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ayla_derammelaere's reviews
162 reviews
Een familie, acht tragedies: bevat: Het verhaal van Orestes (Agamemnon, Dodenoffer, Goede geesten) . Elektra . Ifigeneia in Aulis, Elektra, Orestes . Ifigeneia op de Krim by Aeschylus
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
Noordse mythologie by Hélène A. Guerber
This is the first book about North Mythology that I have read. I have always been interested in Mythology and had read many books about ancient Greek and Roman Mythology, as well as books about Hinduisme.
One of the things that I noticed so well, is the similarities in the stories between the Nothern and the Greek/Roman Mythology : they have a similat amount of 'top' gods, their gods live somewhere high in the sky, their gods are very human when it comes to feelings and actions, some beings are even almost the same : for example the Nornen and the Moiren.
The book itself I found a bit dissapointing : I thought I would read full stories, from start to finish, about some of the gods but every chapter gives you insight in a god but everything stays superficial : there is no depth in the stories, there are a lot of gaps in between the stories and it left me with a lot more questions than answers.
I do like all of the paintings that are added to the book, the few lines out of plays or poems, did not always add something extra.
I think this is a good book to start with, as an introduction to Northern Mythology but followed by other books that can bring more depth and answer more questions.
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
This is the first book about North Mythology that I have read. I have always been interested in Mythology and had read many books about ancient Greek and Roman Mythology, as well as books about Hinduisme.
One of the things that I noticed so well, is the similarities in the stories between the Nothern and the Greek/Roman Mythology : they have a similat amount of 'top' gods, their gods live somewhere high in the sky, their gods are very human when it comes to feelings and actions, some beings are even almost the same : for example the Nornen and the Moiren.
The book itself I found a bit dissapointing : I thought I would read full stories, from start to finish, about some of the gods but every chapter gives you insight in a god but everything stays superficial : there is no depth in the stories, there are a lot of gaps in between the stories and it left me with a lot more questions than answers.
I do like all of the paintings that are added to the book, the few lines out of plays or poems, did not always add something extra.
I think this is a good book to start with, as an introduction to Northern Mythology but followed by other books that can bring more depth and answer more questions.
Mensenkennis: inleiding tot de karakterkunde by Alfred Adler
Adler was a student of Freud but went his own way and created the 'individualpsychology'. He doesn't believe in personalitytraits that people are born with and doesn't believe there is hidden trauma that still has it's impact on how someone develops his/her life.
Adler says there are 2 big forces that form a person : the fact that people are social beings and that we live and function in a society + our drive to achieve power and be meaningful in life. Adler tells us that, from the moment that we interact with other people and the world, we create our own lifes-purpose and we develop our personalitytraits to combine the 2 forced to achieve our lifes-purpose.
To me, this sounds a lot like the 2 forces that Freud tells us have an impact on development : eros and thanatos or the power to create (love) and the power to destroy (dead).
Adler also tells us that the only way how we can work on personalitytraits that interfer with us being happy and accomplished, is to find why we used certain behaviour for the first time ever, link that to the behaviour that we still use and by understanding, behaviour can be changed. Again, this sounds a lot like 'trauma' in the subconscience that works through in day-to-day life as said by Freud, but I can be biased.
In the end of the book, Adler lets us know that families are not a good way to raise children and teach them to become healthy adults : parents often have their own problems, they are not psychologists so they don't know how to fix traits,.. teachers are also not ideal but better than parents since they have had schooling to deal with children and be more aware of what impact they have.. I found this last remarks really baffeling..
I was disappointed by the book : I was really excited in reading it and learning a new way of looking at things but that didn't happen : it feels like a lot of what he said was or a rip-off of Freuds theory or a summation of popular opinions or very shallow ideas that still need time to develop. I must say, this is the first time I ever read something by Adler so maybe he has developed his ideas and I just didn't read the newest book.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Adler was a student of Freud but went his own way and created the 'individualpsychology'. He doesn't believe in personalitytraits that people are born with and doesn't believe there is hidden trauma that still has it's impact on how someone develops his/her life.
Adler says there are 2 big forces that form a person : the fact that people are social beings and that we live and function in a society + our drive to achieve power and be meaningful in life. Adler tells us that, from the moment that we interact with other people and the world, we create our own lifes-purpose and we develop our personalitytraits to combine the 2 forced to achieve our lifes-purpose.
To me, this sounds a lot like the 2 forces that Freud tells us have an impact on development : eros and thanatos or the power to create (love) and the power to destroy (dead).
Adler also tells us that the only way how we can work on personalitytraits that interfer with us being happy and accomplished, is to find why we used certain behaviour for the first time ever, link that to the behaviour that we still use and by understanding, behaviour can be changed. Again, this sounds a lot like 'trauma' in the subconscience that works through in day-to-day life as said by Freud, but I can be biased.
In the end of the book, Adler lets us know that families are not a good way to raise children and teach them to become healthy adults : parents often have their own problems, they are not psychologists so they don't know how to fix traits,.. teachers are also not ideal but better than parents since they have had schooling to deal with children and be more aware of what impact they have.. I found this last remarks really baffeling..
I was disappointed by the book : I was really excited in reading it and learning a new way of looking at things but that didn't happen : it feels like a lot of what he said was or a rip-off of Freuds theory or a summation of popular opinions or very shallow ideas that still need time to develop. I must say, this is the first time I ever read something by Adler so maybe he has developed his ideas and I just didn't read the newest book.
De bijzondere kinderen van mevrouw Peregrine by Ransom Riggs
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Middernachtbibliotheek by Matt Haig
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Mijn strijd. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
I started reading this book because I wanted to try and understand what (type of) man Hitler was. I was curious to see if there was anything that had happened to him, to trigger all the horrible things he has done and were done in his name.
The book turned out to be one of the books that made me stop reading and think about it, more than any other book. So many things that he said, make sense. It's clear he was a very intelligent man who knew a lot about psychology and was able to lead an entire people into one mass psychoses.
I am definitly not someone who likes his ideas, don't get me wrong, but a lot of what he said about politics, about advertisement, about what a government should do and what is important to inhabitants of a country, makes a lot of sense.
Besides those ideas, he displays a lot of hate towards Jews and believers in Marx (at a certain point, these 2 groups of people, become one and the same in his eyes).
The thing that made me feel the saddest, was to realize that Hitler actually wasn't planning on killing the Jews : his idea was to ship them off to Russia. And only when he realized that he couldn't conquer Russia, he decided to kill all of them.. I still don't understand how someone can go from a 'benign solution' of a problem, to a mass murder with nothing in between.
I never understood why a book should be banned and I still think it's better to explain than to ban. But I do understand why people were afraid of youngsters reading this book. If even for a second, you forget what his ideas have caused, you might start to feel sympathy. In that way, his reading reminded me a bit of Julius Caesar (de bello Gallico) and Hendrik Conscience (de leeuw van Vlaanderen).
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I started reading this book because I wanted to try and understand what (type of) man Hitler was. I was curious to see if there was anything that had happened to him, to trigger all the horrible things he has done and were done in his name.
The book turned out to be one of the books that made me stop reading and think about it, more than any other book. So many things that he said, make sense. It's clear he was a very intelligent man who knew a lot about psychology and was able to lead an entire people into one mass psychoses.
I am definitly not someone who likes his ideas, don't get me wrong, but a lot of what he said about politics, about advertisement, about what a government should do and what is important to inhabitants of a country, makes a lot of sense.
Besides those ideas, he displays a lot of hate towards Jews and believers in Marx (at a certain point, these 2 groups of people, become one and the same in his eyes).
The thing that made me feel the saddest, was to realize that Hitler actually wasn't planning on killing the Jews : his idea was to ship them off to Russia. And only when he realized that he couldn't conquer Russia, he decided to kill all of them.. I still don't understand how someone can go from a 'benign solution' of a problem, to a mass murder with nothing in between.
I never understood why a book should be banned and I still think it's better to explain than to ban. But I do understand why people were afraid of youngsters reading this book. If even for a second, you forget what his ideas have caused, you might start to feel sympathy. In that way, his reading reminded me a bit of Julius Caesar (de bello Gallico) and Hendrik Conscience (de leeuw van Vlaanderen).
Hoe meneer prins zijn gedachten kwijtraakte by E. van den Berg, J. Kal, H. Anema, I. Huenges Wajer, et al., M. Mantione, S. Boelema, A. Buhrmann
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Wat een prachtige manier om een venster te openen in het brein en leven van mensen. Weinig fascineert ons zo als andere mensen : wie zijn we, wat willen we, wat zijn onze hoop en dromen,.. we willen zien en gezien worden.
Dit boek vertelt ons 11 verhalen, ons geschonken door 11 moedige patiënten en geschreven door 11 hulpverleners. Hun verhalen laten ons nadenken over het belang van onze hersenen, over de impact die een gebeurtenis (klein en groot) kan hebben. En niet zoals we zelf zouden verwachten, enkel in gedrag of geheugen maar ook in hoe we onszelf zien en beleven, in hoe we ons naar anderen profileren, in ons taalgebruik, in onze persoonlijkheid. Alles hangt aan elkaar vast en hangt samen. Hoe toont hoe onze hersenen bepalen wie wij zijn maar hoe ook de mensen rondom ons ons helpen (groeien).
De 11 verhalen zijn allen heel respectvol geschreven, vol emotie (zowel van de zijde van de patiënt als van de zijde van de hulpverlener) en soms een grap.
Zelf hulpverlener zijnde, kwam er heel veel herkenning naar boven : soms vertellen de details heel veel over het enorme verdriet en afscheid maar ook over de kracht die elk van de patiënten en hun dierbaren tentoonstellen.
Ik heb enorm genoten van dit boek.
Dit boek vertelt ons 11 verhalen, ons geschonken door 11 moedige patiënten en geschreven door 11 hulpverleners. Hun verhalen laten ons nadenken over het belang van onze hersenen, over de impact die een gebeurtenis (klein en groot) kan hebben. En niet zoals we zelf zouden verwachten, enkel in gedrag of geheugen maar ook in hoe we onszelf zien en beleven, in hoe we ons naar anderen profileren, in ons taalgebruik, in onze persoonlijkheid. Alles hangt aan elkaar vast en hangt samen. Hoe toont hoe onze hersenen bepalen wie wij zijn maar hoe ook de mensen rondom ons ons helpen (groeien).
De 11 verhalen zijn allen heel respectvol geschreven, vol emotie (zowel van de zijde van de patiënt als van de zijde van de hulpverlener) en soms een grap.
Zelf hulpverlener zijnde, kwam er heel veel herkenning naar boven : soms vertellen de details heel veel over het enorme verdriet en afscheid maar ook over de kracht die elk van de patiënten en hun dierbaren tentoonstellen.
Ik heb enorm genoten van dit boek.
Het verhaal van de dienstmaagd by Margaret Atwood
This book pictures a dystopian future in America, renamed as 'Gilead'. Due to polution, toxines in the air and water and food, chemicals and nucleair waste, .. humans became more and more barren. The church has taken control and has thrown the constitution aside and created his own laws : women lost all of their rights, including the right to marry who they choose, the right to become pregnant when they want, the right to education, the right to read and write, the right to..
There are now a few catogories a woman can be part of : she can be a wife (wearing blue), she could become a handmaiden when proven she can still have children (wearing red), she can be an aunt, teaching the handmaidens how life works (wearing brown), she can be a Martha, working in the households (wearing green), she could be a saviour, punishing the women who misbehave (wearing black), she could be an econowoman, not having any skills or money (wearing stripes) or become a nonwoman, working on the fields or cleaning up the toxic wastes (wearing grey).
Young girls wear white until they get married.
The story is written by Vanfred (she doesn't tell us her real name). She tries to believe that the world will make sense again and therefor it is important to believe that someone, one day, will read her story.
Vanfred has had a daughter and was married. Her husband had been married before and therefor, when the new regime started, their marriage wasn't seen as legal so they tried to run. It didn't work. She doesn't know what happened to her husband and her daughter was taken away from her as she is deemed unfit to raise a child..
However, she became a handmaiden since she had proven being able to become pregnant and therefor given to a wealthy man and his wife, as an incubator.
The story is written in a clinical way, stripped from emotions, as it must has felt for the one trying to survive. Memories and feelings could make you incapable of surviving such a horrible change in reality.
Women were reduced to their ability of becoming a mother and men had no blame in anything.
It makes be think about what is happening new in America : laws to protect women en children are changed, reducing women to incubators : we are no longer aloud to stop a pregnancy, not for any reason at all (not for rape, not because of age, not for health, not for..). It's not difficult to see the resemblance to what the author is writting : 'laws' written by the church, no longer ment to be forced upon people, are now forced upon women and there is no protest. I think it makes the world a very scary place and it makes this book suddenly a lot more plausible..
At the end of the book, we are a lot further in the future and looking back on the time of Gilead : investigators making fun of what people in those days must have known and thought, analysing in a cold way all of the horror that has happened, wondering why Vanfred didn't do more, be more like a spy and not realizing how easy it is to say you would have done it differenty if you were never in that position..
The author never ment for this book to be a glance at the future but sadly, some parts of it are happening (luckily not (yet) in every country). Let us hope, for this time, we try to learn from mistakes (even if they are only fictional) and don't do them (again).
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book pictures a dystopian future in America, renamed as 'Gilead'. Due to polution, toxines in the air and water and food, chemicals and nucleair waste, .. humans became more and more barren. The church has taken control and has thrown the constitution aside and created his own laws : women lost all of their rights, including the right to marry who they choose, the right to become pregnant when they want, the right to education, the right to read and write, the right to..
There are now a few catogories a woman can be part of : she can be a wife (wearing blue), she could become a handmaiden when proven she can still have children (wearing red), she can be an aunt, teaching the handmaidens how life works (wearing brown), she can be a Martha, working in the households (wearing green), she could be a saviour, punishing the women who misbehave (wearing black), she could be an econowoman, not having any skills or money (wearing stripes) or become a nonwoman, working on the fields or cleaning up the toxic wastes (wearing grey).
Young girls wear white until they get married.
The story is written by Vanfred (she doesn't tell us her real name). She tries to believe that the world will make sense again and therefor it is important to believe that someone, one day, will read her story.
Vanfred has had a daughter and was married. Her husband had been married before and therefor, when the new regime started, their marriage wasn't seen as legal so they tried to run. It didn't work. She doesn't know what happened to her husband and her daughter was taken away from her as she is deemed unfit to raise a child..
However, she became a handmaiden since she had proven being able to become pregnant and therefor given to a wealthy man and his wife, as an incubator.
The story is written in a clinical way, stripped from emotions, as it must has felt for the one trying to survive. Memories and feelings could make you incapable of surviving such a horrible change in reality.
Women were reduced to their ability of becoming a mother and men had no blame in anything.
It makes be think about what is happening new in America : laws to protect women en children are changed, reducing women to incubators : we are no longer aloud to stop a pregnancy, not for any reason at all (not for rape, not because of age, not for health, not for..). It's not difficult to see the resemblance to what the author is writting : 'laws' written by the church, no longer ment to be forced upon people, are now forced upon women and there is no protest. I think it makes the world a very scary place and it makes this book suddenly a lot more plausible..
At the end of the book, we are a lot further in the future and looking back on the time of Gilead : investigators making fun of what people in those days must have known and thought, analysing in a cold way all of the horror that has happened, wondering why Vanfred didn't do more, be more like a spy and not realizing how easy it is to say you would have done it differenty if you were never in that position..
The author never ment for this book to be a glance at the future but sadly, some parts of it are happening (luckily not (yet) in every country). Let us hope, for this time, we try to learn from mistakes (even if they are only fictional) and don't do them (again).
Walden en De plicht tot burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid by Paolo Cognetti, Henry David Thoreau
When I started reading 'Walden', I was very enthusiastic. I had heard a lot of good things and I was curious to get to know (the way of the thinking of) Thoreau.
After a few pages, I already knew this wasn't a way of writing that really intrigues me : Thoreau can give beautiful descriptions of the nature where he lived, pictures the pond as a personality, writes about the animals as if they were his friends, .. but none of it felt really lived through (for me).
'Walden' was written after Thoreau moved back to the city of Concorde. He had lived a little over 2 years in a little cabin at Walden, near the pond. He was still young when he did this ; I had imagined him to be an older man who had enough of the hypocrisy of life in a city. When you read the book, he sounds like someone who has all the answers while he 'only' lived there for 2 years and he knew all the time, he could go back to the city whenever he wanted and could end his self-chosen poverty.
Thoreau looks down on almost everyone : he wants us to realize that you don't need a lot of possessions or money to be able to live (read : survive). People nowadays cling to much to money so all they do is work to get more possessions and more money but it also makes us crave even more so we're stuck in the circle of working more to get more to work more to..
I think it's an easy way of thinking when you know you won't need to live like this for the rest of your life, when you don't need to worry about what will happen when you get sick or too old to work.
The book 'Walden' was combined with his work 'the duty of civil disobedience'. This work I just loved : it is written very passionately, he puts a clear description of why he thinks what he thinks and asks you what you can do to make the society we live in, a better one.
But, end this is a big but, even though I don't seem to like him as a person, he does write a lot of beautiful quotes that makes me think about (our way of) life.
I'll write all of my favorite quotes down here, they are translated out of Dutch so I hope I won't miss the nuances in translation.
I went into the woods to live a conscience life, so I could focus only on essentials and investigate if I wouldn't be able to learn what life is trying to teach me, so that when I am on my deathbed, I don't have to discover I hadn't lived yet.
I wouldn't have talked as much about myself if there would have been someone else I know just as good. Sadly, I need to limit myself to this subject due to my lack of experience.
Who had made them slaves to the soil ? Why are they forced to eat 50 acres when man is convicted to only eat a few ponds of dirt ?
Always promising to pay tomorrow while we're dying today without being able to pay.
What someone thinks of himself, is what defines his destiny, or rather, points in its direction.
Most of the luxury in life, and a lot its comfort, isn't just not indispensable but even a type of obstacle that stands in the way of the upliftment of humanity.
We only know few men but lots of coats and pants. (Thoreau points out our priorities are wrong : we think we know the worth of someone by looking at their clothes and how they portrait themselves instead of looking at what actions they perform and what is important in life.)
Men have become the tools of their tools. (Thoreau let us know that in the beginning, we acted so we could meet our basic needs, once those were met we could enjoy all that nature has to offer. Now, we are 'forced' to work more and more, to harvest more and more ; not for our needs but to purchase luxury. We have forgotten to live in the now and enjoy now ; we work ourselves to our deaths, without pleasure, so that we can enjoy it all later.)
One could even claim that both the prophets and the saviors are more at ease to comfort man in his fears than to enhance his hope.
Let us life one day just as determined as Nature and not derail by every nutshell or fly wing that falls on the rails.
In my home, I had 3 chairs : 1 for solitude, 2 for friendship and 3 for company.
Only when we're lost, in other words, only when we lose the world, we try to find ourselves and realize where we are and how endlessly far-reaching everything we deal with is.
How can you expect the birds to sing when you cut down their trees ?
Be like Columbus and discover new continents and worlds within yourself, open new channels, not for trade but for reflecting.
Some people keep telling us that we, Americans, modern humans in general are intellectual dwarves compared to humans from Ancient Times, or even the age of Elizabeth. But what does it matter ? A living dog is better than a death lion. Must someone kill himself only because he is a Pygmy or should he try to become the biggest Pygmy possible ?
You don't need money to buy what the soul needs.
Is there not a government in which good and bad are not decided by majorities but by conscience ?
I think that we should be humans before we are subjects.
The law has never made people one bit more just ; and even good-inclined men, by their reverence for the law, are daily made instruments of injustice.
I myself, can not acknowledge any political organization as the government when this is also a government of slaves.
The best thing someone can do for their culture when they are rich, is try to execute the plans he made when he was poor.
There will never be a truly free and enlightened State until the State recognizes the individual as a higher, independent power from which he derives all his power and authority and treats him as such.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
When I started reading 'Walden', I was very enthusiastic. I had heard a lot of good things and I was curious to get to know (the way of the thinking of) Thoreau.
After a few pages, I already knew this wasn't a way of writing that really intrigues me : Thoreau can give beautiful descriptions of the nature where he lived, pictures the pond as a personality, writes about the animals as if they were his friends, .. but none of it felt really lived through (for me).
'Walden' was written after Thoreau moved back to the city of Concorde. He had lived a little over 2 years in a little cabin at Walden, near the pond. He was still young when he did this ; I had imagined him to be an older man who had enough of the hypocrisy of life in a city. When you read the book, he sounds like someone who has all the answers while he 'only' lived there for 2 years and he knew all the time, he could go back to the city whenever he wanted and could end his self-chosen poverty.
Thoreau looks down on almost everyone : he wants us to realize that you don't need a lot of possessions or money to be able to live (read : survive). People nowadays cling to much to money so all they do is work to get more possessions and more money but it also makes us crave even more so we're stuck in the circle of working more to get more to work more to..
I think it's an easy way of thinking when you know you won't need to live like this for the rest of your life, when you don't need to worry about what will happen when you get sick or too old to work.
The book 'Walden' was combined with his work 'the duty of civil disobedience'. This work I just loved : it is written very passionately, he puts a clear description of why he thinks what he thinks and asks you what you can do to make the society we live in, a better one.
But, end this is a big but, even though I don't seem to like him as a person, he does write a lot of beautiful quotes that makes me think about (our way of) life.
I'll write all of my favorite quotes down here, they are translated out of Dutch so I hope I won't miss the nuances in translation.
I went into the woods to live a conscience life, so I could focus only on essentials and investigate if I wouldn't be able to learn what life is trying to teach me, so that when I am on my deathbed, I don't have to discover I hadn't lived yet.
I wouldn't have talked as much about myself if there would have been someone else I know just as good. Sadly, I need to limit myself to this subject due to my lack of experience.
Who had made them slaves to the soil ? Why are they forced to eat 50 acres when man is convicted to only eat a few ponds of dirt ?
Always promising to pay tomorrow while we're dying today without being able to pay.
What someone thinks of himself, is what defines his destiny, or rather, points in its direction.
Most of the luxury in life, and a lot its comfort, isn't just not indispensable but even a type of obstacle that stands in the way of the upliftment of humanity.
We only know few men but lots of coats and pants. (Thoreau points out our priorities are wrong : we think we know the worth of someone by looking at their clothes and how they portrait themselves instead of looking at what actions they perform and what is important in life.)
Men have become the tools of their tools. (Thoreau let us know that in the beginning, we acted so we could meet our basic needs, once those were met we could enjoy all that nature has to offer. Now, we are 'forced' to work more and more, to harvest more and more ; not for our needs but to purchase luxury. We have forgotten to live in the now and enjoy now ; we work ourselves to our deaths, without pleasure, so that we can enjoy it all later.)
One could even claim that both the prophets and the saviors are more at ease to comfort man in his fears than to enhance his hope.
Let us life one day just as determined as Nature and not derail by every nutshell or fly wing that falls on the rails.
In my home, I had 3 chairs : 1 for solitude, 2 for friendship and 3 for company.
Only when we're lost, in other words, only when we lose the world, we try to find ourselves and realize where we are and how endlessly far-reaching everything we deal with is.
How can you expect the birds to sing when you cut down their trees ?
Be like Columbus and discover new continents and worlds within yourself, open new channels, not for trade but for reflecting.
Some people keep telling us that we, Americans, modern humans in general are intellectual dwarves compared to humans from Ancient Times, or even the age of Elizabeth. But what does it matter ? A living dog is better than a death lion. Must someone kill himself only because he is a Pygmy or should he try to become the biggest Pygmy possible ?
You don't need money to buy what the soul needs.
Is there not a government in which good and bad are not decided by majorities but by conscience ?
I think that we should be humans before we are subjects.
The law has never made people one bit more just ; and even good-inclined men, by their reverence for the law, are daily made instruments of injustice.
I myself, can not acknowledge any political organization as the government when this is also a government of slaves.
The best thing someone can do for their culture when they are rich, is try to execute the plans he made when he was poor.
There will never be a truly free and enlightened State until the State recognizes the individual as a higher, independent power from which he derives all his power and authority and treats him as such.