(no subject)
Names changed in the excerpt below. This book resonates with me in an astonishing manner, and this is how I internalize what I read.
He came closer; he leaned with one hand against the wall above her head, almost as i he wished to hold her in the circle of his arm. "C", he said, a tone of gentle, bitter persuasiveness in his voice, "I am older than you. Believe me, there is no other way to live on earth. Men are not open to truth or reason. They cannot be reached by a rational argument. The mind is powerless against them. Yet we have to deal with them. IF we want to accomplish anything, we have to deceive them into letting us accomplish it. Or force them. They understand nothing else. WE cannot expect their support for any endeavor the intellect, for any goal of the spirit. They are nothing but vicious animals. They are greedy, self-indulgent, predatory dollar-chasers who-"
"I am one of the dollar chasers, J.," she said, her voice low.
"You are an unusual, brilliant child who has not seen enough of life to grasp the measure of human stupidity. I've fought it all my life. I'm very tired....." The sincerity of his voice was genuine. He walked slowly away from here. "There was a time when I looked at the tragic mess they've made of this earth, and I wanted to cry out, to beg them to listen - I could teach them to live so much better than they did - but there was nobody to hear me, they had nothing to hear me with...Intelligence? It is such a rare, precarious spark that flashes for a moment somewhere among men, and vanishes. Once cannot tell its nature, or its future....or its death..."
It is as if all of the profane things so often sneered at by the elite intellectuals are given dignity in this book. I cannot turn the pages fast enough. Hardly surprising, because her other famous work captivated me intensely also. The characters are such intense, driven people. It isn't any wonder that they captivate me.
He came closer; he leaned with one hand against the wall above her head, almost as i he wished to hold her in the circle of his arm. "C", he said, a tone of gentle, bitter persuasiveness in his voice, "I am older than you. Believe me, there is no other way to live on earth. Men are not open to truth or reason. They cannot be reached by a rational argument. The mind is powerless against them. Yet we have to deal with them. IF we want to accomplish anything, we have to deceive them into letting us accomplish it. Or force them. They understand nothing else. WE cannot expect their support for any endeavor the intellect, for any goal of the spirit. They are nothing but vicious animals. They are greedy, self-indulgent, predatory dollar-chasers who-"
"I am one of the dollar chasers, J.," she said, her voice low.
"You are an unusual, brilliant child who has not seen enough of life to grasp the measure of human stupidity. I've fought it all my life. I'm very tired....." The sincerity of his voice was genuine. He walked slowly away from here. "There was a time when I looked at the tragic mess they've made of this earth, and I wanted to cry out, to beg them to listen - I could teach them to live so much better than they did - but there was nobody to hear me, they had nothing to hear me with...Intelligence? It is such a rare, precarious spark that flashes for a moment somewhere among men, and vanishes. Once cannot tell its nature, or its future....or its death..."
It is as if all of the profane things so often sneered at by the elite intellectuals are given dignity in this book. I cannot turn the pages fast enough. Hardly surprising, because her other famous work captivated me intensely also. The characters are such intense, driven people. It isn't any wonder that they captivate me.