“If we do not get a universal acceptance of the constitution the likelihood of the violence continuing is there. If it had been an inclusive exercise -- as when everybody had embraced the constitution and everyone saw his interest protected by the constitution -- I think it would have been a rallying exercise. We are not there at this stage” IfsThinkingHas BeensInterestSawsViolenceStageAcceptanceExerciseUniversalConstitutionProtectedContinuingLikelihoodRallying Author:Kofi Annan
“Universal violence compels the language to be mute . . . . Silence is not only a metaphor of Hemingway's work; it is also the source of its formal excellence, its integrity.” LanguageSilenceViolenceSourceIntegrityUniversalExcellenceMetaphorWorking ItFormalSilence IsMute Author:Ihab Hassan
“With kings, nations, and private individuals, the strongest assume to themselves rights over the weakest, and the same rule is followed by animals, by matter, by the elements, so that everything is performed in the universe by violence. And that order which we blame with some appearance of justice is the most universal, most absolute, most unchangeable, and most ancient law of nature.” MatterLawOrderUniverseIndividualNationsJusticeAnimalRightsViolenceKingsElementsUniversalAbsolutesBlameAssumingAncientAppearanceStrongestLaws Of NatureUnchangeable Book:La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“Trees and flowers were often more meaningful to me than people. They always helped me, consoled me, giving the soul a chance to believe once more than the world was beautiful and sensible, that the mad absurdities and cruelties of men were against the laws of Nature and the Universal Mind; that sooner or later violence would suffer utter defeat on this Earth. No words collected in books were more effectively convincing to me than foliage, clouds, rippling waters, rain.” PeopleMenWorldGivingMindBelieveBookSoulEarthBeautifulLawSufferingWaterNatureChanceViolenceTreeFlowerRainUniversalMadDefeatCloudsMeaningfulCrueltySensibleSooner Or LaterAbsurdityConvincingLaws Of NatureFoliage Author:Svetlana Alliluyeva
“I think there are universal principles that we should want to understand, but that are not necessarily good for us. We could recognise universal propensities which current cultures can't fully eradicate, which we would want to eradicate if we could. Let's say, a tendency for tribal violence. Or racism.” IfsThinkingWantShouldCulturePrinciplesViolenceRacismUniversalCurrentsTendenciesRecognisePropensity Author:Sam Harris
“I'd like to know why sociologists can't decide whether movie sex and violence has any effect on children, but there's a universal consensus that even a glimpse of a Camel will force children to become lifelong smokers.” KnowsChildrenForceSexViolenceEffectsUniversalGlimpseConsensusLifelongCamelsSmokersSociologists Author:Jonah Goldberg
“From a political perspective, it is important to uphold certain universal principles so that, for example, you can condemn both Islamist forms of violence and injustice as well as forms of violence and injustice from other groups - some superpowers, for example, or the English Defence League, as other examples.” WellsImportantFormPoliticalCertainPrinciplesViolenceGroupsExamplePerspectiveUniversalInjusticeLeagueDefenceSuperpowerIslamists Author:Alison Assiter