“The main thing:… not to let myself be defined by history, not to take it as an excuse—despise it in those who hide their personal insignificance behind it—and yet know it, in order to understand people and above all to see through them”

my hatred of history as a refuge for be-nothings
Source: Das Gewicht der Welt [The Weight of the World], p. 11

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Peter Handke9

Austrian writer, playwright and film director 1942

Charles E. Gannon (1960) American novelist

Source: Fire with Fire (2013), Chapter 26 (p. 303)

“I don’t understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.”

Sophia Loren (1934) Italian actress

“The sky hides the night behind it and shelters the people beneath from the horror that lies above.”

Paul Bowles (1910–1999) American composer, writer, translator

“The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death.”

Diogenes of Sinope (-404–-322 BC) ancient Greek philosopher, one of the founders of the Cynic philosophy

Stobaeus, iv. 29a. 19
Quoted by Stobaeus

“The individuals who hide behind excuses, because they don't have the courage to report what they think, they are of one embarrassing existence.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Gli individui che si nascondono dietro scuse, perché non hanno il coraggio di riferire ciò che pensano, sono di una esistenza imbarazzante.
Source: prevale.net

“Phil Hartman [singing]:I hide behind these wigs and this make-up, but tonight, I'm gonna let myself shine through. They're gonna see the real Phil Hartman, TONIGHT!
Steve Martin: I wouldn't do that, Phil.
Phil Hartman: Okay.”

Phil Hartman (1948–1998) Canadian American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist

On Saturday Night Live

“I consider myself to be a true friend of the Israeli people. But I define friendship as someone who takes care of a friend, who just doesn't use or exploit a friend. And, you know, there's that old adage: 'Friends don't let friends drive drunk.”

Scott Ritter (1961) American weapons inspector and writer

Speech at New York Ethical Culture Society, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/21/143259 <br class="br">2006

“We don't yet know, above all, what the world might be like if children were to grow up without being subjected to humiliation, if parents would respect them and take them seriously as people.”

Alice Miller (1923–2010) Swiss psychologist

“The goal of the war [on terrorism] is more than just getting oil and fuel. The United States is intent on taking over the world… It's important we all understand that the main terrorist and the main enemy of the world's people is the U. S. government. Racism has been a weakness of this country from its beginning. Throughout history, all people of color, and all people who don't see eye-to-eye with the U. S. government have been subject to American terror.”

Yuri Kochiyama (1921–2014) American activist

[Diane Carol Fujino, Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama, https://books.google.com/books?id=b1oowDNmgpoC&pg=PA310, 2005, U of Minnesota Press, 978-0-8166-4593-0, 310] ; In response to the United States' actions following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

“If I let myself really understand another person, I might be changed by that understanding. And we all fear change. So as I say, it is not an easy thing to permit oneself to understand an individual”

Carl R. Rogers (1902–1987) American psychologist

Source: On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy

“The main thing:… not to let myself be defined by history, not to take it as an excuse—despise it in those who hide their personal insignificance behind it—and yet know it, in order to understand people and above all to see through them”

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Peter Handke9

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