The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
John BergerRead
Nothing in the nature around us is evil. This needs to be repeated since one of the human ways of talking oneself into inhuman acts is to cite the supposed cruelty of nature.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nature itself is not inherently evil; rather, human perception often distorts this view to justify harmful actions.
In this quote, John Berger emphasizes that the natural world is not evil, but rather it is human interpretation and language that often attribute cruelty to it. This misrepresentation can lead to justifying inhumane actions, highlighting the need to reconsider our understanding of nature and our role within it.
Themes
NatureHuman PerceptionCrueltyPhilosophyInhumanity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about environmental ethics, I might cite this quote to illustrate how our misconceptions about nature impact our actions.
More from John Berger
All quotes →Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
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We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
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The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
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Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
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Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
John BergerRead
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Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
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As the sun shines both on the cedar and the smallest flower, so the Divine sun illumines each soul.
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I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
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There are some people who need to wear a label round their necks to show that they are Christians at all, or else we might mistake them for sinners, their actions are so like those of the ungodly.
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