Category: Quotes
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Rubicon
I am reading Rubicon by Tom Holland to prepare for an essay question for Roman History. He gives a quote that I put in the blog last year from Caesar’s account of his campaigns in Gaul. Human nature is universally imbued with a desire for liberty, and a hatred for servitude. Of course the Gallic…
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Quote of the day
This one has been broadcast on the news headlines today: A Co Kildare man who attacked a policewoman with an iron bar in Lisburn police station 18 months ago and blinded her in the eye has been jailed for seven years. As oppose to blinding her in the ear, nose or leg. Surely it should…
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On the shortness of life
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to use for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no…
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Ferguson sounding like De Botton
In a way, if you are the imperial power you have to accept that people are going to hate you however you go about spreading your influence. One of the problems Americans have is this desire to be loved. Legitimacy isn’t necessarily based on affection. It’s based on credibility. And I think what we’re seeing…
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Ferguson on the human cost of empire
First, remember that people may kill one another even more in the absence of empiresee sub-Saharan Africa. Second, if we don’t extend our civilization, an even worse empire may emergesee the Cold War. It is the habitual fantasy of many Americans that if the U.S. would just stop intervening abroad everybody in the world would…
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Ferguson on whether America is an empire
It’s [America] an empire that has all the functions of military empire, if you like. It has the capacity to project itself in terms of force over vast geographical distances. It’s an empire that is remarkably adept at spreading its culture globally. In that sense, it’s an empire with almost unrivaled military and cultural power.…
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De Botton on modern life
Look at advertising: its sole function is to make us feel that certain things are missing from our lives. So today it’s possible for someone to feel poor if they don’t have air-conditioning or a flat-screen TV in a way that they wouldn’t have fifty or even ten years ago. Our sense of what it…
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De Botton on everything being ok
I also rather enjoy mocking the modern spirit of optimism. We’re often told that the best way to make someone feel good about their life is to tell them something cheerful. I’m more attracted to an alternative line, which is to argue that people are most cheered up by despairing thoughts about life. If you’re…
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De Botton on productivity versus lunch breaks
When you think of a productive economy you’re thinking of an anxious economy. You’re looking at many, many people who are afraid about hanging on to their places. You can either lead a simple lifethe Jeffersonian ideal of the independent farmer with his simple log cabin. Or you can lead a city life. It’s your…
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Human nature
Human nature is universally imbued with a desire for liberty, and a hatred for servitude. Caesar, Gallic Wars.