Corruption—as the indication that anarchy threatens to break out among the instincts, and that the foundation of the emotions, called "life," is convulsed—is something radically different according to the organization in which it manifests itself. When, for instance, an aristocracy like that of France at the beginning of the Revolution, flung away its privileges with sublime disgust and sacrificed itself to an excess of its moral sentiments, it was corruption:—it was really only the closing act of the corruption which had existed for centuries, by virtue of which that aristocracy had abdicated step by step its lordly prerogatives and lowered itself to a FUNCTION of royalty (in the end even to its decoration and parade-dress)

Let us be careful in dealing with those who attach great importance to being credited with moral tact and subtlety in moral discernment! They never forgive us if they have once made a mistake BEFORE us

the IDEAL man of learning in whom the scientific instinct blossoms forth fully after a thousand complete and partial failures, is assuredly one of the most costly instruments that exist, but his place is in the hand of one who is more powerful He is only an instrument

The Christian faith from the beginning, is sacrifice the sacrifice of all freedom, all pride, all self-confidence of spirit, it is at the same time subjection, self-derision, and self-mutilation.

Is it any wonder if we at last grow distrustful, lose patience, and turn impatiently away?

The rise of teamwork, because it improves performance.

Knowledge is no longer an end in itself

Thus, the process of delegitimation was fueled by the demand for legitimation itself, and universities lost their function as speculative legitimation and emphasized the need for teachers, not researchers. There is also an intrinsic erosion in the narrative of emancipation, but it differs from that of the speculative discourse; when science plays its own language game, it is incapable of others, such as prescriptions, and cannot legitimate itself. In postmodernity, there is a recognition of multiple language games and a sense of “splintering,” and nobody can speak all the distinct discourses, and no universal metalanguage can join them.