Games for Actors and non-Actors (1992)
Context: In its most archaic sense, theatre is the capacity possessed by human beings—and not by animals—to observe themselves in action. Humans are capable of seeing themselves in the act of seeing, of thinking their emotions, of being moved by their thoughts. They can see themselves here and imagine themselves there; they can see themselves today and imagine themselves tomorrow. This is why humans are able to identify (themselves and others) and not merely to recognise.
“He was not for that moment a human being, but a frenzied creature possessed by rage, turned into an animal. All that could be seen in him was the urge to hurt, and it was, as it will always be, the most dreadful sight in the world.”
Source: The Dark Is Rising (1965-1977), The Grey King (1975), Chapter 5 “Fire on the Mountain” (p. 55)
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Susan Cooper 23
English fantasy writer 1935Related quotes
Source: Memoirs of a Superfluous Man (1943), p. 314
Context: According to my observations, mankind are among the most easily tamable and domesticable of all creatures in the animal world. They are readily reducible to submission, so readily conditionable (to coin a word) as to exhibit an almost incredibly enduring patience under restraint and oppression of the most flagrant character. So far are they from displaying any overweening love of freedom that they show a singular contentment with a condition of servitorship, often showing a curious canine pride in it, and again often simply unaware that they are existing in that condition.
“The human being is a most curious creature. He thinks he has got one
soul, and he has got dozens.”
Enemies, A Love Story (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1972), p. 257
volume I, chapter VIII: "Religion", page 312 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=330&itemID=F1452.1&viewtype=image
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887)