
“He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.”
Prologue
Wallenstein (1798), Prologue - Wallensteins Lager (Wallenstein's Camp)
“He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.”
Prologue
Wallenstein (1798), Prologue - Wallensteins Lager (Wallenstein's Camp)
“The State has its root in time, and will ripe and rot in time.”
Letter to Georg Brandes (17 February 1871), as translated in Henrik Ibsen : Björnstjerne Björnson. Critical Studies (1899) by Georg Morris Cohen Brandes
Variant translation: The quality of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands still in the midst of the struggle and says: "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is a characteristic of the so-called state; and it is worthless.
As translated in Ibsen : The Man, His Art & His Significance (1907) by Haldane Macfall, p. 238
Variant translation: Neither moral concepts nor art forms can expect to live forever. How much are we obliged to hold on to? Who can guarantee that 2 plus 2 don't add up to 5 on Jupiter?
Context: He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead. One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands still in the midst of the struggle and says, "I have it," merely shows by so doing that he has just lost it. Now this very contentedness in the possession of a dead liberty is characteristic of the so-called State, and, as I have said, it is not a good characteristic. No doubt the franchise, self-taxation, etc., are benefits — but to whom? To the citizen, not to the individual. Now, reason does not imperatively demand that the individual should be a citizen. Far from it. The State is the curse of the individual. With what is Prussia's political strength bought? With the absorption of the individual in the political and geographical idea. The waiter is the best soldier. And on the other hand, take the Jewish people, the aristocracy of the human race — how is it they have kept their place apart, their poetical halo, amid surroundings of coarse cruelty? By having no State to burden them. Had they remained in Palestine, they would long ago have lost their individuality in the process of their State's construction, like all other nations. Away with the State! I will take part in that revolution. Undermine the whole conception of a State, declare free choice and spiritual kinship to be the only all-important conditions of any union, and you will have the commencement of a liberty that is worth something. Changes in forms of government are pettifogging affairs — a degree less or a degree more, mere foolishness. The State has its root in time, and will ripe and rot in time. Greater things than it will fall — religion, for example. Neither moral conceptions nor art-forms have an eternity before them. How much are we really in duty bound to pin our faith to? Who will guarantee me that on Jupiter two and two do not make five?
1990s, Inaugural celebration address (1994)
As quoted in "Farrakhan in Speech: 'My Time Is Up' " by Jeff Karoub http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2903211 ABC News (26 February 2007)
“We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.”
On the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, quoted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in It's Been Real: Scenes from the Capitol in the final showdown over health care reform. http://www.slate.com/id/2248375/ by Christopher Beam, Monday, March 22, 2010, Slate
“Wasting time has an esthetics to it.”
Ibid.
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Perder tempo comporta uma estética
As quoted in "First African American Senator" http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/First_African_American_Senator.htm, United States Senate
“What time has ever been a simple time for those who are living it?”
Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
“The time for a woman to serve as our President has come – really, now is the time”
and I think the idea of having a former First Lady as the leader of the free world is really quite a marvelous notion. I want Hillary to win. Even though I admire two of the current potential Republican nominees, I have no interest in seeing either of them lead this country.
In an interview for First Ladies in Their Own Words, as quoted in Nancy Reagan: "I Want Hillary to Win" by Pierce Bublé at National Report (10 April 2015) http://nationalreport.net/nancy-reagan-want-hillary-win/