WIST Quotations

Wilde, Oscar -- The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 19 [Lord Harry] (1891)

Dave — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:38 +0000

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 19 [Lord Harry] (1891)

Wodehouse, P. G. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 20 May 2021 19:14:01 +0000

I do not hate in the plural.

P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
(Attributed)

When asked, as a former WWII internee, whether he hate the Germans (or the Nazis).

George Orwell, writing in 1945 a defense of Wodehouse's actions while an internee, quoted him in a more complex version of this:

I never was interested in politics. I’m quite unable to work up any kind of belligerent feeling. Just as I’m about to feel belligerent about some country I meet a decent sort of chap. We go out together and lose any fighting thoughts or feelings.

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books

Dave — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 21:41:13 +0000

Where all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of culprits, and the very magnitude of the crime the best excuse for doing nothing.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books

Revised and collected in Crises of the Republic, "On Violence" (1972).

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1964-08), “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” The Listener Magazine

Dave — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 18:35:20 +0000

In a courtroom there is no system on trial, no History or historical trend, no ism, anti-Semitism for instance, but a person, and if the defendant happens to be a functionary, he stands accused precisely because even a functionary is still a human being, and it is in this capacity that he stands trial.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1964-08), “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” The Listener Magazine

On war crimes trials in general, and the Eichmann trial in particular.

Collected in Responsibility and Judgment, Part 1 "Responsibility" (2003).

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1964-08), “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” The Listener Magazine

Dave — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 16:32:11 +0000

There is no such thing as collective guilt or collective innocence; guilt and innocence make sense only if applied to individuals.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1964-08), “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” The Listener Magazine

Collected in Responsibility and Judgment, Part 1 "Responsibility" (2003).

Key, Ellen -- War, Peace, and the Future, ch. 6 (1916) [tr. Norberg]

Dave — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 04:25:03 +0000

The worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being.

Ellen Key (1849–1926) Swedish feminist and writer
War, Peace, and the Future, ch. 6 (1916) [tr. Norberg]

Hoffer, Eric -- True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 5, § 26 (1951)

Dave — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:36:01 +0000

Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, “to be free from freedom.” It was not sheer hypocrisy when the rank-and-file Nazis declared themselves not guilty of all the enormities they had committed. They considered themselves cheated and maligned when made to shoulder responsibility for obeying orders. Had they not joined the Nazi movement in order to be free from responsibility?

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 5, § 26 (1951)