This I Believe Essay: For me, the word “believe,” in the title of this series, is crucial. Clear understanding of the meaning of “believe” requires that I distinguish always between knowledge and reason on the one hand, and belief and...
Some of my grandparents were Quakers, some Episcopalians; some were intensely religious and regular churchgoers, while others were not. My father was the finest example of […]
My philosophy of life has been colored by and has colored my attitude to my profession. Both have been colored by my Scott’s parentage and education, of which I have ever been grateful. It is difficult to live up to,...
It would be presumptuous for anyone who has made as many mistakes as I have to state categorically and dogmatically what he believes—or even to imply that his ought to be the belief of all others. The only thing I...
I would like to speak both as an individual and as a diplomat. I am a Chinese living in a period unprecedented in my country’s long history, perhaps even the world’s history. It is a period of violent change. I...
I am not a philosopher and make no claim to original ideas. I accept the Christian view of the nature and predicament of man. And as a nonconformist and an old-fashioned liberal, I believe in such temporally outmoded things as...
During the depression years of 1934 and 35, when I was working as a welfare worker, I recall an old man whom I served. He was a good-hearted man who was suffering from a disease brought on in early life....
I believe that that youth is lucky who has parents who are acquainted with God. I grew up in a modest, self-respecting, Puritan-like home in a democratic Midwest. My god-fearing father, a small contracting carpenter, was continuously an elder in...
The most important thing in life, to me, is the ability to say, with complete sincerity, This I Believe. Life without belief would be a life empty of meaning, dreary and disillusioning. I must have things to believe in and...
