“Reading about spying is a great British hobby. The sheer volume of books on the subject is matched only by those on sex and gardening.” – Timothy Garton Ash, from his book The File, in which he examined the extensive files kept on him by the Stasi in East Germany.
For a review, visit my blog: hamiltonbeck.wordpress.com
“Fascism spoke with a forked tongue. On January 27, 1932, Hitler declared to the Industrial Club in Düsseldorf, ‘We have reached the irrevocable conclusion to eliminate Marxism in Germany root and branch.’ And National Socialism is supposed to be a variant of Socialism?” – Kurt Bachmann, resistance fighter, founder of the DKP (German Communist Party).
“Grandiosity, a tendency to exaggerate achievements, a preoccupation with ‘fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love,’ a belief in one’s specialness (which can only be understood by other special people), a need for excessive admiration and a sense of entitlement – sound like anyone you know?” – Matt Taibbi, in the most recent Rolling Stone
“A candidate who ran on a platform of universal health care, free higher education and a fair minimum wage, and didn’t act like these ideas were something to be embarrassed about, would probably breeze to the nomination. It would also make our future less depressing to think about.” – Matt Taibbi, in this week’s Rolling Stone.
“Authors are sensitive beings…. All positive adjectives applied to them will be forgotten, yet anything even faintly smacking of imperfection in their work will rankle until the end of time.” – Margaret Atwood. Words for reviewers to keep in mind.
“Translation isn’t done just once and for all, but is part of an ongoing and two way process of “translating” another culture into one’s own in a bigger sense. Anyone who thinks that we would still be performing Greek tragedy if all we had were the early twentieth-century translations of Gilbert Murray (popular as they were in their time) is optimistic at best (and I guess the same is true of Goethe). Translation always demands re-translation…” – Mary Beard, “Why Learn German?” in the Times Literary Supplement, August 27, 2017.
I meant to post this on Facebook last week, but it may have appeared only at my blog site at WordPress. Hence the re-posting.
“All marriages are made in heaven – and at the table. Inviting someone to a meal is the most elegant way of bribing them.” Hippel (1741-1796)
“Translation isn’t done just once and for all, but is part of an ongoing and two way process of “translating” another culture into one’s own in a bigger sense. Anyone who thinks that we would still be performing Greek tragedy if all we had were the early twentieth-century translations of Gilbert Murray (popular as they were in their time) is optimistic at best (and I guess the same is true of Goethe). Translation always demands re-translation…” – Mary Beard, “Why Learn German?” in the Times Literary Supplement, August 27, 2017.
hamiltonbeck 