posted December 23, 2009 02:39 PM              

"What is the task of higher education?
To make a man into a machine.
What are the means employed?
He is taught how to suffer being bored."

"Not to he who is offensive to us are we most unfair,
but to he who does not concern us at all."

"Speaking generally,
punishment hardens and numbs,
it produces concentration,
it sharpens the consciousness of alienation,
it strengthens the power of resistance."

"Insanity in individuals is rare -
but in groups, parties, nations, and ages,
it is the rule."

"When a hundred men stand together,
each of them loses his mind and gets another one."

"When one has not had a good father,
one must create one."

"A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies."

"There are no facts, only interpretations."

"Never to talk of oneself is a form of hypocrisy."

"Profundity of thought belongs to youth,
clarity of thought to old age."

"Belief in form, but disbelief in content -
that's what makes an aphorism charming."

"A friend should be a master at guessing and keeping still."

"Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life
than any single realized joy could be."

"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."

"For every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing."

"Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen,
few in pursuit of the goal."

"...in every attack there is the sound of triumph."

"It is not a lack of love,
but a lack of friendship,
that makes unhappy marriages."

"In the true man
there is a child concealed -
who wants to play."

"Love your enemies
because they bring out the best in you."

posted December 24, 2009 03:31 PM            

quote:

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"In Heaven, all the interesting people are missing."

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I just ripped this off and used it as my myspace "what are you doing right now" quote.

posted January 06, 2010 07:05 PM              

All parties,
without exception,
when they seek for power,
are varieties of absolutism.

To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonoured. That is government; that is it's justice; that is it's morality.

posted January 14, 2010 01:41 AM              

You would do better to say, "Inexpressible and nameless is that which gives my soul agony and sweetness, and is even the hunger of my entrails." May your virtue be too exalted for the familiarity of names: and if you must speak of her, then do not be afraid to stammer of her. Then speak and stammer, "This is my good; this I love; it pleases me wholly; thus alone do I want the good. I do not want it as divine law; I do not want it as human statute and need: it shall not be a signpost for me to overearths and paradises. It is an earthly virtue that I love: there is little prudence in it, and least of all the reason of all men. But this bird build its nest with me: therefor I love and caress it; now it dwells with me, sitting on its golden eggs." Thus you shall stammer and praise your virtue.

Once you suffered passions and called them evil. But now you have only your virtues left: they grew out of your passions. You commended your highest aim to the heart of these passions; then they became the virtues and passions you enjoy. And whether you came from the race of the choleric or the voluptuous or the fanatic or the vindictive: All your passions in the end became virtues, and all your devils angels. Once you had wild dogs in your cellar: but they changed at last into birds and charming singers. Out of your poisons you brewed your balsam; you milked your cow, misery - now you drink the sweet milk of her udder. And nothing evil grows in you any longer, unless it is the evil that grows out of the conflict of your virtues.

My brother, if you are fortunate, then you will have only one virtue and no more: thus you will go more easily over the bridge. It is illustrious to have many virtues, but a hard lot; and many have gone into the desert and killed themselves, because they were weary of being the battle and battlefield of virtues. My brother, are war and battle evil? But this evil is necessary; necessary are the envy and mistrust and calumny among the virtues. Behold, how each of your virtues covets the highest place; each your whole strength, in wrath, hatred, and love. Each virtue is jealous of the others, and jealousy is a dreadful thing. Virtues too can perish of jealousy. Surrounded by the flames of jealousy, the jealous one winds up, like the scorpion, turning the posioned sting against himself. Ah, my brother, have you never seen a virtue backbite and stab itself? Man is something that has to be overcome: and therefore you will love your virtues - for you will perish of them.

posted February 01, 2010 05:44 PM            

Interesting approach. And no, I doubt you "understand".

quote:

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Religion, or spirituality, can be a true comfort.

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Yeah, it doesnt comfort me anymore. Just the opposite.

posted February 04, 2010 05:09 PM            

The artist is the opposite of the politically minded individual, the opposite of the reformer, the opposite of the idealist. The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life. ~Henry Miller

posted February 05, 2010 01:56 AM            

EDIT: Oh that's weird, synchronistic. MVM just had one of his quotes on her FB wall recently, and I didn't get what it was talking about until someone explained it to me.