Trial of the Will. "Reviewing familiar principles and maxims in the face of mortal illness, Christopher Hitchens has found one of them increasingly ridiculous: 'Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.' Oh, really? Take the case of the philosopher to whom that line is usually attributed, Friedrich Nietzsche, who lost his mind to what was probably syphilis. Or America’s homegrown philosopher Sidney Hook, who survived a stroke and wished he hadn’t. Or, indeed, the author, viciously weakened by the very medicine that is keeping him alive."
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Dec 8, 2011 -
27 comments
I both loved and resented that wealth of warmth which Elisabeth brought to me in those unexpected hours of the night. I was usually in the midst of a sound sleep when she got into my bed, and thrilling as I found the ministrations of her fat little fingers, it also meant my being kept awake for hours and hours. Besides, though in my conscious nature I knew nothing about what was going on, I must have had a feeling that my sister was bringing to my life as accomplished facts sensations whose real value to a boy was in their being discovered as part of the experience of growing up. She was presenting me with triumphs I should by right attain only by my own efforts in a much more restricted world… [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese
on Mar 20, 2009 -
11 comments
One should speak only when one may not remain silent; and then speak only of that which one has overcome—everything else is chatter, "literature," lack of breeding. My writings speak only of my overcomings: "I" am in them, together with everything that was hostile to me.
On January 3, 1889,
Friedrich Nietzsche walked into the Piazza Carlo Alberto in Turin and saw a horse, fallen, beaten brutally by its master. Nietzsche embraced it, and thereafter never regained his reason. The story might be
mythical, or
borrowed. If so, it is hardly alone; myths about Nietzsche--
his Nazism,
his syphilis--seem to confirm his dictum that
"truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions." But separating the
man from the
myth is impossible: Nietzsche was
Zarathustra, he was
Heraclitus. Like his ancient antecedents, he spoke in
aphorisms and
hymns, in
fragments; like a bird, he fled
south for the winter.
"Only a fool, only a poet..."
posted by nasreddin
on Sep 13, 2007 -
74 comments
Nietzsche Family Circus : Family Circus cartoons randomly combined with quotes from Nietzsche. Remixing Family Circus is nothing new, but I find this one fascinating.
posted by Lirp
on Oct 5, 2006 -
30 comments
What have you told your children about Muhammad Ali? "I was frequently left with tingling all over because I had been in the presence of such a great
man and still humbled by his compassion, tolerance and understanding." Inspired by this weekend's airing by ESPN Classic of most of
Tyson's fights, I started thinking about the difference between these two men. Ali obviously transcended his sport and has become
more than just a boxer while Tyson is clearly a lost and troubled
soul. And yet Tyson's story still
inspires reflection.
Nietzche's statement that "What someone is, begins to be revealed when his talent abates, when he stops showing us what he can do" is perfectly illustrated by the twilight years of these two legendary boxers.
posted by spicynuts
on Nov 27, 2005 -
47 comments
