
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
20 August 1833
Table Talk (1821–1834)
Context: At the very least, the ill-advised rush to "peace" is a likely candidate for the historical annals of self-destructive appeasement. The great sacrifices made by Americans in the Korean War, the legacy of the close US-South Korea relationship over the past 60 years, and future US strategic interests in and around the Korean Peninsula should not be sacrificed at the altar of diplomatic peace. Real peace is won by resolve and sacrifice, while ephemeral peace is all too often concocted only by vowels and consonants. (talking about a potential peace treaty between North Korea and the U. S., to replace the decades-long armistice signed in 1953)
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
20 August 1833
Table Talk (1821–1834)
“Etymology is a science in which vowels signify nothing at all, and consonants very little.”
Quote attributed by Max Müller (1823–1900), Lectures on the Science of Language (2003), Kessinger Publishing, p. 238
Attributed
Priests are “first and foremost bridge builders”: Nigerian-born Permanent Observer to UN https://www.aciafrica.org/news/5470/priests-are-first-and-foremost-bridge-builders-nigerian-born-permanent-observer-to-un (18 March 2022)
Addressing facutly and guests at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), as part of a program by the National Resource Center for Value Education. New Delhi. (November 7, 2004)
2000s
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part II: Ancient Greeks and Worse, Hannibal
Address to the United Nations (1963)
Context: Conflicts between nations will continue to arise. The real issue is whether they are to be resolved by force, or by resort to peaceful methods and procedures, administered by impartial institutions. This very Organization itself is the greatest such institution, and it is in a more powerful United Nations that we seek, and it is here that we shall find, the assurance of a peaceful future.
Mount Madonna Messenger, March 26, 2016