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Babel Quotes

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Babel Quotes

“Once upon a time in the land of Shinar, God came down to see the city and the tower. People were united and spoke in one language. Then God confound their language and caused them scattered all over the planet earth. I believe, because of our technology, there will be one computer-based language on earth. Then God will come back again and make us all scattered all over the stars constellation.”

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Author:Toba Beta
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“Modern nationalism swept Europe alongside the flourishing of industrialisation. Across the continent, poets and intellectuals cultivated and often heavily modified vernacular languages to be bearers of 19th century modernity. These guardians of language faced significant challenges in adapting the spoken tongues of the peasantry to the demands of high literature and natural science. The story for the arts is widely known: modern Hungarian, Czech, Italian, Hebrew, Polish and other literatures blossomed in the second half of the century. However, the high valuation for efficiency in the sciences somewhat tamed this incipient Babel ["Absolute English," Aeon, February 4, 2015].”

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Author:Michael D. Gordin
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“An attempt to wrest from God the prerogatives of absolute freedom and infinity leads to the inversion of Pentecost and what is in effect a new Babel. 'Postmodernism' represents that Babel perfectly, because when each speaks a language unrelated to that of the other - when language is not the basis of the communication that shapes our being - the only outcome can be fragmentation. In that sense, postmodernism is modernity come home to roost.”

GodTheologyModernityPostmodernismPentecostFragmentationBabel
Book:The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation, and the Culture of Modernity
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“Our modern era embodies both the Tower of Babel and Pentecost simultaneously. Like Babel, globalization and technological advancement have created linguistic and cultural fragmentation… Yet, like Pentecost, the same global connections that fragment us enable unprecedented education and understanding.”

EducationGlobalizationModernityPentecostBabel
Book:The Son of Man & Its Mystical Awakening: Reclaiming Eschatology & Atonement During a Convergence of Globalization, Nihilism, Science, & Spirituality
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“«M'inganneranno, forse, la vecchiezza e il timore ma sospetto che la specie umana - l'unica - stia per estinguersi, e che la Bibioteca perdurerà: illuminata, solitaria, infinita, perfettamente immobile, armata di volumi preziosi, inutile, incorruttibile, segreta. Aggiungo: infinita. Non introduco quest'aggettivo per un'abitudine retorica; dico che non è illogico pensare che il mondo sia infinito. Chi lo giudica limitato, suppone che in qualche luogo remoto i corridoi e le scale e gli esagoni possano inconcepibilmente cessare; ciò che è assurdo. Chi lo immagina senza limiti, dimentica che è limitato il numero possibile dei libri. Io m'arrischio a insinuare questa soluzione: La Biblioteca è illimitata e periodica. Se un eterno viaggiatore la traversasse in una direzione qualsiasi, constaterebbe alla fine dei secoli che gli stessi volumi si ripetono nello stesso disordine (che, ripetuto, sarebbe un ordine: l'Ordine). Questa elegante speranza rallegra la mia solitudine.» [La Biblioteca di Babele]”

LibraryBorgesBabelBibliotecaFictionsFiccionesFinzioniBabele
Book:Fictions/Ficciones
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“Banyak yang berpikir baBanyak yang berpikir bahwa ahimsa adalah pasifisme mutlak, bahwa India adalah bangsa penakut dan penurut yang akan bertekuk lutut kepada siapa pun. Namun, dalam Bhagawad Gita, ada pengecualian untuk dharma yuddha. Perang yang dibenarkan. Perang ketika kekerasan digunakan seba- gai pilihan terakhir. Perang yang tidak memperjuangkan keuntungan atau motif-motif pribadi, tetapi berangkat dari komitmen terhadap cita-cita yang lebih luhur.hwa ahimsa adalah pasifisme mutlak, bahwa India adalah bangsa penakut dan penurut yang akan bertekuk lutut kepada siapa pun. Namun, dalam Bhagawad Gita, ada pengecualian untuk dharma yuddha. Perang yang dibenarkan. Perang ketika kekerasan digunakan sebagai pilihan terakhir. Perang yang tidak memperjuangkan keuntungan atau motif-motif pribadi, tetapi berangkat dari komitmen terhadap cita-cita yang lebih luhur.”

AhimsaBabelKekerasanDemonstrasi
Author:RF Kuang
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“Banyak yang berpikir bahwa ahimsa adalah pasifisme mutlak, bahwa India adalah bangsa penakut dan penurut yang akan bertekuk lutut kepada siapa pun. Namun, dalam Bhagawad Gita, ada pengecualian untuk dharma yuddha. Perang yang dibenarkan. Perang ketika kekerasan digunakan sebagai pilihan terakhir. Perang yang tidak memperjuangkan keuntungan atau motif-motif pribadi, tetapi berangkat dari komitmen terhadap cita-cita yang lebih luhur.hwa ahimsa adalah pasifisme mutlak, bahwa India adalah bangsa penakut dan penurut yang akan bertekuk lutut kepada siapa pun. Namun, dalam Bhagawad Gita, ada pengecualian untuk dharma yuddha. Perang yang dibenarkan. Perang ketika kekerasan digunakan seba- gai pilihan terakhir. Perang yang tidak memperjuangkan keuntungan atau motif-motif pribadi, tetapi berangkat dari komitmen terhadap cita-cita yang lebih luhur.”

AhimsaBabelDamaiKekerasan
Author:RF Kuang
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“Banyak yang berpikir bahwa ahimsa adalah pasifisme mutlak, bahwa India adalah bangsa penakut dan penurut yang akan bertekuk lutut kepada siapa pun. Namun, dalam Bhagawad Gita, ada pengecualian untuk dharma yuddha. Perang yang dibenarkan. Perang ketika kekerasan digunakan sebagai pilihan terakhir. Perang yang tidak memperjuangkan keuntungan atau motif-motif pribadi, tetapi berangkat dari komitmen terhadap cita-cita yang lebih luhur.”

AhimsaBabelDamaiKekerasan
Author:RF Kuang
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“Translation, from time immemorial, has been the facilitator of peace. Translation makes possible communication, which turn makes possible the kind of diplomacy, trade, and cooperation between foreign peoples that brings wealth and prosperity to all.’ (…) ‘And you, like Psammetichus’s boys, are the tongues that will speak this vision of global harmony into being.’ (…) ‘ After all, we’re here to make the unknown known, to make the other familiar. We’re here to make magic with words.’ - Professor Playfair, Page 81 from R.F. Kuang, Babel”

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Author:R.F Kuang
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“The news today about 'Atomic bombs' is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to consent to do such work for war-purposes: calmly plotting the destruction of the world! Such explosives in men's hands, while their moral and intellectual status is declining, is about as useful as giving out firearms to all inmates of a gaol and then saying that you hope 'this will ensure peace'. But one good thing may arise out of it, I suppose, if the write-ups are not overheated: Japan ought to cave in. Well we're in God's hands. But He does not look kindly on Babel-builders.”

IfsMenWorldGivingWritingWellsLooksMayDoeWarHandsTodayPurposeMoralOughtNewsIntellectualDestructionGood ThingsAriseFollyBombsJapanConsentCavesPhysicistLunaticBuilderFirearmsExplosivesAtomic BombStunnedInmatesBabel
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“A jargon form'd from the lost language, wit, Confounded in that Babel of the pit; Form'd by diseased conceptions, weak and wild, Sick lust of souls, and an abortive child; Born between whores and fops, by lewd compacts, Before the play, or else between the acts; Nor wonder, if from such polluted minds Should spring such short and transitory kinds.”

IfsShouldMindKindChildrenSoulPlayFormLostLanguageBornWonderSpringWeakSickWitLustConceptionPitsTransitoryJargonDiseasedBabel
Book:The Works of of the Rev. Jonathan Swift
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“But all this language gotten, and augmented by Adam and his posterity, was again lost at the tower of Babel , when by the hand of God, every man was stricken for his rebellion, with an oblivion of his former language.”

MenHandsLostLanguageEvery ManFormerRebellionAdamTowersOblivionPosterityHands Of GodBabelTower Of Babel
Book:The Moral and Political Works To which is Prefixed the Autors Life, Extracted from that Said to be Written by Himself ... Illustr. by the Ed. - London 1750
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“There are some films that arrive here from the international festival circuit almost incandescent with self-importance. They hover into the cinema in a kind of floating trance at how challenging and moving they are. They are films with a profound reluctance to get over themselves. They look up at the sceptical observer with the saucer-eyed saintliness of a baby seal in culling season, or a charity mugger smilingly wishing a nice day on the retreating back of a passer-by. One such is Babel.”

LooksKindSelfFilmMovingWishChallengesNiceBabySeasonsImportanceProfoundCharityInternationalCinemaLook UpGet OverFloatingObserversFestivalsSealsCircuitsTranceSelf-importanceReluctanceNice DayBabelMuggersCulling
Author:Peter Bradshaw
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“Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.”

DifferentWarCulturePoorRaceHistoryCreationHumourCommunicationFishesBarriersHitchhikers Guide To The GalaxyHitchhikers GuideHitchhikingDifferent RacesBabel
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five
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“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel”

IfsMenWritingBelieveLongHas BeensPoliticalFallLordBuildingSucceedLong TimeLaborSacredAffairProofAidsVainEmpiresAssuredConvincingReligious FreedomBuilderFounding Fathers ChristianFounding Fathers ReligionSparrowsFounding Fathers ReligiousAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistChristian HeritageMorality And ReligionRevolution Founding FathersBabelConstitutional Convention
Author:Benjamin Franklin
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“The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”

ReligionAtheismProveArgumentLogicAtheistRefuseDenyProofAgnosticGalaxyReligious FaithThere Is No GodAtheisticGod ExistsPuffExistence Of GodThere Being No GodHitchhikers Guide To The GalaxyHitchhikers GuideHitchhikingFaith ReligionNon ExistenceBabelGod Is DeadReligion In SocietyHikerProof Of GodDaily AtheistProof That God ExistsProof God ExistsH2g2
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five
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“... I see the green earth covered with the works of man or with the ruins of men’s work. The pyramids weigh down the earth, the tower of Babel has pierced the sky, the lovely temples and the gray castles have fallen into ruins. But of all those things which hands have built, what hasn’t fallen nor ever will fall? Dear friends, throw away the trowel and mortarboard! Throw your masons’ aprons over your heads and lie down to build dreams! What are temples of stone and clay to the soul? Learn to build eternal mansions of dreams and visions!”

MenSoulDreamHandsEarthLyingFallVisionSkyEternalBuiltStonesGreenDearLovelyRuinsFallenTemplesCoveredGrayTowersClayCastlesPyramidsMansionsDear FriendMasonsGreen EarthBabelApronsTower Of Babel
Author:Selma Lagerlöf
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