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The idea that nothing is true except what we comprehend is silly, and that ideas which our minds cannot reconcile are mutually destructive, sillier still.

To me, the second sentence is confusing.

I understand it as [The idea that is sillier] -> If our minds cannot reconcile two different ideas then they are are all wrong => this idea is sillier (than the idea that nothing is true except what we comprehend)

Did I get it right?

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It's a little tricky. This is how I understand it. I can't be as eloquent as the author.

Churchill is writing about the sentiment behind Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas, meaning, in effect, the heart know things that the mind cannot understand (or know). He is discussing reason and faith.

The idea that nothing is true except what we comprehend is silly, and that ideas which our minds cannot reconcile are mutually destructive, sillier still.

The idea that nothing is true except what we comprehend is silly...

It's silly to think that only things we can explain are true (or, per his example, it's silly to believe that miracles can't be real because we can't understand how they happened - something that calls for faith, not reason)...

and that ideas which our minds cannot reconcile are mutually destructive, sillier still.

...and it's even sillier to think that to believe in something we don't comprehend fully destroys all reason (or, it's even sillier to think that reason and faith cannot coexist.)

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    Why hello, @Kris. Standard evening, huh? Dec 14, 2014 at 8:06
  • The latter half of the last paragraph (your parenthesis) is consistent with the quoted bit, but the first half looks irrelevant to it. This part of the quote seems to say it is still more silly to think that if ideas are inconsistent with each other then they destroy each other. Dec 14, 2014 at 16:36
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    It's a perfect answer for me to understand what he meant; Thank you for your answer! Dec 15, 2014 at 9:04

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