
Page 17
Other writings, The Growth of the Law (1924)
Source: In Defence Of Politics (Second Edition) – 1981, Chapter 5, A Defence Of Politics Against Technology, p. 92.
Page 17
Other writings, The Growth of the Law (1924)
“There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.”
Source: God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer
“I do not desire to give myself any fresh political label.”
Letter to Herbert Bryan (19 May 1916).
Context: I do not desire to give myself any fresh political label. Though the formation of the Union of Democratic Control it has been possible for me to work in close co-operation with several of your leaders and this joint effort on the part of the Labour members and radicals is having I think a very beneficial effect. I do not desire to alienate myself from any of my former political associates but rather to endeavour to urge them along the same path which I myself am treading.
Speech at Stockport (8 June 1973), from Simon Heffer, Like the Roman. The Life of Enoch Powell (Phoenix, 1999), p. 669.
Retirement ceremony, Friday, 23 July 2010, as quoted in The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/us/24mcchrystal.html.
2010
Context: Service in this business is tough and often dangerous. It extracts a price for participants, and that price can be high. It is tempting to protect yourself from the personal and professional cost of loss by limiting how much you commit, how much you believe and trust in people, and how deeply you care… If I had it to do over again, I’ d do some things in my career differently, but not many. I believed in people and I still believe in them. I trusted and I still trust. I cared and I still care. I wouldn’ t have had it any other way.
“There is a human tendency to desire and even artificially create a sense of certainty.”
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), Chapter IV, Section 36, p. 226
“The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy.”
Introduction to Absurd Drama (1965)
Context: The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation.
Source: In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action, (2013), p. 227