an excellent interpreter of Aristotle's texts, but that he had been able to extend and deepen both Aristotle's metaphysical and his moral enquiries.”
― After Virtue
― After Virtue

“For by a male animal we mean that which generates in another, and by a female that which generates in itself.”
― Generation of Animals
― Generation of Animals

"Interested in history - then you have found the right group". The History Book Club is the largest history and nonfiction group on Goodread ...more

For anyone interested in the sciences of the brain, i.e. neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology and so forth.

Including within it neo-liberalism, libertarianism, objectivism, anarcho-capitalism, minarchism, and American conservatism, this classical or "market" ...more

A group to discuss the books that have had the greatest influence on American conservatism and new books relating to American conservatism. This grou ...more

This group is intended to join together Libertarian minded individuals to discuss and recommend books of interest. The title of the group is an extens ...more
Levan’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Levan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Art, Biography, Christian, Classics, Fantasy, History, Music, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science, International Relations, Social Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Law, Cultural studies, Neuroscience, Archaeology, Political Science, Public Policy, Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Religious Studies, Humanities, Sociology of Religion, Cognitive science, Evolutionary psychology, Sociobiology, Evolutionary anthropology, epistemology, Classical Music, and History of Music
Polls voted on by Levan
Lists liked by Levan