That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Paul ValeryRead
History is the most dangerous product evolved from the chemistry of the intellect. ...History will justify anything. It teaches precisely nothing, for it contains everything and furnishes examples of everything.
Interpretation
History is complex and can be interpreted in many ways, often justifying actions regardless of morality.
This quote by Paul Valery reflects on the intricate nature of history, suggesting that it is not a straightforward teacher but rather a vast repository of human actions and intellect. Valery implies that history's comprehensive nature allows for justifying various actions, good or bad, while it paradoxically offers little in terms of moral lessons, as it encompasses both achievements and failures of humanity.
In practice
In a history class discussion about the actions of historical figures.
That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Oh, hasten not this loving act, Rapture where self and not-self meet: My life has been the awaiting you, Your footfall was my own heart's beat.
The history of thought may be summed up in these words: it is absurd by what it seeks and great by what it finds.
The world acquires value only through its extremes and endures only through moderation; extremists make the world great, the moderates give it stability.
It would be impossible to "love" anyone or anything one knew completely. Love is directed towards what lies hidden in its object.
You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.
The future doesn't exist. The only thing that exists is now and our memory of what happened in the past. But because we invented the idea of a future, we're the only animal that realized we can affect the future by what we do today.
An organizer working in and for an open society is in an ideological dilemma to begin with, he does not have a fixed truth - truth to him is relative and changing; everything to him is relative and changing.... To the extent that he is free from the shackles of dogma, he can respond to the realities of the widely different situations.
The standpoint of the man who relies on religious experience for capturing Reality must always remain individual and incommunicable.
The point of asylum is not to declare to the world what country you think is the pinnacle of civilization. The point of asylum is to find a country that's both willing and able to protect you from political persecution. In no way is asylum an endorsement of a country's politics, laws, or values.
And if the City falls and one survives _x000D_ he shall carry the City within on the roads of exile _x000D_ he shall be the City
The absence of the will to live is, alas, not sufficient to make one want to die.
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