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Leviathan Quotes

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Leviathan Quotes

“Themes of descent often turn on the struggle between the titanic and the demonic within the same person or group. In Moby Dick, Ahab’s quest for the whale may be mad and “monomaniacal,” as it is frequently called, or even evil so far as he sacrifices his crew and ship to it, but evil or revenge are not the point of the quest. The whale itself may be only a “dumb brute,” as the mate says, and even if it were malignantly determined to kill Ahab, such an attitude, in a whale hunted to the death, would certainly be understandable if it were there. What obsesses Ahab is in a dimension of reality much further down than any whale, in an amoral and alienating world that nothing normal in the human psyche can directly confront. The professed quest is to kill Moby Dick, but as the portents of disaster pile up it becomes clear that a will to identify with (not adjust to) what Conrad calls the destructive element is what is really driving Ahab. Ahab has, Melville says, become a “Prometheus” with a vulture feeding on him. The axis image appears in the maelstrom or descending spiral (“vortex”) of the last few pages, and perhaps in a remark by one of Ahab’s crew: “The skewer seems loosening out of the middle of the world.” But the descent is not purely demonic, or simply destructive: like other creative descents, it is partly a quest for wisdom, however fatal the attaining of such wisdom may be. A relation reminiscent of Lear and the fool develops at the end between Ahab and the little black cabin boy Pip, who has been left so long to swim in the sea that he has gone insane. Of him it is said that he has been “carried down alive to wondrous depths, where strange shapes of the unwarped primal world glided to and fro . . . and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his hoarded heaps.” Moby Dick is as profound a treatment as modern literature affords of the leviathan symbolism of the Bible, the titanic-demonic force that raises Egypt and Babylon to greatness and then hurls them into nothingness; that is both an enemy of God outside the creation, and, as notably in Job, a creature within it of whom God is rather proud. The leviathan is revealed to Job as the ultimate mystery of God’s ways, the “king over all the children of pride” (41:34), of whom Satan himself is merely an instrument. What this power looks like depends on how it is approached. Approached by Conrad’s Kurtz through his Antichrist psychosis, it is an unimaginable horror: but it may also be a source of energy that man can put to his own use. There are naturally considerable risks in trying to do so: risks that Rimbaud spoke of in his celebrated lettre du voyant as a “dérèglement de tous les sens.” The phrase indicates the close connection between the titanic and the demonic that Verlaine expressed in his phrase poète maudit, the attitude of poets who feel, like Ahab, that the right worship of the powers they invoke is defiance.”

BibleDemonsShakespeareLiterary CriticismTitansLeviathanMoby Dick
Book:Words with Power: Being a Second Study of the Bible and Literature
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“I wanted a metamorphosis, a change to fish, to leviathan, to destroyer. I wanted the earth to open up, to swallow everything in one engulfing yawn. I wanted to see the city buried fathoms deep in the bosom of the sea. I wanted to sit in a cave and read by candlelight. I wanted that eye extinguished so that I might have a chance to know my own body, my own desires. I wanted to be alone for a thousand years in order to reflect on what I had seen and heard - and in order to forget.”

ForgetAloneDesiresCavesMetamorphosisReflectCandlelightLeviathanYawn
Book:Tropic of Capricorn
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“As madcap whitecaps hammered at the hulls, the bowsprits breasting saw-toothed waves now high and mighty, now abject, the Sun looked down and watched the boats—so bantam, meek, and of no consequence—become engulfed by stormclouds smothering the sallow sea. A norther hurled its curses at the fleet as in return garboards and sheerstrakes groaned amidst the helter-skelter of loud shouts. With drenched and veiny arms the tillers clenched the quarter rudders, trying to prevent the roaring ocean, frothing at the mouth, from swallowing the ships they’d sworn to guide while thinking: Who, in the last instance, can withstand its infinite, digestive force? Anon this beast became a lesser cause for fear, supplanted by the high-pitched shrieks of something neither man nor animal that lurked beyond them in the ebon drear, its contour barely visible by turns when intermittent bolts transpierced the sky. (Canaäd, XV 271-91)”

PoetryNauticalLeviathanEpic PoetryMediterranean Sea
Author:D.A. Wood
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“Mammon ni mungu wa pesa wa kuzimu anayesimamia mambo yote ya kifedha ulimwenguni. Ni miongoni mwa mashetani saba waliotupwa na Mwenyezi Mungu hapa duniani kutokea mbinguni akiwemo Ibilisi, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Amon na Belphegor. Ibilisi ni mungu wa kiburi, Beelzebub ni mungu wa uroho, Asmodeus ni mungu wa zinaa, Leviathan ni mungu wa wivu, Amon ni mungu wa hasira na Belphegor ni mungu wa uvivu. Jukumu la mashetani hawa ni kusimamia kwa uaminifu mkubwa kutokea kuzimu dhambi kubwa saba duniani ambazo ni kiburi, uroho, zinaa, wivu, hasira, uvivu na uchoyo. Dawa ya dhambi hizo ni busara, kiasi, ujasiri, imani, haki, tumaini na upendo.”

WorldLoveGodFaithHopeHeavenJusticeCourageHellHonestyPrideCharityLustWrathPrudenceFortitudeSlothTemperanceAlmighty GodMunguLuciferGluttonyLeviathanSeven Deadly SinsImaniMwenyezi MunguUpendoAsmodeusMbinguniHasiraHakiDunianiKiburiMammonIbilisiUaminifuUvivuAmonUjasiriBeelzebubBusaraKiasiKuzimuMalicious EnvyWivuBelphegorTumainiUrohoZinaaDhambi Kubwa SabaGod Of MoneyJukumu La MashetaniMashetani SabaMungu Wa PesaRole Of DevilsSeven Devils
Author:Enock Maregesi
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“Wachawi wanamwabudu Shetani. Lakini Shetani wanayemwabudu si Shetani Ibilisi aliyeumbwa na Mwenyezi Mungu kuja kuudanganya ulimwengu wote. Ni Shetani roho ya mabadiliko, mabadiliko ya kweli, ya ufahamu kamilia ulimwengu huu ambamo sisi sote tunaishi. Wachawi, kwa maneno mengine, wanaabudu miungu – kama vile Inanna wa Mesopotamia, Isis wa Misri, Asherah wa Kaanani au Belus wa Assyria ambaye ndiye mungu wa kwanza kuabuadiwa kama sanamu duniani – iliyotwaliwa na Shetani tangu misingi ya ulimwengu huu kusimikwa. Dhambi aliyotenda Shetani mbinguni ni ndogo kuliko dhambi wanazotenda wachawi duniani, ijapokuwa dhambi aliyotenda Shetani haitaweza kusamehewa na ndiyo maana Shetani hataweza kuwasamehe wanadamu. Ni jukumu letu kuwaita wachawi wote kutoka Babeli na kuwaleta katika ukweli kama kweli wanayemwabudu ni Shetani Ibilisi, Shetani Beelzebub, Shetani Asmodeus, Shetani Leviathan, Shetani Mammon, Shetani Amon au Shetani Belphegor ambao ni mabingwa wa kiburi, uroho, zinaa, wivu, fedha, hasira na uvivu duniani. Wachawi hawajui, na usipojua waweza kufa bila kujua.”

WorldHumansGodTruthUniverseHeavenSinMoneyPrideLustIdolsDieGodsWitchesWrathWizardsSlothAlmighty GodMunguLuciferGluttonyReal ChangeBabylonLeviathanStatueDhambiUlimwenguMwenyezi MunguUkweliAsmodeusMbinguniHasiraWanadamuDunianiKiburiMammonKufaIbilisiUvivuWachawiAmonComplete UnderstandingBeelzebubFoundations Of This UniverseMiunguIsis Of EgyptMalicious EnvySanamuSpirit Of ChangeWivuAshera Of CanaanBabeliBelphegorFedhaMabadiliko Ya KweliRoho Ya MabadilikoUfahamu KamiliUrohoZinaaAsherah Wa KaananiBelus Of AssyriaBelus Wa AssyriaInanna Of MesopotamiaInanna Wa MesopotamiaIsis Wa MisriMisingi Ya Ulimwengu Huu
Author:Enock Maregesi
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“In the battle against the heartless monstrous beasts, the mighty warrior first rips off his face to become a daunting faceless demon. He murders his soul to become a soulless leviathan; he wanders the world as an omnipresent ghost, haunting the wrongdoers, even in their dreams, rendering them sleepless and paralysed in bed, killing them ever so slowly from within even before they are truly killed.”

DreamsWarrior QuotesLeviathanWrongdoers
Book:FT Legacy 1: Who is Frank Twine?
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“Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind, as that though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body, or of quicker mind than another, yet when all is reckoned together, the difference between man and man is not so considerable as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he.”

MenMindWellsMayMadeSometimesBodyTogetherFoundDifferencesEqualBenefitsClaimsStrongerFacultyOne ManMind And BodyLeviathan
Book:Leviathan
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“Another doctrine repugnant to Civill Society, is that whatsoever a man does against his Conscience, is Sinne ; and it dependeth on the presumption of making himself judge of Good and Evill. For a man's Conscience and his Judgement are the same thing, and as the Judgement, so also the Conscience may be erroneous.”

MenMayDoeJudgingConscienceDoctrineJudgementGood And EvilPresumptionLeviathan
Book:Leviathan: Top 100 Classic Novels
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“On Earth, Discord! A gloomy Heaven above, opening her jealous gates to the nineteen thousandth part of the tithe of mankind! And below, an inescapable & inexorable Hell, expanding its leviathan jaws for the vast residue of Mortals!”

EarthHeavenHellAtheismMankindPositive AtheismOpeningMortalsGatesJealousExpandingGloomyDiscordNineteenInexorableTitheLeviathan
Book:The Complete Works of Robert Burns: With an Account of His Life, and a Criticism on His Writings. To which are Prefixed, Some Observations on the Character and Condition of the Scottish Peasantry
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“For example, when I was writing Leviathan, which was written both in New York and in Vermont - I think there were two summers in Vermont, in that house I wrote about in Winter Journal, that broken-down house... I was working in an out-building, a kind of shack, a tumble-down, broken-down mess of a place, and I had a green table. I just thought, "Well, is there a way to bring my life into the fiction I'm writing, will it make a difference?" And the fact is, it doesn't make any difference. It was a kind of experiment which couldn't fail.”

ThinkingWayWritingWellsKindTwoFactsHouseDifferencesFictionFailingWrittenNew YorkExampleBuildingBrokenSummerTablesGreenWinterExperimentsMessMaking A DifferenceJournalBroken DownVermontShackLeviathan
Author:Paul Auster
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“She had witnessed the world's most beautiful things, and allowed herself to grow old and unlovely. She had felt the heat of a leviathan's roar, and the warmth within a cat's paw. She had conversed with the wind and had wiped soldier's tears. She had made people see, she'd seen herself in the sea. Butterflies had landed on her wrists, she had planted trees. She had loved, and let love go. So she smiled.”

PeopleWorldMadeBeautifulGrowsFeltTreeSeaTearsWindCatSoldierHeatWarmthButterflyBeautiful ThingsWristsPawsLeviathan
Book:The Ghost's Child
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“Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry... no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

MenArtWarEarthFacesPoorEnemyWorstConditionsSecurityDangerIndustryLettersAccountsEvery ManViolentInventionSolitaryNastyLeviathanViolent DeathSolitary Man
Author:Thomas Hobbes
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“Out of the sea will rise Behemoth and Leviathan, and sail 'round the high-pooped galleys... Dragons will wander about the waste places, and the phoenix will soar from her nest of fire into the air. We shall lay our hands upon the basilisk, and see the jewel in the toad's head. Champing his gilded oats, the Hippogriff will stand in our stalls, and over our heads will float the Blue Bird singing of beautiful and impossible things, of things that are lovely and that never happen, of things that are not and that should be.”

ShouldHandsHappensBeautifulFireImpossibleAirSeaWasteSingingBirdBlueLaysRoundsLovelyWanderDragonsSailSoarJewelsFloatsNestsPhoenixImpossible ThingsToadsGildedLeviathanOatsBehemoth
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“Listening (had there been any one to listen) from the upper rooms of the empty house only gigantic chaos streaked with lightning could have been heard tumbling and tossing, as the winds and waves disported themselves like the amorphous bulks of leviathans whose brows are pierced by no light of reason, and mounted one on top of another, and lunged and plunged in the darkness or the daylight (for night and day, month and year ran shapelessly together) in idiot games, until it seemed as if the universe were battling and tumbling, in brute confusion and wanton lust aimlessly by itself.”

IfsYearsHas BeensReasonLightTogetherNightUniverseGamesHouseRoomsDarknessHeardWindListeningMonthsEmptyChaosWaveLustConfusionIdiotRanLightningCould Have BeenBrutesBrowsDaylightWantonTumblingLeviathanEmpty Houses
Book:Selected Works of Virginia Woolf
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“Moreover, it is difficult to reconcile Hobbes’s distrust for the individual with his confidence in the altruistic nature of the individual or individuals who will oversee and control the Leviathan. Are not the latter also of flesh and blood? Hobbes seems to be saying that man’s nature cannot be trusted but the nature of a ruler or a ruling assembly of men can be trusted. How so?”

MenSeemsIndividualDifficultBloodFleshLatterRulersTrustedDistrustRulingAssemblyReconcileFlesh And BloodHobbesLeviathan
Book:Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America
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“The leviathan state, that monster devouring civilization in this century, is in the throes of death. This is not a wish or a prediction, but a conclusion drawn from a broad look at the trends of the last decade and a half, which, if we take the right steps, can continue on into the next century. What has happened around the world - nations states collapsing, markets outwitting planners, citizens rising up against government masters - can and is happening here at home.”

IfsWorldLooksStatesHomeGovernmentLastsNextNationsWishHalfLibertyStepsHappenedCenturyMastersCitizensCivilizationHappeningsLibertarianDecadesMonstersConclusionAround The WorldRisingBroadsTrendsLibertarianismPredictionsPlannersDevouringRising UpLeviathanOutwitting
Author:Llewellyn Rockwell
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“Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions; which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different.”

MenDifferentPhilosophyPoliticalEvilNamesMoralMankindMoralityConversationEthicsDoctrineGood And EvilCustomsAppetiteTemperAversionMoral PhilosophyLeviathan
Book:The Essential Leviathan: A Modernized Edition
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