A nation is not a person, but it manifests certain personal traits, especially since it is a more organic phenomenon than a state.... Its character traits are nothing more and nothing less than tendencies: but these tendencies underlie, and on occasion supersede, other tendencies, other historical conditions. They are manifest in the history of politics: consider, for example, the differences between Russian and Polish and Yugoslav Communists. They are evident in the historical development of societies: consider, for example, the difference between English and Italian industrial workers, or between French bourgeois and Austrian Burger. They are obvious in the historical unfolding of art: consider, for example, the differences between South German and South Italian baroque, or between German and Spanish "Victorian" architecture.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The terrible thing is that one cannot be a Communist and not let oneself in for the shameful act of recantation. One cannot be a C...ommunist and preserve an iota of one's personal integrity.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
And then finally there's your grandmother Sweeping the dust of the nineteenth century... Into the twentieth, and your grandfather plucking A straw out of the broom to pick his teeth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
They are sworn enemies of lyric poetry. In prison they accompany the jailer,... Enter cells to hear confessions. Their short-end comes down When you least expect it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »