Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“I enter the fray after careful reflection and in a sufficiently hostile frame of mind.”
The Buddha (saying recorded in the 3rd Century BCE Dhammapada)
“Better than living a hundred years
not seeing arising and passing away,
is a single day lived
arising and passing away seen.”
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
“Man is nothing else than what he makes of himself.”
Frank Herbert (1920-1986)
“Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well.”
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
“History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
“There are many men adept in those diverse disciplines, but few capable of imagination – fewer still capable of subordinating imagination to a rigorous and systematic plan. The plan is so vast that the contribution of each writer is infinitesimal.”
From Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley (Penguin Classics, 1998).
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834)
“The universe creates its own observers and admirers, and we only wish to intuit how that happens as far as it allows itself to be intuited.”
Peter Tudebode (Participant in the First Crusade)
Food complaints written in 1097 around Antioch:
“A small loaf of bread cost a bezant of gold, and of the price of wine I shall not speak; there was not even a jug of it… The belly of one goat was worth two solidi; the tail of a ram varied in price from three to nine denari. The tongue of a camel, which is small, brought four solidi.”
Dionysus (from The Frogs by Aristophanes, c. 450-388 BCE)
“Can any of you guys tell me where Pluto happens to dwell? We’re Visiting firemen. Never been here before.”
