I must have been one of the least surprised people on earth on September 11. I felt very braced for that. I knew something like that was going to come.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a sense of preparedness for unexpected events, suggesting a belief in the inevitability of certain tragedies.
In this quote, Christopher Hitchens reflects on his perception of the world leading up to the tragic events of September 11. He conveys a feeling of resignation and expectation, indicating that he believed such an event was not just possible but likely. This perspective invites deeper contemplation on human awareness and the nature of societal tensions, emphasizing how some individuals can anticipate calamities while others remain oblivious.
In practice
In a speech discussing the importance of crisis management, one could reference Hitchens on September 11 to highlight the need for preparedness.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Like almost everyone else in America, I grew up believing the myth of the objective scientist. Fortunately I was raised on the edges of two very distinct cultures, western European and American Indian.
Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.
People don't become inured to what they are shown - if that's the right way to describe what happens - because of the quantity of images dumped on them. It is passivity that dulls feeling. The states described as apathy, moral or emotional anesthesia, are full of feelings; the feelings are rage and frustration.
A man's shortcomings are taken from his epoch; his virtues and greatness belong to himself.
The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.
The whole theme of Interview with the Vampire was Louis's quest for meaning in a godless world. He searched to find the oldest existing immortal simply to ask, What is the meaning of what we are?
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