I'm a sucker for a good quote: pointed yet general, pedestrian in its composure yet sophisticated in scrutiny. There is something provokingly stimulating about these context-devoid flashes of observation, their inherent malleability of intent, their power to suggest self-reflection on humanity’s most virtuous or deleterious traits. Indeed, the general appreciation of quotes leads me to believe that humankind prefers both condemnation and glorification in concise, easy to remember chunks—an entire book could never avoid criticism from even the most ardent admirer, but the brief wisdom of a quote is easy to appreciate. So when this Sunday I came across two quotes that are as divergent in opinion as they are candidly accurate, I couldn’t help but smile. Surely the misanthropes are just misinformed….
After ages during which the earth produced harmless trilobites and butterflies, evolution progressed to the point at which it has generated Neros, Genghis Khans, and Hitlers. This, however, I believe is a passing nightmare; in time the earth will become again incapable of supporting life, and peace will return.
-Bertrand Russell
That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for [man] is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that the skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.
-Mark Twain
*I'm sorry, but this post has absolutely nothing to do with Korea--at least not directly.
