Dan Simmons book The Fall of Hyperion
Source: The Fall of Hyperion (1990), Chapter 11 (p. 91)
Source: The Rosy Crucifixion II: Plexus (1953), p. 61
Dan Simmons book The Fall of Hyperion
Source: The Fall of Hyperion (1990), Chapter 11 (p. 91)
Bryan Magee (1930–2019) British politician
Source: Confessions of a Philosopher (1997), p. 232
Context: The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the world, not interest in the writings of philosophers. Each of us emerges from the preconsciousness of babyhood and simply finds himself here, in it, in the world. That experience alone astonishes some people. What is all this — what is the world? And what are we? From the beginning of humanity some have been under a compulsion to ask these questions, and have felt a craving for the answers. This is what is really meant by any such phrase as "mankind's need for metaphysics."
Elaine Dundy (1921–2008) American journalist, actress
Source: The Dud Avocado
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
1990s, Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Context: It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.
When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.
“Show me a character whose life arouses my curiosity, and my flesh begins crawling with suspense.”
Fawn M. Brodie (1915–1981) American historian and biographer
Los Angeles Times Home Magazine (Feb. 20, 1977)
Samuel R. Delany book Neveryóna
Source: Neveryóna (1983), Chapter 3, “Of Markets, Maps, Cellars, and Cisterns” (p. 65)
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
I Remember Creatore (1948).
Context: My curiosity was in no way cruel. Deviations from the commonplace attracted me strongly, as they still do; and to me the hermaphrodite and the living skeleton were interesting for the same reason as was Creatore, or the resplendent Guardsmen of the bands — because such people did not often come my way, and I hoped that they might impart some great revelation to me, some insight which would help me to a clearer understanding of the world about me.
“Forward movement is not helpful if what is needed is a change of direction.”
David Fleming (1940–2010) British activist
Lean Logic, (2016), p. 216, entry on Ingenuity Gap http://www.flemingpolicycentre.org.uk/lean-logic-surviving-the-future/