Source: The Sirens of Titan (1959), Chapter 1 “Between Timid and Timbuktu” (p. 7)
“Trivia and pettiness consume mankind, surely the most pretentious creation of all.”
As quoted by Jean Rafferty in "My friend Ian Brady" http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crime-courts/my-friend-ian-brady.18076533, Scotland Herald (8 July 2012)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "Trivia and pettiness consume mankind, surely the most pretentious creation of all." by Ian Brady?
Ian Brady 8
British serial killer, perpetrator of the Moors murders 1938–2017Related quotes
George W. Bush
(1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2003, Columbia space shuttle disaster (February 2003)
Matthew Fox (priest)
(1940) priest and theologian
The Reinvention of Work (New York: Harper, 1994), p. 128.
“Surely mankind has yet to be born. Surely this is true!”
Part II : Old Times Past : Voices, Dreams, Recollections
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967)
Context: “Surely mankind has yet to be born. Surely this is true! For only something blind and uncomprehending could exist in such a mean conjunction with its own flesh, its own kind. How else account for such faltering, clumsy, hateful cruelty? Even the possums and the skunks know better! Even the weasels and the meadow mice have a natural regard for their own blood and kin. Only the insects are low enough to do the low things that people do — like those ants that swarm on poplars in the summertime, greedily husbanding little green aphids for the honeydew they secrete. Yes, it could be that mankind has yet to be born. Ah, what bitter tears God must weep at the sight of the things that men do to other men!” He broke off then and I saw him shake his head convulsively, his voice a sudden cry: “In the name of money! Money! ”
“Of all the schools of patience and lucidity, creation is the most effective.”
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Absurd Creation
Context: Of all the schools of patience and lucidity, creation is the most effective. It is also the staggering evidence of man's sole dignity: the dogged revolt against his condition, perseverance in an effort considered sterile. It calls for a daily effort, self-mastery, a precise estimate of the limits of truth, measure, and strength. It constitutes an ascesis. All that "for nothing," in order to repeat and mark time. But perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than in the ordeal it demands of a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality.
Peter Akinola
(1944) Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria
Reported in the East African Standard January 2004, now only available online here http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/000985.html.
Fred Phelps
(1929–2014) American pastor and activist
2000s, Fag-Lover Obama (2009)
Context: This jackass of a president ought to proclaim pride month for decency, abstinence and chastity, not for the most abominable sins known to mankind — in the estimation of God Almighty, that is. Obama will bring down the curses of God upon the whole creation. Remember, you ignorant Americans, you Obama-worshippers around the world, we warned you. He raises a false argument ordering that nobody discriminate against fags. Listen up, you Bible-ignorant moron! It is neither wrongful nor sinful to discriminate against sin!