Every now and then I will see a word as if for the first time, and suddenly appreciate that Evian is 'naive' spelled backward, or that Bosnia is an anagram of 'bonsai.'
Interpretation
The quote highlights the joy of discovering new perspectives and connections in seemingly ordinary words.
Christopher Hitchens illustrates the delightful realization that words can hold hidden meanings or associations, such as the fact that 'Evian' spelled backward is 'naive' and that 'Bosnia' is an anagram of 'bonsai.' This moment of insight encourages us to appreciate language and its intricacies, reminding us that there is often more beneath the surface of familiar things.
In practice
In a lecture on linguistics, you might use this quote to illustrate the beauty of language.
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 — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve 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.
I laugh, for hope hath a happy place with me; If my boat sinks, 'tis to another sea.
It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters.
Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
I understand aggressiveness in only one way: being prepared to hurt yourself, not someone else.
Hardships make us strong. Problems give birth to wisdom. Sorrows cultivate compassion. Those who have suffered the most will become the happiest.
I have tried to be a man of letters in love with ideas in order to be a wiser and more loving person, hoping to leave the world just a little better than I found it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.