“As the strata of the earth preserve in succession the living creatures of past epochs, so the shelves of libraries preserve in succession the errors of the past and their expositions, which like the former were very lively and made a great commotion in their own age but now stand petrified and stiff in a place where only the literary palaeontologist regards them.” MadeAgeEarthPastCreaturesRegardErrorsLibraryFormerPreservesShelvesSuccessionLivelyLiving Creatures Book:On the Suffering of the World Source: On the Suffering of the World
“It is indeed strange that with all the knowledge we have gained in the past hundred years we preserve and practice the methods of an ancient and barbarous world in our dealing with crime. So long as this is observed and exercised there can be no change except to heap more cruelties and more wretchedness upon those who are the victims of our foolish system.” WorldYearsLongPastPracticeCrimeStrangeHundredMethodVictimAncientFoolishCrueltyPreservesWretchedness Book:The Story of My Life Source: The Story of My Life
“The judge's authority depends upon the assumption that he speaks with the mouth of others. That is to say, the momentum of his utterances must be greater than any which his personal reputation and character can command, if it is to do the work assigned to it - if it is to stand against the passionate resentments arising out of the interests he must frustrate - for while a judge must discover some composition with the dominant trends of his times, he must preserve his authority by cloaking himself in the majesty of an overshadowing past.” IfsCharacterPastSpeakInterestGreaterJudgingDependsAuthorityMouthsPassionateCommandReputationPreservesAssumptionTrendsResentmentCompositionDominantMajestyMomentumUtteranceOvershadowing Author:Learned Hand
“The woe of mortality makes humans God-like. It is because we know that we must die that we are so busy making life. It is because we are aware of mortality that we preserve the past and create the future. Mortality is ours without asking--but immortality is something we must build ourselves. Immortality is not a mere absence of death; it is defiance and denial of death. It is 'meaningful' only because there is death, that implacable reality which is to be defied.” KnowsHumansRealityPastDiesAskingMereBusyAbsenceMeaningfulDenialPreservesImmortalityMortalityWoeDefianceDenial Of Death Author:Zygmunt Bauman
“in Italy, almost at every step, history and poetry add to the graces of nature, sweeten the memory of the past, and seem to preserve it in eternal youth.” SeemsPastMemoriesStepsGraceYouthEternalAddPreservesEvery StepPast MemoriesEternal Youth Author:Madame de Stael
“Some say that no one ever leaves Montreal, for that city, like Canada itself, is designed to preserve the past, a past that happened somewhere else.” PastCitiesHappenedPreservesCanadaSomewhere ElseMontreal Book:The Favorite Game: A Novel Source: The Favorite Game: A Novel
“In South America euphemism appears to be the grisly preserve of violent power. 'Liberty' was the name of the biggest prison in Uruguay under the military dictatorship, while in Chile one of the concentration camps was called 'Dignity.' It was the self-styled 'Peace and Justice' paramilitary group in Chiapas [Mexico] that in 1997 shot 45 peasants in the back, nearly all of them women and children, as they prayed in a church. What have the souls of the south done over the past few decades to deserve quite so much liberty and dignity and peace and justice?” ChildrenSoulSelfDoneAmericaPastNamesLanguageChurchJusticeLibertyViolenceGroupsMilitaryShotsDeserveDignityPrisonSouthDecadesViolentOppressionPreservesConcentrationCampsMexicoDictatorshipPeasantsOver The PastPeace And JusticeChileSouth AmericaConcentration CampEuphemism Author:Isabel Fonseca