Without being bound to the fulfillment of promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each man’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocalities — a darkness which only the light shed over the public realm through the presence of others, who confirm the identity between the one who promises and the one who fulfills, can dispel.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Human Condition, ch. 33 (1958)

 
Added on 25-Feb-10 | Last updated 25-Feb-10
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Arendt, Hannah

Thoughts? Comments? Corrections? Feedback?