I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the importance of understanding history to gain personal responsibility and insight into human conscience.
In this quote, Zbigniew Herbert emphasizes that his exploration of history is not solely for learning lessons but rather to engage with his own experiences by comparing them to those of others. This reflective practice allows him to cultivate a deeper sense of responsibility towards the collective moral state of humanity, suggesting that understanding our past can enhance our awareness and accountability in the present.
In practice
In a lecture discussing the importance of historical context in contemporary issues.
Inanimate objects are always correct and cannot, unfortunately, be reproached with anything. I have never observed a chair shift from one foot to another, or a bed rear on its hind legs. And tables, even when they are tired, will not dare to bend their knees. I suspect that objects do this from pedagogical considerations, to reprove us constantly for our instability.
Be courageous when the mind deceives you Be courageous In the final account only this is important
And if the City falls and one survives _x000D_ he shall carry the City within on the roads of exile _x000D_ he shall be the City
forgive me also that I didn't fight like Lord Byron for the happiness of captive peoples that I watched only risings of the moon and museums
I've been called a recluse. There's definitely truth in that. I like to spend time alone.
It is the duty of man to raise up man.
Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray.
In real life the people who are most bigoted are the people who have no convictions at all.
Three quarters of the American population literally believe in religious miracles. The numbers who believe in the devil, in resurrection, in God doing this and that - it's astonishing. These numbers aren't duplicated anywhere else in the industrial world. You'd have to maybe go to mosques in Iran or do a poll among old ladies in Sicily to get numbers like this. Yet this is the American population.
Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.