Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/CaroRackete/status/1276852825432166401 (27 June 2020)
“But this priviledge, is allayed by another; and that is, by the priviledge of Absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.”
The First Part, Chapter 5, p. 20
Leviathan (1651)
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Thomas Hobbes 97
English philosopher, born 1588 1588–1679Related quotes
“Only man can be absurd: for only man can be dignified.”
"Spiritualism"
All Things Considered (1908)
Context: It is not funny that anything else should fall down; only that a man should fall down. No one sees anything funny in a tree falling down. No one sees a delicate absurdity in a stone falling down. No man stops in the road and roars with laughter at the sight of the snow coming down. The fall of thunderbolts is treated with some gravity. The fall of roofs and high buildings is taken seriously. It is only when a man tumbles down that we laugh. Why do we laugh? Because it is a grave religious matter: it is the Fall of Man. Only man can be absurd: for only man can be dignified.
A Single Eye, All Light, No Darkness; or Light and Darkness One (1650)
Return from the Excursion, Riders on Earth (1978)
Second Thesis
Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View (1784)
Source: The Dark Is Rising (1965-1977), The Grey King (1975), Chapter 6 “Bird Rock” (pp. 71-72)
“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing”
Source: Animal Farm