Switzerland is a country where very few things begin, but many things end.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on Switzerland's neutrality and status as a destination for finality rather than initiation.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote about Switzerland highlights the country's unique position in global affairs and culture. It suggests that while not a site of beginnings—such as wars or revolutions—Switzerland is often where matters conclude, representing a place of peace and resolution. This reflects the notion of Switzerland as a haven for those seeking closure or a final destination, both literally and metaphorically.
In practice
During a discussion about Switzerland's role in international diplomacy, this quote can illustrate the country's unique standing.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
I've wondered why it took us so long to catch on. We saw it, and yet we didn't see it. Or rather we were trained not to see it. Conned perhaps into thinking that the real action was metropolitan and all this was just boring hinterland. It was a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away. I'm looking for the truth." And so it goes away. Puzzling.
I could safely declare, I am an idealist... I believe in everything - I am only looking for proofs.
Seen through the eyes of faith, religion's future is secure. As long as there are human beings, there will be religion for the sufficient reason that the self is a theomorphic creature - one whose morphe (form) is theos - God encased within it. Having been created in the imago Dei, the image God, all human beings have a God-shaped vacuum built into their hearts. Since nature abhors a vacuum, people keep trying to fill the one inside them.
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