Von Den Steinen Quotes

Try repeating "man is an animal" a few times, just to notice how unconvincing it sounds. There seems to be no way to get this idea into our heads, except by long rumination over the facts of evolution or perhaps by exposure to a primitive tribe or by being raised on a farm. Primitives sometimes see little difference between themselves and the animals around them. Karl von den Steinen was told by a Xingu that the only difference between them and the monkey was that they monkeys lacked the bow and arrow. And Jules Henry observed on the Kningang that dogs are not considered pets, like some of the other animals, but are on a level of emotional equality, like a relative. But in our own Western culture we have, for the most part, set a great distance between ourselves and the rest of nature, and language helps us to do this. Thus we say that a sheep "drops" its lamb, but a woman "gives birth" - it's much more noble. Yet we have the right to make such distinctions because we assign the meaning to the world by naming names of things; we inhabit a different sphere and we capitalize naturally on the privilege. ~ Ernest Becker

Die Welt ist nirgends außer diesen Mauern;
Nur Fegefeuer, Qual, die Hölle selbst.
Von hier verbannt, ist aus der Welt verbannt,
Und solcher Bann ist Tod: Drum gibst du ihm
Den falschen Namen. - Nennst du Tod Verbannung,
Enthauptest du mit goldnem Beile mich
Und lächelst zu dem Streich, der mich ermordet.


There is no world without Verona walls,
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Hence banishèd is banished from the world,
And world's exile is death. Then "banishèd"
Is death mistermed. Calling death "banishèd",
Thou cuttest my head off with a golden axe
And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.

Romeo: Act III, Scene 3 ~ William Shakespeare

Neither art thou the man to catch the fiend and hold him! [Ger., Du bist noch nicht der Mann den Teufel festzuhalten. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Sweet moonlight, shining full and clear,
Why do you light my torture here?
How often have you seen me toil,
Burning last drops of midnight oil.
On books and papers as I read,
My friend, your mournful light you shed.
If only I could flee this den
And walk the mountain-tops again,
Through moonlit meadows make my way,
In mountain caves with spirits play -
Released from learning's musty cell,
Your healing dew would make me well! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Tell me with whom you consort and I will tell you who you are; if I know how you spend your time, then I know what might become of you. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Nor would I willingly miss the early darkness and the pleasant firelight tea and the long evenings among my books. ~ Elizabeth Von Arnim

I've been the type of father who tries desperately to be perfect but doesn't succeed all the time. ~ Max Von Sydow

As society is only possible if everyone, while living his own life, at the same time helps others to live; if every individual is simultaneously means and end; if each individual's well-being is simultaneously the condition necessary to the well-being of others, it is evident that the contrast between I and thou, means and end, automatically is overcome. ~ Ludwig Von Mises

Learning how to face fear really makes you invincible because you stop being scared. ~ Alexa Von Tobel

Purity perceives and respects the character of sex-its depth, seriousness, intimacy, and true home within wedded love, which alone makes possible the total and mutual gift of self. ~ Dietrich Von Hildebrand

A man must seek his happiness and inward peace from objects which cannot be taken away from him. ~ Wilhelm Von Humboldt

Some run the cliffs, and set upon an eagle's wings. Others mire in the den, and once within, can never leave again. ~ Chris Galford

Where there are no women there are no good manners ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If diffraction or interference phenomena were to be sought it was therefore necessary, in accordance with the basic principles of wave theory, to select for the test arrangement far smaller decisive dimensions than those employed in corresponding tests with visible light. ~ Max Von Laue

Dwight Eisenhower's first two years in office actually cut the budget substantially, though not dramatically, below the previous year. Now we have "budget cuts" which are not cuts, but rather substantial increases over the previous year's expenditures. "Cut" became subtly but crucially redefined as reducing something else. What the something else might be didn't seem to matter, so long as the focus was taken off actual dollar expenditures. Sometimes it was a cut "in the rate of increase," other times it was a cut in "real" spending, at still others it was a percentage of GNP, and at yet other times it was a cut in the sense of being below past projections for that year. ~ Ludwig Von Mises

The secret is to enjoy being you. ~ Diane Von Furstenberg

I just like meeting people."
"I don't." Tinsley wrinkled her nose. "It upsets my balance. I hate having to constantly reconfigure everyone, who fits where and all that. ~ Cecily Von Ziegesar

When soured by disappointment we must endeavor to pursue some fixed and pleasing course of study, that there may be no blank leaf in our book of life. Painful and disagreeable ideas vanish from the mind that can fix its attention upon any subject. ~ Johann Georg Ritter Von Zimmermann

We are surrounded by abysses, but the greatest of all depths is in our own heart, and an irresistible leaning leads us there. Draw thyself from thyself! ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

We see single symptoms, hear one heartbeat of the century, and want to conclude from this that it is diseased. ~ Karoline Von Günderrode

State interference in economic life, which calls itself economic policy, has done nothing but destroy economic life. Prohibitions and regulations have by their general obstructive tendency fostered the growth of the spirit of wastefulness. ~ Ludwig Von Mises

He who does not see the whole world in his friends, does not deserve that the world should hear of him. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Of all the passions that inspire a man in a battle, none, we have to admit, is so powerful and so constant as the longing for honor and reknown. ~ Carl Von Clausewitz

To test. Would weightlessness put them off their game? It did. The turtles moved "slowly and insecurely" and did not attack a piece of bait placed directly in front of them. Then again, the water in which they swam was repeatedly floating up out of the jar and forming an "ovoid cupola." Who could eat? Von Beckh quickly moved on from turtles to Argentinean pilots. Under the section heading "Experiments with Human Subjects" - a heading that, were I a doctor previously employed by Nazi Germany, I might have rephrased - von Beckh reports on the efforts of the pilots to mark X's inside small boxes during regular and weightless flight. During weightlessness, many of the letters strayed from the boxes, indicating that pilots might experience difficulties maneuvering their planes and doing crossword puzzles during air battles. The following year, von Beckh was recruited by the Aeromedical Research Laboratory at Holloman Air Force ~ Mary Roach

My mother never, ever told me about evilness. She only saw the beautiful things ... she wanted to protect me from it. ~ Diane Von Furstenberg

Her remarks caught his consideration and his violet eyes tapered with growing dislike. He was at least dejected in his solitude, and now she had come to ruin his isolation and compel him to speak when he would otherwise be enjoying silence. He pressed his immense body against the bars of the cell in hopes of intimidating her, but the captain remained complacent and unaffected by his display.
"Leave me, woman," he bellowed at her.
"I fear a cannot do that just now. I might need your help, should you wish to give it."
He groaned and turned aside. "I will not assist you."
"It is rather a shame you won't. I was going to offer you your freedom."
The giant turned back and looked at her with hesitation. ~ Michelle Franklin

The right man is the one who seizes the moment. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Who is the happiest man? He who is alive to the merit of others, and can rejoice in their enjoyment as if it were his own. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

That's the thing about heartbreak.
It's the smallest of worlds ending.
Everyone goes around you smiling,
like it's nothing to close a door. ~ Clementine Von Radics

The manuscript in the drawer either rots or ripens. ~ Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Fletcher Von Pein was one of the twelve founders of the Omega Agency. He was also a powerful banker and a majority shareholder in the US Federal Reserve which, despite its misleading name, had zero government ownership and was actually a private corporation owned by the global elite. ~ James Morcan

The most foolish of all errors is for clever young men to believe that they forfeit their originality in recognising a truth which has already been recognised by others. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

As nighttime turned into dawn, the mountain seemed to travel down the street. It advanced on tiptoe, fully prepared to be shooed away. Lucy understood the mountain's wish to listen at the window of a den of gamblers and be warmed by all that free-floating hope and desolation. Her wish for the mountain was that it would one day shrink to a pebble, crash in through the glass, and roll into a corner to happily absorb tavern life as long as the place stayed standing. ~ Helen Oyeyemi

Two things children shall receive from their parents: roots and wings ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

What's foreign one can't always keep quite clear of,
For good things, oft, are not so near;
A German can't endure the French to see or hear of,
Yet drinks their wines with hearty cheer. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Grief could take the form of violence too, could give a false sense of permission, erase the world around, and that was what frightened Clare most about violence, how transferable it was. ~ Laura Van Den Berg

It is unpleasant to miss even the most trifling thing to which we have been accustomed. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The Reich Youth Leader was Baldur von Schirach, a romantically minded young man and an energetic organizer, whose mother was an American and whose great-grandfather, a Union officer, had lost a leg at Bull Run; he told his American jailers at Nuremberg that he had become an anti-Semite at the age of seventeen after reading a book called Eternal Jew, by Henry Ford. ~ William L. Shirer

The unprecedented success of Keynesianism is due to the fact that it provides an apparent justification for the 'deficit spending' policies of contemporary governments. It is the pseudo-philosophy of those who can think of nothing else than to dissipate the capital accumulated by previous generations. ~ Ludwig Von Mises