Robert C. Solomon (1942 – 2007) was a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin in the USA. His numerous scholarly contributions ranged from work on the emotions; to work on Hegel; Nietzsche, and Sartre; and on to work in business ethics. He wrote cutting-edge academic monographs as well as popular books, he edited scholarly collections as well as textbooks, and his work was translated often and into many languages. Quote from his extensive memory rather than carefully checking texts, and he was more interested in wisdom than in rigorous analysis. Yet he was quite capable of penetrating critical analysis.
Robert C. Solomon Quotes
Trust opens up new and unimagined possibilities.
Many people are blind to trust, not so much to its benefits as to its nature and the practices that make it possible.
All trust involves vulnerability and risk, and nothing would count as trust if there were no possibility of betrayal.
Trust is a skill, one that is an aspect of virtually all human practices, cultures, and relationships.
Trust is a skill learned over time so that, like a well-trained athlete, one makes the right moves, usually without much reflection.
Trust is not bound up with knowledge so much as it is with freedom, the openness to the unknown.
Trust is almost always conditional, focused, qualified, and therefore limited.
Trust is built step by step, commitment by commitment, on every level.
Building trust begins with an appreciation and understanding of trust, but it also requires practice and practices.
Building trust means thinking about trust in a positive way.
Building trust requires talking and thinking about trust.
Building trust is no longer a matter of creating structures and practices within a single culture.
True, trust necessarily carries with it uncertainties, but we must force ourselves to think about these uncertainties as possibilities and opportunities, not as liabilities.
We also confuse trust with familiarity.
Familiarity can no longer be a necessary condition for trust.
Trust and the ability to identify trustworthiness are not the same thing, although trust and trustworthiness are logically linked.
When we say that trust is an emotional skill, this implies that emotional competence is a necessary part of trust.
Peace comes with trust, which will grow from continuing efforts toward mutual understanding and trade, Romeo-and-Juliet-style marriages, conversations,negotiations, and individual commitments.