I feel that we Germans are spending less and less time talking to each other. And even less time listening to each other.
Frank-Walter SteinmeierRead
Germany's path to greater military assertiveness has not been linear, and it never will be. Germans do not believe that talking at roundtables solves every problem, but neither do they think that shooting does.
Interpretation
The quote reflects Germany's complex approach to military issues, balancing dialogue and action.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier highlights Germany's nuanced stance on military assertiveness, suggesting that the country's path forward is not straightforward. The statement underscores a belief that neither diplomacy alone nor military action alone can resolve conflicts, indicating a thoughtful consideration of various approaches in international relations.
In practice
In a discussion about international conflicts, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of balanced approaches.
The mechanism that directs government cannot be virtuous, because it is impossible to thwart every crime, to protect oneself from every criminal without being criminal too; that which directs corrupt mankind must be corrupt itself; and it will never be by means of virtue, virtue being inert and passive, that you will maintain control over vice, which is ever active: the governor must be more energetic than the governed.
No human thing is of serious importance.
The past is always - one moment it's what happened three minutes ago, and one minute it's what happened 30 years ago. And they flow into each other in ways that we can't predict and that we keep discovering in dreams, which keep bringing up feelings and moments, some of which we never actually saw.
Of course it is a very simple matter to identify genes which might modify intelligence or memory and start thinking about whether you want to enhance a human, and the next generation is going to have to deal with that issue. Should we be trying to enhance humans rather than trying to educate them and so on?
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.
Patricia embraces me on the station platform. 'The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,' she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. 'Nonsense, Patricia,' I tell her as I climb on board my train. 'The past's what you take with you.
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