Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“But Lord! to see the absurd nature of Englishmen, that cannot forbear laughing and jeering at every thing that looks strange.”
November 27, 1662
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Samuel Pepys16
English naval administrator and member of parliament 1633–1703Related quotes
G. K. Chesterton book The Napoleon of Notting Hill
The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904)
The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904)
Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic
Address upon receiving the Open Society Prize awarded by Central European University (24 June 1999) http://old.hrad.cz/president/Havel/speeches/1999/2406_uk.html<br>Variant translation: There are no exact directions. There are probably no directions at all. The only things that I am able to recommend at this moment are: a sense of humour; an ability to see the ridiculous and the absurd dimensions of things; an ability to laugh about others as well as about ourselves; a sense of irony; and, of everything that invites parody in this world. In other words: rising above things, or looking at them from a distance; sensibility to the hidden presence of all the more dangerous types of conceit in others, as well as in ourselves; good cheer; an unostentatious certainty of the meaning of things; gratitude for the gift of life and courage to assume responsibility for it; and, a vigilant mind.<br>Those who have not lost the ability to recognize that which is laughable in themselves, or their own nothingness, are not arrogant, nor are they enemies of an Open Society. Its enemy is a person with a fiercely serious countenance and burning eyes. <br class="br">Context: There are no exact guidelines. There are probably no guidelines at all. The only thing I can recommend at this stage is a sense of humor, an ability to see things in their ridiculous and absurd dimensions, to laugh at others and at ourselves, a sense of irony regarding everything that calls out for parody in this world. In other words, I can only recommend perspective and distance. Awareness of all the most dangerous kinds of vanity, both in others and in ourselves. A good mind. A modest certainty about the meaning of things. Gratitude for the gift of life and the courage to take responsibility for it. Vigilance of spirit.
Virginia Woolf book Jacob's Room
Source: Jacob's Room (1922), Ch. 8
Context: The strange thing about life is that though the nature of it must have been apparent to every one for hundreds of years, no one has left any adequate account of it. The streets of London have their map; but our passions are uncharted. What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?
Clive Staples Lewis book Mere Christianity
Book III, Chapter 8, "The Great Sin" http://books.google.com/books?id=OF-YSMKCVwMC&q=%22A+proud+man+is+always+looking+down+on+things+and+people+and+of+course+as+long+as+you+are+looking+down+you+cannot+see+something+that+is+above+you%22&pg=PA124#v=onepage <br class="br">Mere Christianity (1952)
Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768) German philosopher
Source: Fragments from Reimarus: Consisting of Brief Critical Remarks on the Object of Jesus and His Disciples as Seen in the New Testament, p. 7
Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher
You Cannot Get Away From Evil
Autobiography of Swami Sivananda (1958)