hum

I am not easily frigthened. Not because I am brave but because I know that I am dealing with human beings, and that I must try as hard as I can to understand everything that anyone ever does. And that was the real import of this morning: not that a disgruntled young Gestapo officer yelled at me, but that I felt no indignation, rather a real compassion, and would have liked to ask, ‘Did you have a very unhappy childhood, has your girlfriend let you down?’ Yes, he looked harassed and driven, sullen and weak. I should have liked to start treating him there and then, for I know that pitiful young men like that are dangerous as soon as they are let loose on mankind.

Etty Hillesum

What would you do if you had ten minutes left to live?

When you meet a virtuous man,
try to equal him.

When you meet a man without virtue,
examine your own shortcomings.

Confucius

I once conducted an informal survey, posing the following question: “If you are using more words than somebody wants to hear, do you want that person to pretend to listen or to stop you?” Of the scores of people I approached, all but one expressed a preference to be stopped. Their answers gave me courage by convincing me that it is more considerate to interrupt people than to pretend to listen.

Alla Milano-Sanremo del 1946, Coppi, scalatore perfetto, scollina in solitudine sul Passo del Turchino e arriva con 14 minuti sul secondo. Niccolò Carosio annuncia: “Primo Fausto Coppi. In attesa degli altri, trasmettiamo musica da ballo”.

Aneddoti

And death was declared.

Richard Webb-Stevens

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

Plato

Going about with matted hair, without food or bath, sleeping on the ground smeared with dust or sitting motionless - no amount of penance can help a person whose mind is not purified. But those whose mind is serene and chaste, whose senses are controlled and whose life is nonviolent - these are true brahmins, true monks, even if they wear fine clothes.

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