Introduction
Philosophy and Living (1939)
Context: My childhood, which lasted some twenty-five years, was moulded chiefly by the Suez Canal, Abbotsholme, and Balliol. Since those days I have attempted several careers, in each case escaping before the otherwise inevitable disaster. First, as a schoolmaster, I swotted up Bible stories on the eve of the scripture lesson. Then, in a Liverpool shipping office, I spoiled bills of lading, and in Port Said I innocently let skippers have more coal than they needed. Next I determined to create an Educated Democracy. Workington miners, Barrow riveters, Crewe railway-men, gave me a better education than I could give them. Since then two experiences have dominated me: philosophy, and the tragic disorder of our whole terrestrial hive. After a belated attack on academic philosophy, I wrote a couple of books on philosophical subjects and several works of fantastic fiction dealing with the career of mankind. One of them, Last and First Men, is in this series.
“Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.”
The Battle of the Books, preface (1704)
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Jonathan Swift 141
Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet 1667–1745Related quotes
Part II : Practical Pictorial Photography, Some practical suggestions on the selection of the subject and a note on the subject of motive
“When we are walking our chosen path, we walk elegantly, emanating light.”
Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About Elegance
2009, Statement: on the latest conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi
“Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.”
No. 1 (1 March 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“208. The honey is sweet, but the bee stings.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)