The concept of a leader, a furehr, must never be accepted. Blind obedience to a leader can never be adopted as a defining identity. Everyone must accept responsibility for whatever he does. Even in critical situations. This is something that still applies today. -Hermann Langbein I was watching a documentary on Auschwitz or some such …
Category Archive: quote o’ the week
Apr 08 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Berl Katznelson
You see this strong wall? Although it understands nothing, it too will disintegrate, it too will split. Disintegration has a logic of its own. -Berl Katznelson I can imagine putting Berl in a room with Confucius, Lao Tzu and some Zen masters of old, and getting some amazing philosophy out of the process. Berl was …
Apr 02 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Rig Veda
The heavens above do not equal one half of me…. In my glory, I have passed beyond the sky and the great earth… I will pick up the earth, and put it here or put it there…. Have I been drinking soma? -the Rig Veda Being an atheist and a science buff doesn’t mean you …
Mar 26 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: An Old Turkish Saying
Geçmiş olsun. -A Turkish Saying meaning roughly “May it be over.” This is one of the many tidbits you’ll pick up from reading Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum. It’s very useful for a long day at work. Thanks to my Turkish coworker, you’ll even know how to pronounce it: gesh’mesh ol‘soon. Use it well.
Mar 19 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Lao Tzu
The very bones of those you talk about have turned to dust. All that remains of them is their words. -Lao Tzu Lao Tzu, of course, wrote the Tao Te Ching, and legends have sprung up around him like cats on a tuna can. But this legendary tale might well be true: The oldest surviving …
Mar 12 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Sophocles
You jutting broken crags, to you I raise my cry-There is no one else I can speak to. -Sophocles Fair warning: this quote isn’t half as powerful in context, because it’s basically the character of Philoctetes moaning over the theft of his magic bow. But it’s still a wonderful line, and proves the power of …
Mar 05 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Democritus
A life without festivity is a long road without an end. -Democritus Yes, you know him mostly because, with his mentor Leucippus, he came up with the idea of the atom. But he was also known as the Laughing Philosopher (because he engaged in round mocking of human inanity), and as you can see from …
Feb 26 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Carl Sagan (Yes, Again)
…It is here that we are, in some pain and with no guarantees, working out our destiny. -Carl Sagan Some people may find that a rather grim, depressing quote, but it’s uplifting to me. No, we haven’t got any guarantees. Yes, there is pain. But only some. And we’re the ones working out our destiny. …
Feb 19 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Carl Sagan
…No scientist on Earth knows how a planet might blow itself up, which is probably just as well. -Carl Sagan Dearest Carl. Reading Cosmos changed my life pretty much forever, and this is one of the lines that did it. He knew there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy a good laugh while you were …
Feb 12 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Xenophon
Excess of grief for the dead is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not. -Xenophon You know what, forget Plato. Xenophon was a much better writer, and reading his Memorabilia was a sheer joy. He lived an interesting life, which included palling around with Socrates, being a …
About the Author
Recent Comments