A Brief for “Ambivalence”
It’s not for everyone. But the resolved have such strong, almost unanswerable arguments in favor of being resolved; I like having a strong defense of not being.
He thinks of nothing but ‘Political Justice’ . . . I explained what I thought of Dilke’s Character. Which resolved itself into this conclusion. That Dilke was a Man who cannot feel he has a personal identity unless he has made up his Mind about everything. The only means of strengthening one’s intellect is to make up ones mind about nothing–to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts. Not a select party. The genus is not scarce in population. All the stubborn arguers you meet with are of the same brood–They never begin upon a subject they hve not preresolved on. They want to hammer their nail into you and if you turn the point, still they think you wrong. ~ John Keats
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