
“One doesn’t have to understand in order to look. One has to look, in order to understand.”
The Observer (p. 112)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)
“One doesn’t have to understand in order to look. One has to look, in order to understand.”
The Observer (p. 112)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)
“In order to understand, I destroyed myself.”
A Factless Autobiography, Richard Zenith Edition, Lisbon, 2006, p. 73
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Para compreender, destruí-me.
By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: You have to take risks … We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun — and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist — that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists — a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.
“Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself.”
Deeper Thoughts: All New, All Crispy (1993)
Context: Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
“Not taking risks one doesn't understand is often the best form of risk management.”
From his book: Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (2010) https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Fault_Lines.html?id=2RB3j_YfEg0C
On finira sans doute plus vite par comprendre que les anarchistes ont raison lorsqu'ils disent que pour avoir la tranquillité morale et physique, il faut détruire les causes qui engendrent les crimes et les criminels : ce n'est pas en supprimant celui qui, plutôt que de mourir d'une mort lente par suite de privation qu'il a eues et aurait à supporter, sans espoir de les voir finir, préfère, s'il a un peu d'énergie, prendre violemment ce qui peut lui assurer le bien-être, même au risque de sa mort qui ne peut être qu'un terme à ses souffrances.
Trial statement
Statement of the Primates of the Anglican Communion at Dromantine, February 2005
Associated quotations
“One of the risks of appearing in public is the likelihood of being photographed.”