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‎The only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness.

Swami Vivekananda

The author of “The Name of the Rose” was at the Jerusalem Book Fair when he was asked his opinion about the refusal of Ian McEwan, the British novelist, to boycott the event because of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
“I have so much to say against the Italian government that I have no time to speak about the Israeli government,” Mr Eco said.

Seek not that things should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.

Epictetus

A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

“Life is futile,” says my new therapist, Michaela, “and no one gets out of it alive. There is only love.”

Emma Forrest

Something marvellous happened to me. I was transported to the seventh heaven. There sat all the gods assembled. As a special dispensation, I was granted the favour of making a wish. “Do you wish for youth,” said Mercury, “or for beauty, or power, or a long life; or do you wish for the most beautiful woman, or any other of the many fine things we have in our treasure chest? Choose, but only one thing!” For a moment I was bewildered; then I addressed the gods, saying: “My esteemed contemporaries, I choose one thing — that I may always have the laughter on my side.”

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il is a fanatical cinephile whom is said to have a library of 15,000 films, and for years he has directed his own propaganda movies. He was behind the seizure of a leading South Korean film director and his wife in 1978, “re-educating” him in prison and camps for five years before telling him to get on with more movies, although the couple later escaped during a trip to Vienna in 1986.

Life is what
happens when consciousness
meets the present