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Quote by Charles Martin

“...I've come to understand, no...to know...that nothing matters more than a name....A name establishes a record. Drives a stake in the ground. Shouts across the stratosphere, 'I'm here! I matter! I'm not invisible!' And while you make think very little of me, God himself actually thought me up. What you see in the lens of your eye, this thing we call 'me,' started in his mind. He actually took the time to think me up. Imagine....God thought of me. Molded my bones like a potter. And if that's true, and he thought of me, and then made me, and then named me, then there's a record of my existence. Evidence that I'm real....When you're in hell, slavery, nothing matters more than a name. Because with it, someone can walk up to the bars that shackle you, point at you among the many, and call you out--by name. A name is the singular thing that separates us from the ninety-nine. A name makes us the one....Without a name...there is no record. [Bones]”

Quote by Charles Martin

Book:The Record Keeper
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The Record Keeper

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Charles Martin

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“There are two sides to the life of every man, his individual life which is the more free the more abstract its interests, and his elemental swarm-life in which he inevitably obeys laws laid down for him. Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious instrument in the attainment of the historic, universal, aims of humanity. A deed done is irrevocable, and its result coinciding in time with the actions of millions of other men assumes an historic significance. The higher a man stands on the social ladder, the more people he is connected with and the more power he has over others, the more evident is the predestination and inevitability of his every action. ‘The king’s heart is in the hands of the Lord.’ A king is history’s slave. History, that is, the unconscious, general, swarm-life of mankind, uses every moment of the life of kings as a tool for its own purposes.”

HistoryIndividualityDeterminism
Book:War and Peace
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“রাষ্ট্রে, ধর্মে, সমাজে, তাঁর জীবৎকালে যত আন্দোলন এ-দেশে জেগে উঠেছিলো, তার প্রায় প্রত্যেকটিতে সাড়া দিয়েছিলেন রবীন্দ্রনাথ, তাকে ফলিয়ে তুলেছিলেন সাহিত্যে, কখনো-কখনো প্রত্যক্ষভাবেও অংশ নিয়েছিলেন ; কিন্তু কদাচ কোনো সংঘভুক্ত হননি, কোনো পুরোহিতের আনুগত্য স্বীকার করেননি, তাঁকে বাঁধতে পারে এমন বাঁধন কারো হাতেই তৈরি হলো না। ("শিল্পীর স্বাধীনতা" প্রবন্ধের অংশ)”

ArtistCultureLiteratureIndividualityThinkerBengaliIndependent ThinkingBanglaRabindranath Tagore
Book:সাহিত্যচর্চা
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Book:The Devil's Dictionary
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