Hannah Arendt Quotes

A man is morally free when, in full possession of his living humanity, he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity.

I had my own mind made up in that I was going to do my own thing. I wasn't going to copy from this guy or that guy.

I've never been a follower, but I've been an admirer.

The first step to be taken by everyone who wishes to act morally is to decide not to act according to the general customs and doings of his fellow-men.

Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist.

In the world there exists no aesthetic plane, not even the aesthetic plane of goodness.

Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

I rarely do things based on what everybody else is doing; I never have.

Harmelody allows everybody to be an individual who does not have to imitate anybody else.

It is very questionable, in my mind, how far we have the right to judge one of another, since there is born within every man the germs of both virtue and vice. The development of one or the other is contingent upon circumstances.

The ultimate question of who we are is set before us at all times and answered with every action.

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

I don't like principles. I prefer prejudices.

You know I am not born to tread in the beaten track the peculiar bent of my nature pushes me on.

That truth which you swallow from others will not be yours...you have to realize truth and work it our for yourself according to your own nature...All must struggle to be individuals-strong, standing on your own feet, thinking your own thoughts, realizing you own Self. No use swallowing doctrines others pass on-standing up together like soldiers in jail, sitting down together, all eating the same food, all nodding their heads at the same time. Variation is the sign of life. Sameness is the sign of death.

My father, Benjamin Shiller, told me not to believe in authorities or celebrities - that society tends to imagine them as superhuman. It's good advice. People are snowed by celebrities all the time. In academia people have this idea of achieving stardom - publishing in the best journals, being at the best university, writing on the hot topic everyone else is writing about. But that's what my father told me not to do. He taught me that you have to pursue things that sound right to you.

The function of education is to help you from childhood not to imitate anybody, but be yourself all the time.

Be neither a conformist or a rebel, for they are really the same thing. Find your own path, and stay on it.

I've always remembered. This fellow said to me - if you think someones'doing you wrong, it's not for you to judge. Kill them first and then God can do the judging.

Be self aware, rather than a repetitious robot

You must learn not only to judge but to act for yourself.

Teaching for creativity aims to encourage self-confidence, independence of mind, and the capacity to think for oneself.

Let those who would affect singularity with success first determine to be very virtuous, and they will be sure to be very singular.

What I object to in Mother is that she wants me to think her thoughts. Apart from the question of hypocrisy, I prefer my own.

I want you to invent it. I want you to have that skill. To create your own reality. Your own set of laws. I want to try and teach you that.