“One day through the primeval wood A calf walked home as good calves should; But made a trail all bent askew, A crooked trail as all calves do. . . . . And men two centuries and a half Trod in the footsteps of that calf.” MenShouldMadeTwoHomeHalfCenturyOne DayWoodsBentTrailsBostonFootstepsCrookedPrecedentCalvesPrimeval Author:Sam Walter Foss
“Machiavelli, however, took his bearings from people as they are. He defined the political project as making the best of this flawed material. He knew (in words Kant would write almost three centuries later) that nothing straight would be made from the crooked timber of humanity.” PeopleWritingMadeWould BePoliticalHumanityThreeCenturyMaterialsProjectsDefinedFlawedCrookedTimber Author:George Will
“Aus so krummen Holze, als woraus der Mensch gemacht ist, kann nichts ganz Gerades gezimmert werden. Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing can ever be made.” MadeHumanityAlsCrookedTimber Author:Immanuel Kant