“We naturally try to forget our personal tragedies, serious or trifling, as soon as possible (even something as petty as being scorned or disdained by a stranger on a street corner). We try not to carry these things over to tomorrow. It is not strange, therefore, that the whole human race is trying to put Hiroshima, the extreme point of human tragedy, completely out of mind.”

—  Kenzaburō Ōe , book A Personal Matter

A Personal Matter (1964)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 2, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We naturally try to forget our personal tragedies, serious or trifling, as soon as possible (even something as petty as…" by Kenzaburō Ōe?
Kenzaburō Ōe photo
Kenzaburō Ōe 43
Japanese author 1935

Related quotes

Morihei Ueshiba photo

“In Aikido, however, we try to completely avoid killing, even the most evil person.”

Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido

The Art of Peace (1992)
Context: In order to establish heaven on earth, we need a Budo that is pure in spirit, that is devoid of hatred and greed. It must follow natural principles and harmonize the material with the spiritual. Aikido means not to kill. Although nearly all creeds have a commandment against taking life, most of them justify killing for reason or another. In Aikido, however, we try to completely avoid killing, even the most evil person.

Flannery O’Connor photo

“Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

“I'm tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, they simply don't want to change!”

August Dvorak (1894–1975) American scientist

Discovery Magazine, 1997 http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/thecurseofqwerty1099/

“We are not strangers to ourselves, we only try to be.”

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas

Source: Odd Thomas

Mark Heard photo

“Sometimes it seems Christians confuse their human nature with their sinful nature. The former we were created with, the latter we chose. It does us no good to try and escape our humanness and in so doing think we are escaping our sin. -Fingerprint.”

Mark Heard (1951–1992) American musician and record producer

Liner Notes

Saul Bellow photo

“When we read the best nineteenth- and twentieth-century novelists, we soon realize that they are trying in a variety of ways to establish a definition of human nature, to justify the continuation of life as well as the writing of novels.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

"The Sealed Treasure" (1960), p. 60
It All Adds Up (1994)

“The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape our history.”

Stephen Jay Gould book Eight Little Piggies

Source: Eight Little Piggies (1993) "Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness", p. 282

Gene Roddenberry photo

“Star Trek speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow — it's not all going to be over with a big flash and a bomb; that the human race is improving; that we have things to be proud of as humans.”

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) American television screenwriter and producer

Interview (20 September 1988), included in Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, DVD 7, "Mission Logs: Year Five", "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry", 0:26:09)
Context: Star Trek speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow — it's not all going to be over with a big flash and a bomb; that the human race is improving; that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids — human beings built them, because they're clever and they work hard. And Star Trek is about those things.

Charles Stross photo

“But if we run away, we are still going to be there. Sooner or later, we’ll have the same problem all over again; runaway intelligence augmentation, self-expression, engineered intelligences, whatever. Possibly that’s what happened out past the Böotes void—not a galactic-scale civilization, but a race of pathological cowards fleeing their own exponential transcendence. We carry the seeds of a singularity with us wherever we go, and if we try to excise those seeds, we cease to be human, don’t we?”

Charles Stross book Accelerando

Source: Accelerando (2005), Chapter 8 (“Elector”), p. 356

Helen Keller photo

“Trying to write is very much like trying to put a Chinese puzzle together. We have a pattern in mind which we wish to work out in words; but the words will not fit the spaces, or, if they do, they will not match the design.”

Helen Keller book The Story of My Life

Source: The Story of My Life

Related topics