The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.
Thomas MannRead
What good would politics be, if it didn’t give everyone the opportunity to make moral compromises.
Interpretation
Politics involves moral compromises that affect everyone.
Thomas Mann's quote reflects on the inherent nature of politics, suggesting that it provides a platform for individuals to navigate and negotiate moral compromises. This raises questions about the ethical dimensions of political action and how such compromises are essential to the functioning of a democratic society, influencing decisions and actions within the political sphere.
In practice
In a discussion about the ethical challenges in government, this quote can illustrate the necessity of compromise.
The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.
Stupid — well, there are so many kinds of stupidity, and cleverness is one of the worst.
It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.
I tell them that if they will occupy themselves with the study of mathematics they will find in it the best remedy against the lusts of the flesh.
Literature... is the union of suffering with the instinct for form.
The Freudian theory is one of the most important foundation stones for an edifice to be built by future generations, the dwelling of a freer and wiser humanity.
Religion is a very scary thing, because a pastor is in a position of power. And if you use that power badly, you ruin people's lives, and you ruin your own life.
Jesus was much more interested in the quality of the people's response to him than in the quantity of the crowd.
Well, my book is written-let it go. But if it were only to write over again there wouldn't be so many things left out. They burn in me; and they keep multiplying; but now they can't ever be said. And besides, they would require a library-and a pen warmed up in hell.
True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.
It was easy enough to despise the world, but decidedly difficult to find any other habitable region.
The first thing to recognize not just about Afghanistan but about any poor undeveloped country is that as big as it looks on the map, it's much bigger when you're there.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.