We have a memory cut in pieces. And I write trying to recover our real memory, the memory of humankind, what I call the human rainbow, which is much more colorful and beautiful than the other one, the other rainbow.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the fragmented nature of human memory and experiences, suggesting that the true essence of humanity is richer and more diverse than often perceived.
In this quote, Eduardo Galeano emphasizes the complexity and richness of human memory, indicating that our experiences are often incomplete or fragmented. He contrasts the 'human rainbow,' symbolizing the full spectrum of diverse human experiences and emotions, with a more conventional understanding of memory that is less colorful and profound. By striving to recover this vibrant memory, Galeano suggests a deeper understanding of what it means to be human, highlighting the beauty and complexity of our shared existence.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of preserving cultural history, this quote can highlight the value of collective memory.
Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.
It is highly improbable that the bureaucrat will put his life on the line. It is absolutely impossible that he'll put his job on the line.
We live in a world that treats the dead better than the living. We, the living are askers of questions and givers of answers, and we have other grave defects unpardonable by a system that believes death, like money, improves people.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
The more freedom is extended to business, the more prisons have to be built for those who suffer from that business.
Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.
The idea that we have the right to inflict suffering and death on other sentient beings for the trivial reasons of palate pleasure and fashion is, without doubt, one of the most arrogant and morally repugnant notions in the history of human thought.
Reality lies in the greatest enchantment you have ever experienced.
We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts.
The day we stop exploring is the day we commit ourselves to live in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity, empty of dreams.
We had a big controversy in the United States when there was a limited number of dialysis machines. In Seattle, they appointed what they called a 'God committee' to choose who should get it, and that committee was eventually abandoned. Society ended up paying the whole bill for dialysis instead of having people make those decisions.
So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. It is a mean between two kinds of vice, one of excess and the other of deficiency.
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