During medieval times, all those emotions were missing which have made us cautious and tentative in matters of justice: the insigh...t into diminished capacity, the concept of judicial fallibility, the awareness that society has to share in the blame for the guilt of individuals, the question whether an individual ought not be rehabilitated rather than made to suffer. Or, perhaps, better stated: a vague sense of all this is not lacking, but rather concentrates itself, unverbalized, in instant impulses of charity and forgiveness, unconcerned with the issue of guilt, which could suddenly break through the cruel satisfaction over the administration of justice. While we administer a hesitant, toned down justice, partially filled with a guilty conscience, the Middle Ages knew only two extremes: the full measure of cruel punishment or mercy.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Hostage is a crucifying aloneness. It is a silent, screaming slide into the bowels of ultimate despair. Hostage is a man hanging b...y his fingernails over the edge of chaos, feeling his fingers slowly straightening. Hostage is the humiliating stripping away of every sense and fibre of body and mind and spirit that make us what we are. Hostage is a mutant creation filled with fear, self-loathing, guilt and death-wishing. But he is a man, a rare, unique and beautiful creation of which these things are no part.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
After your baby is born, guilt can grow into a monster that sits on your shoulder and whispers into your ear, "Mirror, mirror on t...he wall--who's the guiltiest of them all?" The answer is working mothers. Every time you can't calm your screaming baby, the guilt monster will tell you that if you were a true mom, an at- home mom, you would know what to do. . . . Everytime something goes wrong at work, it will tell you that it's your fault for trying to be a "supermom."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst consequence of a miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence o...r guilt. And though want of suspicion more than want of sense, sometimes leads a man into harm; yet too much suspicion is as bad as too little sense.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When the masculine mystique is pulling boys and men out into the world to growl manly noises at one another, the only power with a... stronger pull on the male psyche is maternally induced guilt. The guilt is quite necessary for our moral development, but it is often uncomfortable.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Many women are surprised by the intensity of their maternal pull and the conflict it brings to their competing roles. This is the ...precise point at which many women feel the stress of the work/family dilemma most keenly. They realize that they may have a price to pay for wanting to be both professionals and mothers. They feel guilty for not being at work, and angry for being manipulated into feeling this guilt. . . . They don't quite fit at home. They don't quite fit at work.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am, I must confess, suspicious of those who denounce others for having "too much" sex. At what point does a "healthy" amount bec...ome "too much"? There are, of course, those who suffer because their desire for sex has become compulsive; in their case the drive (loneliness, guilt) is at fault, not the activity as such.... When "morality" is discussed I invariably discover, halfway into the conversation, that what is meant are not the great ethical questions ... but the rather dreary business of sexual habit, which to my mind is an aesthetic rather than an ethical issue.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, n...either shall they learn war any more.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »