How can anyone be interested in war?--that glorious pursuit of annihilation with its ceremonious bellowings and trumpetings over t...he mangling of human bones and muscles and organs and eyes, its inconceivable agonies which could have been prevented by a few well- chosen, reasonable words. How, why, did this unnecessary business begin? Why does anyone want to read about it--this redundant human madness which men accept as inevitable?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Some of the things ... sound like things our grandmothers would have told us: "Men will be boys. We let them play their little gam...es with each other. We know it isn't about the important things, but they think so. So we let them. We take care of them so that they can go on playing...." What grandma did not tell us is that men are capable of something altogether different.... But even though men are untapped wells of potential, they will not move forward if women continue to subsidize the status quo.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
He said "Next time can I bring my friend?" And I thought "Does he mean friend?"... And I thought "Yes he does mean friend." Which was quite bold in those days. It was the Dark Ages. Men and men. And they could still put you in prison for it. And did, dear.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is something to be said for losing one's possessions, after nothing can be done about it. I had loved my Nanking home and th...e little treasures it had contained, the lovely garden I had made, my life with friends and students. Well, that was over. I had nothing at all now except the old clothes I stood in. I should have felt sad, and I was quite shocked to realize that I did not feel sad at all. On the contrary, I had a lively sense of adventure merely at being alive and free, even of possessions. No one expected anything of me. I had no obligations, no duties, no tasks. I was nothing but a refugee, someone totally different from the busy young woman I had been.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
But who, alas! can love, and then be wise? Not that remorse did not oppose temptation;... A little still she strove, and much repented, And whispering 'I will ne'er consent'Mconsented.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It's true we Americans don't know very much about you Japanese and never did. And now I realize you know even less about us. You c...an kill us, all of us or part of us, but if you think that's going to put the fear of God into the United States of America and stop them from sending other flyers to bomb you, you're wrong--dead wrong. They'll come by night, and they'll come by day--thousands of them. They'll blacken your skies and burn your cities to the ground and make you get down on your knees and beg for mercy. You wanted it. You asked for it. You started it. And now you're going to get it. And it won't be finished until your dirty little empire is wiped off the face of the earth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The acceptance of a theory as true does involve a personal choice in a way that a law does not. Different people do differ about t...heories; they can choose whether or no they will believe them; but people do not differ about laws; there is no personal choice; universal agreement can be forced. Again, if we look at the history of science, we shall find that the great advances in theory are more closely connected with the names of the great men than are the advances in law. Every important theory is associated with some man whose scientific work was notable apart from that theory; either he invented other important theories or in some way he did scientific work greatly above the average. On the other hand there are a good many well-known laws which are associated with the names of men who, apart from those particular laws, are practically unknown; they discovered one important law, but they have no claim to rank among the geniuses of science. That fact seems to indicate that a greater degree of genius is needed to invent true theories than to discover true laws.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In the course of twenty crowded years one parts with many illusions. I did not wish to lose the early ones. Some memories are real...ities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The agent never receipts his bill, puts his hat on and bows himself out. He stays around forever, not only for as long as you can ...write anything that anyone will buy, but as long as anyone will buy any portion of any right to anything that you ever did write. He just takes ten per cent of your life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There can be no doubt that the difference between the mind of the lowest man and that of the highest animal is immense. An anthrop...omorphous ape, if he could take a dispassionate view of his own case, would admit that though he could form an artful plan to plunder a garden--though he could use stones for fighting or for breaking open nuts, yet that the thought of fashioning a stone into a tool was quite beyond his scope. Still less, as he would admit, could he follow out a train of metaphysical reasoning, or solve a mathematical problem, or reflect on God, or admire a grand natural scene. Some apes, however, would probably declare that they could and did admire the beauty of the coloured skin and fur of their partners in marriage. They would admit, that though they could make other apes understand by cries some of their perceptions and simpler wants, the notion of expressing definite ideas by definite sounds had never crossed their minds. They might insist that they were ready to aid their fellow-apes of the same troop in many ways, to risk their lives for them, and to take charge of their orphans; but they would be forced to acknowledge that disinterested love for all living creatures, the most noble attribute of man, was quite beyond their comprehension. Nevertheless, the difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, is one of degree and not of kind.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »