I’ve noticed, time and again standing at the back of the audience during Kissinger speeches, that laughter of the nervous, uneasy kind is the sort of laughter he likes to provoke. In exacting this tribute, he flaunts not the ‘aphrodisiac’ of power (another of his plagiarized bon mots) but its pornography.
Entries Tagged as 'Quotes'
The Pornography of Power - “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” – Christopher Hitchens
January 17th, 2012 · No Comments · Politics, Power, Quotes
A Dog Lives as Long as its Teeth – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre
November 25th, 2011 · No Comments · Quotes, Spy Thriller
It is said a dog lives as long as its teeth;
Tags:Quotes
On Autobiography – “Notes on Dali” from “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell
November 10th, 2011 · No Comments · Art, Autobiography, Culture, Quotes
Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
The Greatest Description of a Bureaucrat Of All Time – “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell
November 4th, 2011 · No Comments · Bureaucracy, Description, Quotes, Writing
…officials with their prehensile bottoms, will obstruct for all they are worth. Orwell really had a way with figurative speech…
Our Faults Uncured – “Cultural Amnesia” – Clive James
October 5th, 2011 · No Comments · Quotes, Sociology
Proust says it for him elsewhere: those we like least are those most like us, but with the faults uncured.
Tags:Quotes
Killed by Disinterest – “Cultural Amnesia” – Clive James
October 1st, 2011 · No Comments · Culture, Quotes
The Germans have a word for it: togeschwiegen. Killed by not being mentioned.
Gibbon’s History – “Cultural Amnesia” – Clive James
September 30th, 2011 · No Comments · History, Quotes
(Gibbon’s) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire encapsulates—in a very large capsule—his idea that history is “little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
The Rebellion of a Mouse in a Cage – “Anthills of the Savannah”. Chinua Achebe
September 26th, 2011 · No Comments · Africa, Colonialism, History, Power, Quotes, Totalitarianism
That was when I smiled at myself and my puny, empty revolts, the rebellion of a mouse in a cage.
Tags:Africa·Dictatorship·power·Quotes
Connection – “Anthills of the Savannah”. Chinua Achebe
September 25th, 2011 · No Comments · Humanism, Love, Quotes
‘We are all connected. You cannot tell the story of any of us without implicating the others.
An Angry Man is a Stupid Man – “Anthills of the Savannah”. Chinua Achebe
September 25th, 2011 · No Comments · Africa, Colonialism, Quotes, Revenge
Chris was smiling a mirthless smile. An angry man is always a stupid man. Make a thorough fool of him, my dear girl, he thought.
Tags:Africa·Anger·Humiliation·Quotes
