"The basis of optimism is sheer terror."
--Oscar Wilde
I for one find most sources for quotes as insipid purveyors of Chicken-Soup-for-the-Soulish nonsense. Since I am both a realist and a pessimist I abhor such quotes. Besides, most good artists realize how empty and utterly absurd life is. Therefore, I decided to start this weekly mailing list to attack these ridiculous feel-good quote lists. The Symbolists, Existentialists, Shakespeare, the Victorians, and other great artists who I frequently read will probably be the people of choice for my quotes. If you have the same bleak mindset that I have, then you will no doubt love the list. Even if you don't, what can it hurt to read the words of some of the greatest thinkers of the world? Either way, it can only serve to expand your horizons and minds. All subscribers are welcome and the more the merrier, so please, sign up below. The current week's quote is also listed below.
Stephen
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This Week's Quote
April 10, 2000--Quote #22
"You gentlemen who think you have a mission
To purge us of the seven deadly sins
Should first sort out the basic food position
Then start preaching: that's where it begins.
You lot, who preach restraint and watch your waist as well
Should learn for all time how the world is run:
However much you twist, whatever lies you tell
Food is the first thing. Morals follow on.
So first make sure that those who are now starving
Get proper helpings when we do the carving.
What keeps mankind alive? The fact that millions
Are daily tortured, stifled, punished, silenced, oppressed.
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
In keeping its humanity repressed.
For once you must not try to shirk the facts:
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts."
--Bertolt Brecht
"Three-Penny Opera"
1928 |