Daily Quotes

[Enrico_sw]

Quote

Churchill, 1937

 

Nazism and Communism imagine themselves as exact opposites. They are at each other’s throats wherever they exist all over the world. They actually breed each other; for the reaction against Communism is Nazism, and beneath Nazism or Fascism Communism stirs convulsively.

(...)

I am reminded of the North Pole and South Pole. They are at opposite ends of the earth, but if you woke up at either Pole tomorrow morning you could not tell which one it was. Perhaps there might be more penguins at one, or more Polar bears at the other; but all around would be ice and snow and the blast of a biting wind.

 

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superb reading of a great poem

 

 

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Do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence;

God says: Vengence is mine.

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I've tried to give a true accounting of what I have seen, what I have done

 

I do not presume to understand the course of my life

 

But I am know that I am grateful to have partaken in all of this

 

Even for a moment..

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 I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes

the second before you die.

First of all, that one second isn't a second at all,

it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time...

For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp,

watching falling stars...

And yellow leaves, from the maple trees,

that lined our street...

Or my grandmother's hands,

and the way her skin seemed like paper...

And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird...

And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn.

 

I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me,

but it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world.

Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much;

my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst.

And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold onto it.

And then it flows through me like rain, and I can’t feel anything but gratitude—

for every single moment of my stupid, little life.

You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure;

but don’t worry….you will someday.

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Translated into modern english, Martius from Shakespeare's Coriolanus:

 

 

"Whoever speaks kindly to you flatters you undeservingly.

What do you want, you dogs, who are satisfied by neither peace nor war?

The one frightens you, and the other makes you self-righteous.

Whoever trusts you sees you as lions, though he should see you as hares, and sees you as foxes, though he should see you as geese.

You’re as unstable as a burning coal on ice or a hailstone in the sun.

Your nature is to honor those who should be punished for their crimes and then to curse the justice that punishes him.

He who deserves greatness deserves your scorn.

Your instincts are perverted: you most desire the things that will make you sicker.

He who depends on your approval swims with fins of lead and cuts down oaks with blades of grass.

You should be hanged!

Trust you?

You change your mind every minute.

You call the man you hated a moment ago “noble,” and you call the one you used to praise “vile.”

Why do you cry against the noble Senate all around the city?

Second only to the gods, they take care of you,

you who would otherwise eat each other.

What do the people want?"

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"May the people fall into the fires of the lowest hell! You’re calling me a traitor?

You slanderous tribune!

If your eyes had killed twenty thousand people, your hands had killed a million,

and your lying tongue had killed those numbers together,

I would still say to you, ”You lie”

with a voice as honest as the one I pray to the gods with."

 

 

 

"You pack of common dogs! Your breath reeks like the rotting swamps.

I value your opinion of me as much as the dead carcasses of unburied men that stink up my air.

I banish you!

Stay here with your indecisiveness and let every feeble rumor change your minds.

When you see your enemies plumed helmets approaching, may you fall into despair!

May you retain the power to banish the ones who would protect you, until at last your ignorance—

which makes you unable to foresee anything before it happens

and leaves you alone in the city as your own worst enemy—

leads you to be captured by some nation that defeated you without a fight!

With hatred, I turn my back on you and the city.

 

I will seek a new life elsewhere."

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"The men I choose are the ones most eager to fight.

If there is any man here—and it would be a sin to doubt it—

who loves seeing me smeared in blood,

that fears more for his honor than for his personal safety,

that thinks a brave death outweighs a bad life,

and that his country is more important than himself,

let him alone, or others if they feel the same,

wave their arms now to tell me who they are.

And then follow me."

 

"Make you a sword, of me!!!!"

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"These men walk ahead of Martius to introduce him.

Many cheers welcome him, and

he leaves behind many tears.

Death, that dark spirit, lies within his strong arm.

When he raises his arm,

it comes down upon his enemies

and they die."

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"He rejected our spoils

and looked at precious things

as if they were the common muck of the world.

He doesn’t desire anything.

To him, doing his deeds is its own reward,

and he’s happy to spend the time to do the job well."

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"He called me by my name only once, and I reminded him of our relationship and the blood we’ve shed together. He wouldn’t answer to “Coriolanus” or any other name. He was a kind of a nothing, titleless, until he had forged himself a name out of the fire of burning Rome."

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timeless, tragic wisdom:

 

 

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To be the king is nothing if I’m not safe as the king. I’m very afraid of Banquo.

There’s something noble about him that makes me fear him.

He’s willing to take risks, and his mind never stops working.

He has the wisdom to act bravely but also safely.

I’m not afraid of anyone but him.

Around him, my guardian angel is frightened, just as Mark Antony’s angel supposedly feared Octavius Caesar.

Banquo chided the witches when they first called me king, asking them to tell him his own future.

Then, like prophets, they named him the father to a line of kings.

They gave me a crown and a scepter that I can’t pass on.

Someone outside my family will take these things away from me, since no son of mine will take my place as king.

If this is true, then I’ve tortured my conscience and murdered the gracious Duncan for Banquo’s sons.

I’ve ruined my own peace for their benefit.

I’ve handed over my everlasting soul to the devil so that they could be kings.

Banquo’s sons, kings!

Instead of watching that happen, I will challenge fate to battle and fight to the death.

Who’s there!