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| QUOTATIONS 1821-1853 |
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| 1821.Many a plot would have nowhere to go, many a fiction would come to the standstill unless the protagonists occasionally do and say what on the face of it clearly doesn't make much sense. Thus the question arises: is any literary work inherently unrealistic or the reality itself is often nonsensical. 1822. Nothing has as much power to humble a man as his own body. 1823. When God of the ancient Hebrews was asked about his name his answer was: "I am who I am!" Which was, in essence, a refusal to be narrowly defined and to put bounds to the infinite by any finite explication. And since man has been created in God's image he is also infinite in his attributes despite being infinitely small in comparison to God. Therefore a man should rebuff any attempts by others to pigeon-holed him, i.e. to define him by his ethnicity, his profession, his appearance, his gender, his tastes, his place of dwelling, etc., etc. Any man is more complex than any set of attributes applicable to him, no matter how varied, numerous and accurate they are. That is why the task of "knowing thyself" is so difficult, while the attempt to "know the other" is doomed from the beginning to failure. 1824. Autocracy or oligarchy at the top have always mob as their natural counterpart at the bottom. Not conditioned or accustomed, having no experience or habit, possessing no skills or capacities to act in the organized orderly democratic fashion the masses in the times of political crises, when the rulers are too week to oppress and control them, could only express themselves as a disorderly and disorganized mob. 1825. Only the outsiders and bystanders have a luxury to indulge into universals. The insiders, the participants have no choice but to get down to the particulars. 1826. While all emigrations lead to the greater or lesser reduction in social status, for a person who was somebody in his own country coming as an immigrant to Canada, a huge and sparsely populated, and due to the extremely harsh cold climate largely uninhabitable land, is like being hurled to a new circle of Dante's Hell reserved specifically for the immigrants – the circle of complete and utter insignificance, in which everyone who was "somebody" in the past reduced to the state of "nobody." And the only sin this person must commit to deserve this fate is to become an immigrant. That's why this country, no matter how peaceful and comfortable it is, is full of frustrated and embittered people. A man does not live by free medical care alone, but... 1827. Before "re-writing history," which in the days before the invention of printing press was done quite literally by erasing the old text from a parchment and replacing it with a new one, in the even more ancient times the prevailing method was that of "re-chiseling history", i.e. removing by chisel the old inscriptions from obelisk and monuments and either replacing them with the new ones or simply leaving the space empty. 1828. For any creation of man's hands or mind to have a value there must be at least one another human being capable of receiving and appreciating it. No matter how deep and brilliant my thoughts are, unless I write them down and someone read it, unless I say it and someone hear it, they have no value, no significance, they are nothing if there is nobody to share it with. A book doesn't exist without a reader, a song doesn't exist without a listener, a picture doesn't exist without a viewer. After God created the heavens and the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, the fishes, the birds and the animals He had to make Man, who can see, and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch, to give the reality and meaning to the rest of His creation. 1829. People who complain about wastefulness of their governments just have to look at the ancient Egypt to realize that it is possible to indulge in the most useless and the most extravagant works, like building gigantic pyramids, temples, monuments, tombs, etc., etc., for 3000 years and still have the most stable continuous society and state in all the recorded human history. 1830. As we grow older the time to do all those things we kept postponing for tomorrow is getting shorter and shorter and thus becoming more and more valuable. For the time of one's life, being limited, obeys not the law of diminishing returns but rather that of scarcity – the shorter the supply the greater the value. Accordingly, as far as their worth are concerned, the years of our youth could be compared to cooper, the middle age to silver and that of the old age – to gold. Also, as their life draws to a close, some men may begin to feel like a chess player who after spending 90% of the allotted time on 50% of the moves feels compelled to speed up his game and tries to cram another 50% into 10% of remaining time. Of course the success rate of most of such attempts is dismal and the outcome is often catastrophic. There is a time for everything under the sun... 1831. When it comes to the things that we feel affects us personally everyone is dealing in half-truth. To do otherwise would simply be superhuman. 1832. I never asked the others to do anything for me. All I ever hoped for was for them not to do anything to me. But , unfortunately, for many people the second is much harder to do than the first. 1833. No matter how many Jews think I am not sufficiently "jewish" there are always enough anti-Semites who are quite eager to help me restore the faltering sense of my tribal identification. 1834. In the Middle Ages the Muslims used to call the Jews "people of the Book" (meaning the Bible). I would like to suggest another, perhaps more appropriate contemporary moniker – the product of historical transformation of the ghetto dwellers, easily identifiable by their religion and appearance (facial hair, dress, etc.) into indistinguishable members of the modern homogeneous society who have an option of self-identification ("outings" by the zealous anti-Semites notwithstanding.) And so, I propose to call today's Jews "a people of the Pause." For in my experience no one but a Jew when asked about his ethnicity pauses before uttering this crucial phrase "I am Jewish." Without the slightest hesitation a Russian would say "I am Russian," a French – "I am French," an Italian – "I am Italian," etc., etc. Only the Jews, among the all nations on this Earth, have to overcome (which takes time) the fear of being exposed as Jews and thus to become instantly the target of persecution. 1835. Even a successful TV commercial (the unsuccessful ones disappear quickly from the screens without a trace) has a limited life-span as it goes trough four stages according to viewers reaction: 1) It's amusing; 2) It's familiar; 3)It's annoying; 4) It's unbearable So, the skills of an advertiser is not only how to create a successful TV commercial but also to know when to pull it of the screen before it becomes caricature of itself. 1836. Science may explain, with sufficient degree of precision, how Universe works, but it cannot answer a question like: "Why there is such thing as Universe?" Also, science may describe fairly accurately the functions of human body and mind but it would never be able to answer the questions like: "What is the meaning of human existence? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life and death?" Religion, on the other hand, though clearly incapable of explaining the mechanics of existence, promises, nevertheless, to answer all these fundamental question of meaning and purpose. But, in truth, it is becoming more and more obvious that religion is even less capable of giving the coherent answers to them than science. So, why do so many people continue to believe that it does? I, personally, suspect that they aren't really interested in these answers, that this ostensible desire to know them is no more than curiosity, the occasional thoughts crossing our minds when things go badly. Otherwise, these questions are not central to their daily existence, not so fundamental that they wouldn't be able to go on living unless they found the right answers to them. What people apparently need is Religion itself, not the fundamental answers it promises to provide. And it seems to suit both sides just fine. It is as if Religion and the Religious have reached some kind of tacit mutual understanding – the first keeps on making promises it cannot deliver on, and the second continue to act as if they believe in them, though deep in their hearts they know they couldn't be fulfilled either. 1837. For the majority appreciation of belle art never extends beyond buying, displaying, and contemplating it. Some become, at least in their own minds, very good at it and, consequently, think of themselves as a breed apart – the connoisseurs. And then there are precious few who actually create it – the true artists. 1838. I, personally, find a virtue of consistency to be highly exaggerated. Besides, it is quite common as well – there are plenty of people who repeat, whether in speech or deeds, the same thing again and again. They are consistent, aren't they? But they are also unimaginative, lack creativity and very boring. 1839. Ours are the times when the poorly informed write books which are bought and read by the even more ignorant, who believe that by reading these book they'll acquire hidden hitherto knowledge and thus be elevated above those unfortunate who, by nor reading these books, forfeited the opportunity to enlighten themselves. Ours are the times when those who know couldn't make anyone hear them out, and those who could make everyone listen to them don't know. 1840. The difference between a quintessentially European intellectual and his North American counterpart is most vividly revealed in their different conversational styles. The first are given to the constant improvisation on the main theme, occasional digressions and tendency to widen the circle of related subjects pertinent to the central one. The second is usually strongly committed to the original proposition on which he already has a clear and mostly unalterable opinion and is very reluctant to venture from such firm grounds lest stepping accidentally into quagmire of uncertainty without any visible means of extricating himself from it. As a result an European intellectual finds his North American interlocutor rigid and narrow while a North American sees the European proclivity for free ranging intellectual improvisation as confusing and unfocused. Needless to say they too often have difficulty talking to each other. 1841. It is not your capacity and willingness to help, but your urge and desire to hurt. It is not the extent of your kindness, but the intensity of your hatred. Both sheep and wolves are kind to their own, but only wolves kill sheep, sheep do not kill wolves. Both Jews and Gentiles are capable of charity, but only Gentiles are also capable of hatred, cruelty and murder. It isn't the good you can do, but the evil you are able and willing to inflict. 1842. No matter how universal an idea is its implementation (on those rare occasions when such an ambitious undertaking is attempted) must inevitably proceed through the chain of steps every one of which is strictly and invariably particular. 1843. The apprehension of the just retribution is so strongly ingrained in human psyche that no matter how powerless and defenseless are the people we treated unjustly, deep down in our hearts we're always afraid of them, and that sooner or later the pay back day will come. That's why every tyrant who kills the innocent lives in a state of paranoid fear of being assassinated, which makes him kill more and more. In the same manner the more Christians persecuted Jews without any justification the more they were afraid of them. This fear found its most popular expression in the paranoid Christian fable of the world Jewish domination, which led to more and more persecutions of the Jews by the Christians. When in the 13th century the Mongol overrun Russia and part of Eastern Europe and threatened the heart of western Christendom the Christians firmly believed that the Jews must have been behind it using the Mongol to avenge the injustice done to them by Christians. The same explanation was put forward when the Muslims/Arabs overpowered part of Europe and showed the clear intentions to continue their victorious conquest– the Jews must have been behind it manipulating the Muslims to do to the Christians what the Christians previously done to the Jews. And even in the modern, supposedly enlightened age, the Communist threat to Europe was thought by many Christians as being driven by the Jews who now were equated with Communist. In their early stages of mass murder on the just occupied territories of Soviet Union the Nazis killed both Jews and Communist clearly seeing them as one and the same. Thus history continues to repeat itself with the new players acting the same ancient script. 1844. I f we accept a view that the system of laws of a country represents the organic outgrowth of its social, political and economic history then, since it is clear that no two countries can have exactly the same history, it follows that there is always a greater or lesser degree of incommensurability between the systems of laws of the different countries. Consequently, the same case would be tried somewhat differently in these two separate jurisdictions with a greater or lesser difference of its outcome. 1845. If there is such a thing as love from the first sight (and not even those who never experienced it would deny this) then, by analogy, one can use the same expression to describe the excitement, pleasure and admiration one may experience by reading a great book the first time. Continuing to peruse the same analogy between the first impression produced by a person or a book, one's love may grow stronger by getting to know this person more and more as one may discover the new and exciting aspects of the book every time one re-reads it. On the other hand it must be also true (though perhaps not as self-evident) that if the initial overwhelmingly favorable impression did not occur, learning more and more about intrinsic qualities of either a person or a book may make us appreciate it better, we still would never love it, for there is an unbridgeable gap between appreciation and love. Confining ourselves now to books, a good teacher of literature may make a diligent student to understand quite a lot about a "difficult book" (like Joyce's Ulysses, for example) but he could never make him "love it" – there is a great deal of difference between stumbling accidentally over a nugget and laboriously processing tons of rock to get the same amount of gold. Moreover this process of a book's analysis may, in a long run, be actually harmful to the future reading habits of such an attentive student by preventing him from developing his own esthetic criteria as a direct result of over reliance on authority te tell him what is good or bad. In the worse case scenario one may actually develop an aversion to reading altogether. For, after all, ordinary people (unlike teachers) read books not to analyze but to enjoy them. And no one could be taught to experience pleasure as no one could be taught to love – both feelings have to come from within. 1846. What's wrong with me? An elderly couple stops me at the intersection of Yonge and Gerrard (in Toronto). The man asks how to get to the Bloor St. I ask him if he is a good walker. He says "yes." Then I show him which way to go and tell him it'll take about 30min. He shows me a business card which has a name "Greek Consulate" and an address 365 Bloor st. E. printed on it. He tells me that they have to go there to get their visas. The man speaks with a heavy accent, his wife doesn't say a word. I assume they must be visitors from Greece. I tell him that when they reach Bloor st. they should turn to the right and walk toward Sherbourne st. until they get to 365 Bloor st.E. I also tell him that it'll take another 15 min. Then he says that his wife is not well and cannot walk that far. He asks me if there is a bus to take them there. I say that the only public transportation to get where they're going is Subway. I ask them if they ever used Subway in Toronto. The man says "no," they just came by bus from St. Catherine to get their visas at the Greek Consulate. In that case, I say, I'll take them to Subway myself so that they wouldn't have to ask somebody again for direction s. So, I walk to College station and they slow follow me. I bring them to Subway entrance and draw and write on a piece of paper all the necessary instructions how to get to 365 Bloor. St. E. They thank me and I leave. So far so good. But then, as I walk home I'm beginning to think: they've never been on Toronto Subway before; they'll probably get lost there; perhaps I should have taken subway with them and bring them to where they're going myself. Then I think: may be I should have advised them to take a cab – the price difference is no more than $2-$3 but they would have been spared the confusion. And as I continue walking home I juggle in my mind all these lost possibilities and feel guilty of not suggesting them in time. This is definitely not good. It may be even pathological. What's wrong with me? 1847. There is a great fear of the extremes in all of us, of going over the edge to the place of no return, of falling over the precipice. Hence, a need for equilibrium, the balancing act of the down-to-earth practicality on the one hand and the most extravagant faith and fantasies on the other – the seemingly incongruous hybrid of spirituality and materialism, worshiping God and Mammon with equal fervor and not willing to forsake one in favor of another, for in each direction lies an abyss. For there is a constant tug of war in each of us between instinct of self-preservation and the powerful urge to go "all the way" in the opposite direction simultaneously. 1848. I wake up because in my dream there is no one I can talk to. 1849.I don't know why but whenever I hear a famous, successful person, be it a writer, an actor, a politician, etc., being interviewed on the radio or TV, I somehow got a feeling that they are not quite truthful about their personal live or completely sincere about their social and political views, that this is but a performance regardless of intentionality. 1850. The monotheistic, one and only, nameless God is the direct product of desert, of its emptiness, desolation and utter nothingness. It is hard to imagine such god in the profusion and seemingly infinite variety of forests, mountains, rivers and lakes teeming with hundreds of different species of birds and animals. This overwhelming multiplicity of the diverse forms of Nature evokes inevitably the multiplicity of gods responsible for its various parts. 1851. A diaspora jew who, while having no real intention to settle in Israel, yet claims to be a zionist could be compared to a man who, having spent his life lying on a beach, claims nevertheless to be an avid mountaineer. 1852. The two world's longest uninterrupted civilizations, China and India, must own such an unusual continuity to the unique qualities of their populations. For both Chinese and Indians for the last 4000 years have essentially refused to assimilate most of the foreign cultural influences or to fully assimilate, after immigration, into the cultures of the host countries. 1853. The difference between me and numerous others, including many of my friends and not a few of my relatives, who like I wasted their lives is that I also wrote about it. How big is this difference? It depends on how many will read what I've written and what impact if any it would have on those who did. |
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