“To be men not destroyers”
Notes for CXVII et seq
Drafts and Fragments of Cantos CX-CXVII
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Ezra Pound 68
American Imagist poet and critic 1885–1972Related quotes

“I am Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds.”
The Absinthe Donuts Story http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/entries/date/the_absinthe_donuts_story.phtml#280,
The Tucker Max Stories

“I am Time, the great destroyer of the world”
Bhagavad Gita 11.32
Sources, Veda Vyasa Maharshi

"The True Modernism"
Foundations of World Unity
Context: From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a re-formation. The laws of former governments and civilizations are in process of revision, scientific ideas and theories are developing and advancing to meet a new range of phenomena, invention and discovery are penetrating hitherto unknown fields revealing new wonders and hidden secrets of the material universe; industries have vastly wider scope and production; everywhere the world of mankind is in the throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of the old conditions and advent of the new age of re-formation. Old trees yield no fruitage; old ideas and methods are obsolete and worthless now. Old standards of ethics, moral codes and methods of living in the past will not suffice for the present age of advancement and progress.
This is the cycle of maturity and re-formation in religion as well. Dogmatic imitations of ancestral beliefs are passing. They have been the axis around which religion revolved but now are no longer fruitful; on the contrary, in this day they have become the cause of human degradation and hindrance. Bigotry and dogmatic adherence to ancient beliefs have become the central and fundamental source of animosity among men, the obstacle to human progress, the cause of warfare and strife, the destroyer of peace, composure and welfare in the world.

“The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions.”
Source: Between the World and Me (2015), p. 9.
Context: Resent the people trying to entrap your body and it can be destroyed.... The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions. And destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings, and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. And all of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible.

“If, Mahāmati, meat is not eaten by anybody for any reason, there will be no destroyer of life.”
Mahayana, Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Chapter Eight. On Meat-eating

“The grand destroyer of the world, and the greatest threat … is represented by U. S. imperialism.”
Hugo Chávez during his television/radio show ¡Aló Presidente! on August 21, 2005. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9032793/
2005