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History is the most
dangerous product that the chemistry of the mind has
concocted…It fills people with false memories, exaggerates
their reactions, exacerbates old grievances, torments them in
their repose, and encourages either a delirium of grandeur or
a delusion of persecution. It makes whole nations bitter,
arrogant, insufferable, and vainglorious.
-- Paul Valéry
It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world
would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other
people are doing with the same set of facts.
-- Bill
Vaughan
HOPE
Hope is not
prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an
orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is
immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its
horizons.
Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy
that things are going well, or willingness to invest in
enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but
rather, an ability to work for something because it is good,
not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more
propitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the
deeper the hope is.
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not
the conviction that something will turn out well, but the
certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it
turns out.
-- Vaclav
Havel, Disturbing the
Peace
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