It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.
Nadine GordimerRead
A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.
Interpretation
One must take a stance in life rather than remain indifferent.
Nadine Gordimer's quote suggests that to truly live and engage with the world, one cannot simply adopt a neutral position. Instead, individuals are compelled to take sides in their beliefs and actions, as remaining neutral can be a state of complacency that undermines the essence of being human. This speaks to the moral obligation of individuals to stand up for what they believe in and the importance of active participation in societal issues.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech to encourage activism against social injustices.
It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.
The gap between the committed and the indifferent is a Sahara whose faint trails, followed by the mind's eye only, fade out in sand.
Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.
Art defies defeat by its very existence, representing the celebration of life, in spite of all attempts to degrade and destroy it.
If people would forget about utopia! When rationalism destroyed heaven and decided to set it up here on earth, that most terrible of all goals entered human ambition. It was clear there'd be no end to what people would be made to suffer for it.
The caged eagle become a metaphor for all forms of isolation, the ultimate in imprisonment. A zoo is prison.
Whatever the reason, for most of the present century, the literature and publicity of the old established [animal welfare] groups made a significant contribution to the prevailing attitude that dogs and cats and wild animals need protection, but other animals do not. Thus people came to think of "animal welfare" as something for kindly ladies who are dotty about cats, and not as a cause founded on basic principles of justice and morality.
The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and with the specious title of religion to cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.
It was during the Reagan years that defiance of international law and the U.N. Charter became entirely open.
Pour out wine till I become a wanderer from myself; for in selfhood and existence I have felt only fatigue.
The ideal of the supreme being is nothing but a regulative principle of reason which directs us to look upon all connection in the world as if it originated from an all-sufficient necessary cause.
Some people are born good-looking. Some have the gift of gab. And some are lucky enough to be born smarter than the rest of us. Whether we like it or not, Mother Nature does not dole these characteristics out evenly.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.