And the pleasures and rewards of the intellect are inseparable from angst, uncertainty, conflict and even despair.
Interpretation
Intellectual fulfillment comes with struggles and challenges that can lead to emotional turmoil.
Christopher Hitchens highlights the dual nature of intellectual pursuits, suggesting that the joys and rewards derived from deep thinking and understanding are inherently linked to difficult experiences such as anxiety, doubt, and even desolation. This juxtaposition implies that true intellectual gratification is not free from pain and challenge; rather, it is often through these very struggles that one gains profound insights and a deeper appreciation for knowledge.
In practice
This quote can be used as a thought-provoking introduction to a discussion on the cost of intellectual endeavors.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
All knowledge is partial, infinitesimally partial. Reason is a net thrown out into an ocean. What truth it brings in is a fragment, a glimpse, a scintillation of the whole truth.
It is better not to try people, not to force them to desperation. Make them prosper; out of superfluidity, they will be generous. Full bellies breed gentle manners. The pinch of famine makes monsters.
The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.
I tend to feel if people say they're going to do something, they will, if given the chance.
The more we bestow the richer we become.
Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents.
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