Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Quote by Christopher Hitchens

“Any fool can lampoon a king or a bishop or a billionaire. A trifle more grit is required to face down a mob, or even a studio audience, that has decided it knows what it wants and is entitled to get it. And the fact that kings and bishops and billionaires often have more say than most in forming the appetites and emotions of the crowd is not irrelevant, either.”

Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Work

Letters to a Young Contrarian

This book is a compilation of letters written by an experienced writer to a younger audience, focusing on the development of critical thinking skills and fostering a spirit of independent thought. more

Author

Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was an English-American author, journalist, and social critic. He was known for his sharp wit and controversial views, particularly on religion and politics. Hitchens was a prominent figure in the public discourse of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. more

You May Also Like

“What will make me happy? This is a simple question. And you sure know the answer to it. But you don’t wish to ask this question to yourself, because you fear confronting the truth. Because the answer entails making tough choices, firm decisions. So, you keep postponing asking yourself the question, postponing your Happiness. But when you do ask yourself this question – what will make me happy – and go to work on your answer, then your fears evaporate, courage takes over; resilience kicks in, doors open and Life, your kind of happy, Blissful Life, embraces you and takes you into its fold! This is how Life works. This is how you choose your Happiness.”

“When fears rise supreme, we remember that in spite of any picture to the contrary, our greatest protection is to understand that we are under no laws but God’s. God’s laws are love, strength, order, and harmony. They are invisible, yet, mighty and powerful. They silently but surely bring the hand of peace and order into seeming turmoil and fear. They are an unseen medicine bringing quiet, sure healing and stability. Such is our mainstay through all of the human experience. To the extent that we understand that we are under no laws but God’s, our fear disappears. It is not possible to be afraid when all the Universe and beyond is working under the infinitely good orchestration of the Divine. Armed with these simple truths, we radiate a firm and unshakeable knowledge that there is, in every situation, an inner and higher reality which is unmarred by the many, different human dramas. We help those around us with our serenity and trust. Each one of us is loved greatly. No person or event or anything on Earth and beyond can take this from us.”

“My friend Peter Schneider, the great novelistic chronicler of Berlin life, once researched and wrote a true story about a wartime episode. It involved the sheltering of those Berlin Jews who had violated the Nazi race laws by marrying Aryans. Some hundreds of these people were saved, in an informal arrangement whereby some thousands of ordinary Berliners provided a bed for the night here, a ration book there. Peter thought that the publication of this account would be well-received; there is always a market for stories about decent Germans. Instead the reaction was a surly one. It took him some time to realise that by describing the brave and generous but low-level and unheroic conduct of so many citizens, he had undermined the moral alibi of many thousands more, whose long-standing excuse for their own inaction had been that, under such terror, no gesture of resistance had been possible. This depressing discovery need not blind us to the true moral, which is that everybody can do something, and that the role of dissident is not, and should not be, a claim of membership in a communion of saints. In other words, the more fallible the mammal, the truer the example.”

“Fearlessness is a great enabler; it helps you to live intelligently, to live happily. What if you are willing to fail, to lose, to even die? How would you then live your Life? That Life is possible – if only you chose to be fearless by looking your fears in the eye. Doing this will awaken you to a whole new world where social definitions and labels of success and failure don’t matter anymore. When you are fearless, you need no external validation. In that state, you are truly happy – no matter what the circumstances are!”

“Our  truest  selves  will  always  be  found  through  our worst  times  in  our  lives.  Through  the  worst  and darkest  time,  I  met  a  gentle  soul,  but  powerful woman  of  God.  She  was  one  of  those  warriors battling  for  God’s  sons  and  daughters.  She became  my  spiritual  mentor,  more  so,  a  great woman  that  imparted  in  me  a  bravery,  that  spoke life  and  endurance  into  my  spirit.”

“There  are  moments  in  our  lives,  we  sometimes  forget  who  we  were  born  to  be  and  there  are times  we  lose  sight  of  that  person,  but  then  something  happens  and  you  realize  that  you’ve  gotten your  second  chance,  a  new  beginning,  hope  to  be the  best  version  of  yourself.  You  realize  that  the person  you  once  were,  is  part  of  the  history;  part  of what  makes  all  this  great,  because  for  once  I,  Alex, believe  in  the  immensity  of  who  I  truly  am.”