i
As, no matter what cunning system of checks we devise, we must in the end
trust some one whom we do not check, but to whom we give unreserved
confidence, so there is a point at which the understanding and mental
processes must be taken as understood without further question or
definition in words. And I should say that this point should be fixed
pretty early in the discussion.
ii
There is one class of mind that loves to lean on rules and definitions,
and another that discards them as far as possible. A faddist will
generally ask for a definition of faddism, and one who is not a faddist
will be impatient of being asked to give one.
iii
A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of
words.
iv
Definitions are a kind of scratching and generally leave a sore place
more sore than it was before.
v
As Love is too young to know what conscience is, so Truth and Genius are
too old to know what definition is.