Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.
Samuel P. HuntingtonRead
Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.
Interpretation
Civilizations perceive their own narratives as the most significant in the grand scheme of human history.
This quote by Samuel P. Huntington highlights the tendency of civilizations to view themselves as the focal point of history. Each culture constructs its own narrative, often elevating its experiences and achievements as central to understanding the human experience, which can lead to a biased perspective on the complexities of global history.
In practice
In a speech discussing cultural heritage, one might say, 'As Samuel P. Huntington noted, every civilization views itself as central to history.'
The great objects which presented themselves [to the Constitutional Convention] ... formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived by those who were not concerned in the execution of it. Adding to these considerations the natural diversity of human opinions on all new and complicated subjects, it is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.
Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.
Selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride. 'How everything affects me' is the center of all that matters - self-conceit, self-pity, worldly self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and self-seeking.
I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.
Whether you call the principle of existence "God," "matter," "energy," or anything else you like, you have created nothing; you have merely changed a symbol. Eastern and Western Thinking, 1938
If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out three inches, that is not progress.
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