Love consists in leaving the loved one space to be themselves while providing the security within which that self may flourish.
Tony JudtRead
We are not merely historians but also and always citizens.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the dual role of individuals as both historians and active participants in society.
Tony Judt's quote suggests that individuals should not only document and analyze history, but also engage with the present societal issues. It highlights the responsibility of citizens to understand their past while actively contributing to the shaping of their communities and futures.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of civic engagement in democratic societies.
Love consists in leaving the loved one space to be themselves while providing the security within which that self may flourish.
If active or concerned citizens forfeit politics, they thereby abandon their society to its most mediocre and venal public servants
Obviously a primary liberal conviction is that we should be tolerant of other peoples' convictions. But if we believe in something, we had better find ways to say so convincingly.
Social democracy does not represent an ideal future; it does not even represent the ideal past.
What I am against is false optimism: the notion either that things have to go well, or else that they tend to, or else that the default condition of historical trajectories is characteristically beneficial in the long-run.
I'm not sure I've learned anything new about life; but I've had to think harder about death and what comes after for other people.
But I cannot forget that, at other times I have been deceived in sleep by similar illusions; and, attentively considering those cases, I perceive so clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming.
I didnβt go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly donβt recommend Christianity.
Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters.
Nothing in life is ever as simple as we imagine.
The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations.
Well, the future for me is already a thing of the past.
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