Demands that you believe the impossible do not lead to peaceful outcomes.
Interpretation
Believing in the impossible often leads to conflict rather than harmony.
In this quote, Christopher Hitchens highlights the idea that when individuals or groups are pushed to believe in things that are unrealistic or unattainable, it creates tension and conflict. This suggests that unrealistic demands or beliefs can disrupt peace and lead to negative outcomes in society or relationships.
In practice
In a debate about idealism vs. realism, this quote can be referenced to argue against unrealistic expectations.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Man cannot live by bread alone. Man after all is composed of intellect and soul.
Remember that you are in actor in a play of such a kind that the author chooses...For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part belongs to another.
You won't discover the limits of the soul, however far you go.
Abolition of a woman's right to abortion, when and if she wants it, amounts to compulsory maternity: a form of rape by the State.
I detest converts almost as much as I do missionaries.
Anyone who can be proved to be a seditious person is an outlaw before God and the emperor; and whoever is the first to put him to death does right and well. Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel.
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