Blogging the Bookshelf » Quotes

The Pornography of Power - “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” – Christopher Hitchens

Tim — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:00:05 +0000

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.

A Dog Lives as Long as its Teeth – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre

Tim — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:30:05 +0000

It is said a dog lives as long as its teeth;

On Autobiography – “Notes on Dali” from “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:40:05 +0000

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

Tim — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:35:05 +0000

…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

Tim — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:22:05 +0000

Proust says it for him elsewhere: those we like least are those most like us, but with the faults uncured.

Killed by Disinterest – “Cultural Amnesia” – Clive James

Tim — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:36:06 +0000

The Germans have a word for it: togeschwiegen. Killed by not being mentioned.

Gibbon’s History – “Cultural Amnesia” – Clive James

Tim — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:36:06 +0000

(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

Tim — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:40:06 +0000

That was when I smiled at myself and my puny, empty revolts, the rebellion of a mouse in a cage.

Connection – “Anthills of the Savannah”. Chinua Achebe

Tim — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 05:16:05 +0000

‘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

Tim — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:51:05 +0000

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.