Ernesto Cardenal Quotes
I speak of the current civilization and I consider her not as a symbol but as victim-victim, really, of the commercialization, of the falsification of this real world. That is my theme.
Quotes to Explore
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The difference between being a victim and a survivor is often a low level of situational awareness. You can't be a super-spy, watchful and paranoid every day. But I am more watchful than the average American.
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History laughs at both the victim and the aggressor.
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It's not blaming the victim. It's not anybody's fault. They just did something that didn't work, that's all.
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The most important issue for the killer is the ability to get a victim easily and successfully.
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I consider that there are different degrees of civilization and there are many different ways of expressing it. But one is civilized or is not.
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The mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization.
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The best test of the quality of a civilization is the quality of its leisure.
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I hope that I will be the last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes.
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The point of civilization is to be civilized; the purpose of action is to perpetuate society, for only in society can philosophy truly take place.
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You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, and wipe it clean of life - but if you desire to defend it, protect it,and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman Legions did - by putting your soldiers in the mud.
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Civilization today reminds me of an ape with a blowtorch playing in a room full of dynamite. It looks like the monkeys are about to operate the zoo, and the inmates are taking over the asylum.
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... I cannot think a civilization worth having that does not encourage and enable its subjects to spend something, not extorted by governments but freely given to keep wretchedness at least from the streets they walk through day by day.
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The surest way of making a dupe is to let your victim suppose you are his.
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If a country denies it has AIDS, that country will inevitably become an even greater victim.
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The Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations have perished; Hammurabi, Sargon and Nebuchadnezzar are empty names; yet Babylonian mathematics is still interesting, and the Babylonian scale of 60 is still used in Astronomy.
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I know something about the civilization of China, with my background, obviously, and I think I know something about American history. But that's about all. And I've traveled all over the world, and for a long time I didn't know very much about it, really.
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I think women can save civilization.
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Once trapped in the belief that you are a victim, you surrender your birthright to compete for the prizes of life.
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Western civilization, unfortunately, does not link knowledge and morality but rather, it connects knowledge and power and makes them equivalent.
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Civilization as we know it will come to an end sometime in this century unless we can find a way to live without fossil fuels.
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I speak of the current civilization and I consider her not as a symbol but as victim-victim, really, of the commercialization, of the falsification of this real world. That is my theme.
