Showing posts with label quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quotes. Show all posts

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Today 531 years ago

 The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a nasty discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,
machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]


Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Saturday, May 06, 2023

Beers & Books CCCXXIX – A Message to the Irish People

"It is clear that it is not man
who has created the universe
- whether you believe in God or in gods
or deny any divine presence -
man cannot alter the laws
that govern the universe
without damaging it."

Seán MacBride ( 26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988)

Thursday, February 02, 2023

Our Civilisation

"Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many things which perhaps are of no importance, that it cannot but see something feeble in a civilization which smiles as it refuses to make the battlefield the test of excellence."
James Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941)

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Beers & Books CCLVXXX – John Hume

Difference is of the essence of humanity.
Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore
never be the source of hatred or conflict.
The answer to difference is to respect it.
Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace:
respect for diversity.

John Hume (18 January 1937 – 3 August 2020)

Sunday, January 01, 2023

Beers & Books CCLXI – Jakob Wassermann

All injustice and suffering on earth
has its reason in the fact
that experiences cannot be transmitted.
At the most, they can be communicated.
Between the appropriate and the unbearable
lies the whole path of experience,
which only one person can ever travel alone.
Just as only one person ever dies alone
and no one knows anything about death....

Jakob Wassermann (10 March 1873 – 1 January 1934)

Friday, October 28, 2022

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Today 530 years ago

The American who was the first to discover Columbus made a fatal discovery.

Der Amerikaner, der den Kolumbus zuerst entdeckte,

machte eine böse Entdeckung. [G 183]


Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Beers & Books CCXXXI – Alistair MacLeod

I like to think
that I am telling a story rather than writing it.


Alistair MacLeod (20 July 1936 – 20 April 2014)

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Beers & Books CCXXX – Laurent Binet

Civilizations
*
“What would you do if you ruled the world?”
The gigolo replied that he would abolish all laws.
Barthes said: “Even grammar?”

Laurent Binet * 19 July 1972

Friday, July 01, 2022

Beers & Books CCXXIX – The Letters of John McGahern

I think technique can be taught but I think
the only way to learn to write is to read,
and I see writing and reading as completely related.
One almost couldn't exist without the other.

John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)

Saturday, June 25, 2022

Friday, June 17, 2022

Beers & Books CCXXVII – Lafcadio Hearn

But what is after all the happiness of mere power?
There is a greater happiness possible
than to be lord of heaven and earth;
that is the happiness of being truly loved.

Lafcadio Hearn (17 June 1850 – 26 September 1904)

And here, one of his remarkable articles as a young reporter: Gaffeted.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Beers & Books CCXXV – Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio wondered in the middle of the 14th century "that women were so little regarded" and in response wrote a collection of witty portraits of strong-willed, influential, sometimes dangerous women.

Until his death in 1375, Boccaccio repeatedly revised his work "De mulieribus claris", a collection of over 100 portraits of famous women. Charmingly and with witty wit, he presents strong women such as Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, the prophetess Carmenta, the painter Thamaris, the orator Hortensia and Proba, the poetess. They are not always virtuous, certainly not saintly, but what they all have in common is that they prevailed in the world of men through their bravery, powers of the mind and perseverance - and so these impressive stories are still of great relevance today. For this edition, the most beautiful texts have been selected and newly translated and illustrated with the woodcuts of the first German edition (1473).   

"While farmers
generally allow one rooster for ten hens,
ten men are scarcely sufficient
to service one woman."

Giovanni Boccaccio (16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375)


Sunday, May 22, 2022

Beers & Books CCXXI – Heinrich Mann

Der Untertan

"My father, after all, was a nationalist."
*
The youth of King Henri Quatre
&
The completion of  King Henri Quatre

"The Bourbon King (i.e. Henry Quatre)
was first ambassador of reason and human happiness."
*

Heinrich Mann (27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950)

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Beers & Books CCXX – Gabriele Wohmann

"There's also a satisfaction
that takes place in the mind: thinking."

Gabriele Wohmann (21 May 1932 – 22 June 2015)

Monday, May 16, 2022

Beers & Books CCXVIII – Studs Terkel

We are living in the United States of Alzheimer's.
A whole country has lost its memory.
When it can't remember yesterday,
a country forgets what it once wanted to be.

Louis "Studs" Terkel
(May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008)

Sunday, May 01, 2022

Beers & Books CCXVI – Giovannino Guareschi

Minutes and seconds are strictly city preoccupations.
In the city people hurry, hurry
so as not to waste a single minute,
and fail to realize
that they are throwing a lifetime away.

Giovannino Guareschi (1 May 1908 – 22 July 1968)

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Beers & Books CCVIII – Joseph Roth


"Die ukrainische Volkskunst ist eine ganz eigene,
mit stark ausgeprägten Kennzeichen,
und hat weder mit der russischen
noch mit der polnischen
oder tatarischen etwas gemeinsam."

Neue Berliner Zeitung – 12 Uhr Blatt, 13. Dezember 1920
*
"Украинское народное искусство является собственным,
с очень четкими характеристиками,
и не имеет ничего общего с русским,
польским или татарским народным искусством."

Neue Berliner Zeitung - 12-часовой лист, 13 декабря 1920 года
*
"Ukrainian folk art is entirely its own,
with strongly marked characteristics,
and has nothing in common
with either Russian, Polish or Tartar."

Neue Berliner Zeitung - 12 o'clock paper, 13 December 1920

Joseph Roth (2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939)

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Beers & Books CCII – Victor Hugo

Between the government which does evil
and the people who accept it
- there is a certain shameful solidarity.
*
The great acts of love are done by those
who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.

Victor Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885)

Wednesday, February 09, 2022

Beers & Books CXCVIX – J.M.Coetzee

We must cultivate, all of us,
a certain ignorance, a certain blindness,
or society will not be tolerable.
*
I am not the we of anyone.

J.M. Coetzee * 9 Februar 1940