Leo Strauss Quotes

“For try as one may to expel nature with a hayfork, it will always come back.”

“Philosophy in the strict and classical sense is quest for the eternal order or for the eternal cause or causes of all things. It presupposes then that there is an eternal and unchangeable order within which History takes place and which is not in any way affected by History. It presupposes in other words that any "realm of freedom" is not more than a dependent province within the "the realm of necessity." It presupposes, in the words of Kojeve, that "Being is essentially immutable in itself and eternally identical with itself." This presupposition is not self-evident. Kojeve rejects it in favor of view that "Being creates itself in the course of History," or that the highest being is Society and History, or that eternity is nothing but the totality of historical, i.e. finite time.”

“Socratic rhetoric wanted to be an indispensable instrument for philosophy. Its aim is to lead virtual philosophers to philosophy, both by exercising them and freeing them from the charms that hinder philosophical effort and also by prohibiting access to philosophy to those who have no disposition for it. Socratic rhetoric is just in the strong sense; it is animated by a spirit of social responsibility; it is based on the premise that there is a disproportion between the intransigent search for truth and the demands of society or that all truths are not always harmless. Society will always try to tyrannize thought. Socratic rhetoric is the classic means of continually thwarting these attempts.”