“It's all nonsense to say that the Fifteenth Century can't possibly speak to the Twentieth, because it is the Fifteenth and not the Twentieth, and because those two Centuries haven't got a Common Denominator. They have. It's Human Nature.” HumansTwoSpeakCommonCenturyHuman NatureHavensNonsenseCommon Denominator Author:Frederick Rolfe
“Teller contended, not implausibly, that hydrogen bombs keep the peace, or at least prevent thermonuclear war, because the consequences of warfare between nuclear powers are now too dangerous. We haven't had a nuclear war yet, have we? But all such arguments assume that the nuclear-armed nations are and always will be, without exception, rational actors, and that bouts of anger and revenge and madness will never overtake their leaders (or military and secret police officers in charge of nuclear weapons). In the century of Hitler and Stalin, this seems ingenuous.” WarSeemsActorsNationsSecretLeaderCenturyMilitaryDangerousHavensWeaponsConsequenceArgumentMadnessPoliceAssumingRevengeNuclearRationalBombsExceptionOfficersNuclear WeaponsWarfarePolice OfficerNuclear WarHydrogenNuclear PowerSecret PoliceHydrogen Bomb Author:Carl Sagan
“Religion was made to order to "save the world," to use a phrase Christians use so much, but we really haven't been doing a good job of it for centuries. It's heartbreaking really.” WorldMadeUseChristianJobsOrderCenturyHavensPhrasesGood JobHeartbreakingSave The World Author:Richard Rohr
“Most of the earth's inhabitants work to get by. They work because they have to. They didn't pick this or that kind of job out of passion; the circumstances of their lives did the choosing for them. Loveless work, boring work, work valued only because others haven't got even that much, however loveless and boring - this is one of the harshest human miseries. And there's no sign that coming centuries will produce any changes for the better as far as this goes.” HumansKindEarthJobsPassionCenturyHavensProduceCircumstancesPicksMiseryBoringChange For The BetterLoveless Author:Wislawa Szymborska
“Deplorable practices adopted during the last century were repeatedly declared necessary if regrettable in order to win the war. Oddly enough, we've yet to win. You'd think somebody would have asked before this why the regrettable but necessary measures haven't actually produced the promised results.” IfsThinkingWarEnoughLastsOrderWinningResultsPracticeCenturyHavensAdopted Book:The Lost Fleet: Courageous Source: The Lost Fleet: Courageous
“When you have the countries like Germany, China, and Russia decline, and be replaced by others, that's when systemic wars start. That's when it gets dangerous, because they haven't yet reached a balance. So Germany united in 1871 and all hell broke loose. Japan rose in the early 20th century, and then you had chaos. So we're looking at a systemic shift. Be ready for war.” WarCountryUnitedHellCenturyDangerousHavensReadyBalanceRoseChaosChinaRussiaBrokeGermanyJapanDeclineReplaced20th Century Author:George Friedman
“I still prefer going to the classical writers, the modernists and the nineteenth century writers. Much of what has been done since then has just been repetition. A lot of it is marvelous but the forms haven't changed.” Has BeensStillsDoneFormCenturyHavensChangedMarvelousRepetitionNineteenth Century Author:Pankaj Mishra