kairosclerosis

“What is a poet? An unhappy man who conceals profound anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so fashioned that when sighs and groans pass over them they sound like beautiful music.”

“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying “this is mine”, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.””

“An intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous.”

“My friend, to love people as they are is impossible. And yet one must. And therefore do good to them, clenching your feelings, holding your nose, and shutting your eyes (this last is necessary). Endure evil from them, not getting angry with them if possible, ‘remembering that you, too, are a human being’.”

“Be happy for no reason, like a child. If you are happy for a reason, you’re in trouble, because that reason can be taken from you.”

“If one has not read the newspapers for some months and then reads them all together, one sees, as one never saw before, how much time is wasted with this kind of literature.”

“Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people’s expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would.”

“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all.”

“To read for pleasure is a gift for the mind; Seeing the characters in a book who have the same demons as mine and feel my tears drip as they find redemption. I read books as if it predicts my life; a map to the future – a compass for the personality. To read is to make friends with people who are dead in the body and alive in my thoughts. I read to write as I write to live – I love my books as a gardener loves his flowers and marvel at the beauty of the words I cannot say.”

“Shouldn’t we attempt to care for the city and its citizens with the aim of making the citizens themselves as good as possible? For without this… it does no good to provide any other service if the intentions of those who are likely to make a great deal of money or take a position of rule over people or some other position of power aren’t admirable and good.”

“The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.”