Quotes from Isaiah Berlin

The world that we encounter in ordinary experience is one in which we are faced by choices equally absolute, the realisation of some of which must inevitably mean the sacrifice of others.

Fontenelle was the most civilized man of his time, and indeed of most times.

Understanding men or ideas or movements, or the outlooks of individuals or groups, is not reducible to a sociological classification into types of behaviour with predictions based on scientific experiment and carefully tabulated statistics of observations.

La parola "libertà" è uno degli indici più sicuri per individuare l'ideale di vita ultimativo e generale abbracciato dall'uomo che la usa, per capire ciò che vuole e che non vuole, e se quell'ideale egli lo sta perseguendo consciamente o inconsciamente.

Of course, like all over-simple classifications of this type, the dichotomy becomes, if pressed, artificial, scholastic and ultimately absurd. But if it is not an aid to serious criticism, neither should it be rejected as being merely superficial or frivolous: like all distinctions which embody any degree of truth, it offers a point of view from which to look and compare, a starting-point for genuine investigation.

The desire not to be impinged upon, to be left to oneself, has been the markof high civilisation both on the part of individuals and communities.

No perfect solution is, not merely in practice, but in principle, possible in human affairs, and any determined attempt to produce it is likely to lead to suffering, disillusionment and failure.

Freedom for the wolves has often meant death to the sheep.