I know of one gifted crackpot who used to be employed gainfully in the fields of humor and satire, who has taken a solemn pledge not to write anything funny or lighthearted or “insignificant” again till things get straightened around in the world. This seems to me distinctly deleterious and a little silly. A literature composed of nothing but liberty-loving thoughts is little better than the propaganda which it seeks to defeat.
E. B. White (1899–1985) American author, critic, humorist [Elwyn Brooks White]
Essay (1939-01), “One Man’s Meat,” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 178
(Source)
When collected in his book, One Man's Meat (1944), the essay was renamed "Salt Water Farm." Sometimes the excerpted third section of the essay is referred to as "The Duty of Writers."
Quotations about:
bad times
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Truly, I live in dark times!
The guileless word is folly. A smooth forehead
Suggests insensitivity. The man who laughs
Has simply not yet had
The terrible news.
–
What kind of times are they, when
A talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?
That man there calmly crossing the street
Is already perhaps beyond the reach of his friends
Who are in need?[Wirklich, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten!
Das arglose Wort ist töricht. Eine glatte Stirn
Deutet auf Unempfindlichkeit hin. Der Lachende
Hat die furchtbare Nachricht
Nur noch nicht empfangen.
–
Was sind das für Zeiten, wo
Ein Gespräch über Bäume fast ein Verbrechen ist
Weil es ein Schweigen über so viele Untaten einschließt!
Der dort ruhig über die Straße geht
Ist wohl nicht mehr erreichbar für seine Freunde
Die in Not sind?]Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
Poem (1938 ca.), “To Those Born Later [An die Nachgeborenen],” sec. 1, Svendborger Gedichte (1939) [tr. Willet / Manheim / Fried (1976)]
(Source)
Also translated as "To Those Who Follow in Our Wake" and "To Later Generations." Written while Brecht had left Germany for Denmark ("crossing the street").
An audio recording of the poem by Brecht.
(Source (German)). Other translations:Truly, I live in dark times
The innocent word is suspect.
An unwrinkled forehead
suggests insensitivity.
He who laughs
simply has not heard
the terrible news.
-
What times are these when
a conversation about trees
is almost a crime
because it includes
so much silence
about so many outrages!
[tr. Lettau (1978)]Truly, I live in dark times!
An artless word is foolish. A smooth forehead
Points to insensitivity. He who laughs
Has not yet received
The terrible news.
-
What times are these, in which
A conversation about trees is almost a crime
For in doing so we maintain our silence about so much wrongdoing!
And he who walks quietly across the street,
Passes out of the reach of his friends
Who are in danger?
[tr. Horton (2008)]Really, I live in dark times!
Innocent words are foolish. A smooth brow
Betrays insensitivity. Anyone left laughing
Simply has not yet heard
The terrible news.
-
What are these for times, where
A discussion about trees is almost a crime
Because it involves a silence about so many misdeeds!
He there peacefully crossing the street
Is probably no longer reachable for his friends
Who are in need?
[tr. Rienas (2009)]Really, I live in dark times!
Innocent words are foolish. An unfurrowed brow
Indicates apathy. He who laughs
Just hasn’t yet received
The terrible news.
-
What times are these, in which
A conversation about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many misdeeds!
He who quietly crosses the street
Is probably no longer within reach of his friends
Who are in need?
[tr. Renaud (2016)]Truly, I live in dark times!
Innocent words are foolish. A smooth forehead
shows insensitivity. The guy laughing
has just not received
the terrible news yet.
-
What kind of times are these, where
talking about trees is almost a crime
when it means silence about so many atrocities!
That man calmly crossing the street
is probably no longer reachable by his friends
who need help.
GLOUCESTER: We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 118ff (1.2.118-121) (1606)
(Source)
O the times! O the manners!
[O tempora, o mores!]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Orationes in Catilinam [Catilinarian Orations], No. 1, § 1, cl. 2 (1.1.2) (63-11-08 BC) [tr. Mongan (1879)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Oh what times! what a world do we live in!
[tr. Wase (1671)]But O degenerate times!
[tr. Sydney (1795)]Shame on the age and on its principles!
[tr. Yonge (1856)]O the times! O the manners.
[tr. Underwood (1885)]O times! O manners!
[tr. Dewey (1916)]What a scandalous commentary on our age and its standards!
[tr. Grant (1960)]O what times (we live in)! O what customs (we pursue)!
[IB Notes]What times! What morals!
[Source]
I think that if there go on being great wars and great oppressions and many people leading very unhappy lives, probably religion will go on, because I’ve observed that the belief in the goodness of God is inversely proportional to the evidence. When there’s no evidence for it at all, people believe it, and, when things are going well and you might believe it, they don’t.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Interview by Woodrow Wyatt, BBC TV (1959)
(Source)
Collected in Bertrand Russell's BBC Interviews (1959) [UK] and Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind (1960) [US]. Reprinted (abridged) in The Humanist (1982-11/12), and in Russell Society News, #37 (1983-02).
Those were great old days, (but darn it any old days are great old days. Even the tough ones, after they are over, you can look back with great memories.)
GLOUCESTER: These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide; in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction: there’s son against father. The King falls from bias of nature: there’s father against child. We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 109ff (1.2.109-121) (1606)
(Source)
Sweet is the remembrance of troubles when you are in safety.
[άλλ’ ήδύ τοί σωθέντα μεμνήσθαί πόνων.]
Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Andromeda [Ανδρομέδα], frag. 133 (TGF) (412 BC)
(Source)
Nauck frag. 133, Barnes frag. 21, Musgrave frag. 10. (Source (Greek)). Other translations:'Tis sweet to recollect past toils in safety.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]Sweet is the memory of toils that are past.
[tr. Reid (1883), in Cicero, De Finibus, 2.105]Sweet is the memory of sorrows past.
[tr. Rackham (1914), in Cicero, De Finibus, 2.105]
After commenting that "The Greek line is known to you all," Cicero renders it in Latin as "Suavis laborum est praeteritorum memoria."
I have asked Mr Bernstein,
who is an excellent blesser
to bless you all and say
that in a country where Illiteracy is on the rise
and the economy is sinking low
and Chastity is out the window
it is comforting to know
that though the frost is on the pumpkin
and civilization is on the skids
you guys are ferociously working underground
smuggling books into the hands of kids.Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American author, illustrator [pseud. of Theodor Geisel]
“A Rather Short Epic Poem (size 6 and 7/8)” (1988)
Delivered by Robert Bernstein at the 1988 meeting of the American Booksellers Association.
He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower,
Alike they’re needful to the flower;
And joys and tears alike are sent
To give the soul fit nourishment.
As comes to me or cloud or sun,
Father! thy will, not mine, be done.Sarah Fuller Adams (1805–1848) English poet (nee Flower)
“He sendeth Sun, he sendeth Shower”
MARVIN: The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn’t enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.
Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 5th” (BBC Radio) (1978-04-05)
(Source)
When adapted as a novel, Hitchhiker's Guide No. 2, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 18 (1980), this line by Marvin the Paranoid Android remained the same.
Things are not getting worse; things have always been this bad. Nothing is more consoling than the long perspective of history. It will perk you up no end to go back and read the works of progressives past. You will learn therein that things back then were also terrible, and what’s more, they were always getting worse. This is most inspiriting.
Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.
Make. good. art.
I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn’t matter. Do what only you do best. Make. good. art.
Make it on the good days too.Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Speech (2012-05-17), Commencement, University of the Arts, Philadelphia [10:08]
(Source)
(Source (Video)). In the video, he starts it as "Sometimes life is hard." In the middle, he says it as, "Somebody on the Internet thinks what you're doing ..." He also adds "Make it on the bad days" before the final sentence.
