“They say somebody has invented you
but to me this does not sound convincing
for humans invented themselves as well.”
"On Angels"
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Czeslaw Milosz 106
Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator 1911–2004Related quotes
Source: Inventing the Future (1963), p. 161
“War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice.”
Who Speaks for Man? (1953), p. 318.
Richter II p. 126 no. 837 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=A7dUhbBfmzMC&pg=PA126
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), I Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting
“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense… human rights invented America.”
Presidency (1977–1981), Farewell Address (1981)
Context: America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.
Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea.
Context: I have just been talking about forces of potential destruction that mankind has developed, and how we might control them. It is equally important that we remember the beneficial forces that we have evolved over the ages, and how to hold fast to them.
One of those constructive forces is enhancement of individual human freedoms through the strengthening of democracy, and the fight against deprivation, torture, terrorism and the persecution of people throughout the world. The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language.
Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity, and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.
I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights — at home and abroad. That is both our history and our destiny.
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.
Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea. Our social and political progress has been based on one fundamental principle — the value and importance of the individual. The fundamental force that unites us is not kinship or place of origin or religious preference. The love of liberty is a common blood that flows in our American veins.
Politics of the Very Worst, New York: Semiotext(e), 1999, p. 89
State of the Art (2000)
Statement (8 June 1990), as quoted in The Economics of the Environment and Natural Resources (2004) by R. Quentin Grafton, p. 277
As quoted in The Guardian [London] (21 June 1990)
1990s
Variant: The market came with the dawn of civilization and it is not an invention of capitalism. … If it leads to improving the well-being of the people there is no contradiction with socialism.
“If it is not true it is very well invented.”
[bentrovato] Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato.
De gli heroici furori (1585) [The Heroic Furies; also translated as On Heroic Frenzies], as quoted in A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words (1907) edited by Sir William Gurney Benham
Variant translations:
If it is not true, it is well conceived.
If it is not true, it is a good story.