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36e0ef4
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Olivier took a deep breath, then turned and bowed in farewell. Gersonides nodded in return, then thought of something. "The manuscript you brought me, by that bishop. It argues that understanding is more important than movement. That action is virtuous only if it reflects pure comprehension, and that virtue comes from the comprehension, not the action." Olivier frowned. "So?" "Dear boy, I must tell you a secret." "What?" "I do believe it is..
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understanding
virtue
wrong
philosophy
comprehension
right
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Iain Pears |
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fbd3b6b
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It is a machine which I invented, designed and built. It is a way of gaining access to a variety of realities. As I say, at the moment it leads to a world created from Henry's imagination.' 'Does he know?' 'No, and I'd prefer it if you didn't tell him. He might be offended.' 'What do you mean by variety of realities?' 'It means that for any given state of the universe, there are an infinite number of other possibilities. For example, we cam..
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Iain Pears |
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bc4c558
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Father is a school ... He always wanted to write books. But he became rich instead, so is not allowed.
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wealth
writing
books
wishes
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Iain Pears |
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ff8f655
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It is easy to imagine a world where not only can few people read, few need to or want to. Serious reading can become the preserve of a s mall group of specialists, just as shoe-making or farming is for us. Think how much time would be saved. We send children to school and they spend most of their time learning to read and then, when they leave, they never pick up another book for the rest of their lives. Reading is only important if there i..
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Iain Pears |
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cb6c2ab
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As in most obituaries, the author said little about the man; they rarely do. But the reticence here was greater than usual. It mentioned that Ravenscliff left a wife, but did not say when they married. It said nothing at all about his life, nor where he lived. There were not even any of the usual phrases to give a slight hint: 'a natural raconteur' (loved the sound of his own voice); 'Noted for his generosity to friends' (profligate); 'a fo..
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Iain Pears |
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ee0d7da
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The next day was a dream of such perfection that I have never approached the like again. It was, of course, all illusion, but I like to think of it still in isolation from what came after,as a moment of bliss, one of those days when on is no longer oneself, but becomes bigger, and better, able to overcome the normal preoccupations of life and breathe more freely.
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Iain Pears |
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8160483
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Rosie digested the information, but not the cake. Her mother was strict about eating between meals. 'A fat girl will never find a good man, Rosie,' was her view, handed down to her by Great-aunt Jessie, a woman of many cliches.
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Iain Pears |
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5a73096
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It was, for the time being, an empty threat, and he must have sensed it also, for he laughed easily and with contempt. "You will do what your masters tell you to do, doctor. As do we all."
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Iain Pears |
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9758e8c
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Shame, I do believe, is the most powerful emotion known to man; most discoveries and journeys of importance have been accomplished because of the ignominy that would be the result if the attempt was abandoned.
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Iain Pears |
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8889815
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People make the mistake of assuming far too many things about armies,' Lefevre told me one evening. 'They assume, for a start, that generals know what they are doing and know what is going on. They assume that orders pass down from top to bottom in a smooth and regulated fashion. And above all they assume that wars start only when people decide to start them.' 'You are going to tell me that is not the case?' 'Wars begin when they are ready,..
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Iain Pears |
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43e4b09
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His idleness was his refuge, and in this he was like many others in [occupied] France in that period; laziness became political.
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war
politics
occupied-france
occupation
wwii
laziness
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Iain Pears |
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755ebc6
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My Lord Bacon, in his
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truth
logic
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Iain Pears |
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41e4981
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Aunt Gertie could not tell the difference between 1928 and now. Uncle Joseph was dead and alive. In other words, she grasped the essential non-existence of time. Generally speaking, our minds impose an entirely artificial order on the world. It is the only way that such an inadequate instrument as our brain can function. It cannot deal with the complexity of reality, so simplifies everything until it can, putting events into an artificial o..
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Iain Pears |
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843f9c8
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Who you are is less important than what you seem.
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Iain Pears |
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9aeae41
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Lying," he said out loud, hoping no one would hear. "I need to lie. Teach me, quickly." I wouldn't if I were you, came the response. For a start, it's a variable concept here. You are in a culture where ambiguity has been raised to a high level. Let me give an example: depending on phrasing, circumstance, expression, body movement, intonation and context, the statement "I love you" can mean I love you; I don't love you; I hate you; I want t..
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politics
love
truth
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Iain Pears |
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54fc1c8
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The dance of capital, the harmony of a balance sheet, and the way these abstractions interact with people, their characters and desires, either as individuals or in a mass. Understand that one is the other, that they are two separate ways of expressing the same thing, and you understand the whole nature of business.
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Iain Pears |
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f872cf9
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I knew salesmen, they made good murderers.
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Iain Pears |
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43db90e
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A te trezi, in Roma ca si in oricare alt oras, e o treaba personala si cel mai bine e sa o rezolvi in liniste.
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Iain Pears |
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b0c5ee3
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o zi fara inghetata era o zi pierduta.
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roma
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Iain Pears |
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08423a8
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Men reacted as they always did; some with an extreme of generosity, giving what little they could spare to strangers; others behaved with an equal and opposite extreme of harshness, demanding outrageous things in exchange. Honest men became thieves, honest women prostitutes, criminals became saints, all driven onward by an idea of what they were leaving behind.
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Iain Pears |
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8d0eb95
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Young men of my type are prone to be impatient of details, and give their loyalties without regard to evidence.
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Iain Pears |
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ba40478
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creating a void which others seek to fill through conversation.
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Iain Pears |
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5edca64
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They respect their betters, and fear those below them.
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Iain Pears |
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57bcf93
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Comrade Kropotkin has argued in the past that Darwinism is but a reflection of capitalism because it emphasises competition and struggle over cooperation and coexistence. It justifies the exploitation of man by man, and strengthens the class ideology of the oppressors." "Excellent. So what will be new today?"
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Iain Pears |
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584bc0f
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The result was most peculiar, and it took a lot of work to get it laid out properly, but first tests were satisfactory. I called it "Momentum" and told anyone who saw it that it was a biting critique of modernity, representing how the culture of the past (the pergola) was contaminated and overwhelmed by the detritus of consumerist industrialism that was covering over the elegance of civilisation with mass-produced conformity. It was thus bo..
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Iain Pears |
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d75a6c7
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I should explain how my device worked. It operated by manipulating the ether, that non-existent substance which physicists had rationalised out of their theories on the usual grounds that if it could not be converted into one of their little numbers it could not possibly be there. Einstein's biggest mistake.
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Iain Pears |
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bd5cfea
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The world needs only a few geniuses; civilization is maintained and extended by those lesser souls who corral the men of greatness, tie them down with explanations and footnotes and annotated editions, explain what they meant when they didn't know themselves, show their true place in the awesome progression of mankind.
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Iain Pears |
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a3a6d60
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Like the aristocracy, you can tell a reporter's status by his clothes and manners. The worse they are, the higher up they are,
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Iain Pears |
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bc2db6f
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I did not like Ravenscliff by instinct, but I was beginning to find him fascinating. A book-reading, socialist-sympathising, child-begetting capitalist fraud.
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Iain Pears |
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5944b70
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The world was full of such madmen in those days. Imprisonment is not the way to deal with such people; half measures merely feed their pride. Leave 'em alone or hang 'em, in my opinion. Or better still, pack them off to the Americas, and let them starve.
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Iain Pears |
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aafdedd
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Although I do not need to be surrounded by others in order to feel alive, I do need some conversation and distraction.
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Iain Pears |
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179c9fd
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The French, I knew, were well ahead in this area, constructing gigantic palaces in the centre of cities which offer every luxury to travellers prepared to pay well to avoid any real contact with the place they were visiting.
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Iain Pears |
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6935941
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How do we justify calling ourselves civilised, after all? Is it the books we read? The delicacy of our tastes? Our place in continuing a line of belief ando of common values which strech back a thousand years and more? All this, indeed, but what does it mean? How does it show itself? Are you civilised if you read the right books, yet stand by while your neighbours ara massacred, your lanas laid waste, your cities brought to ruin?>>
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Iain Pears |
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10a858b
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The rolling sound of a good hymn badly sung is particularly evocative.
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Iain Pears |
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4b984f4
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A company is a moral imbecile. It has no sense of right or wrong. Any restraints have to come from the outside, from laws and customs which forbid it from doing certain things of which we disapprove. But it is a restraint which reduces profits. Which is why all companies will strain forever to break the bounds of the law, to act unfettered in their pursuit of advantage. That is the only way they can survive because the more powerful will de..
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Iain Pears |
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70327aa
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An in experienced traveler would imagine that their land contains the finest buildings, the biggest towns, the richest, best-fed, happiest people in the world.
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Iain Pears |
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013e6aa
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Politeness, I learned at her salon, is a demanding discipline; to convince others without recourse to the tricks of the demagogue or bully requires a high level of intelligence, especially when the audience is learned and intelligent.
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Iain Pears |
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11f777a
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some were simple idlers spending an inheritance pretending to be poets or painters; and a couple were medical students, who had a wildness of such severity that I would hesitate ever to place myself under their care.
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Iain Pears |
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faff5f2
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Nu pot sa spun ca sunt multumit. Dar asta este. Ce poti face? Oamenii astia insista sa imparta faima cu mine.
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Iain Pears |
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18b9f63
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O viata petrecuta lucrand sub egida Ministerului Apararii il invatase o sumedenie de tehnici de supravietuire intr-o lume care facea ca lupta armata sa para civilizata si plina de stil.
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Iain Pears |
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365204b
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Dar Bottando stia, datorita unei intelepciuni ascutite in ani intregi de activitate, ca nu exista nici un document care sa ateste ca responsabilitatea nu-i mai apartinea, iar asta era ingrijorator.
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Iain Pears |
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2ac3068
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Tommaso nu voise decat un strat de protectie intre el si responsabilitate, in cazul in care se intampla ceva rau.
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Iain Pears |
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dd0708f
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Atat timp cat un numar suficient de oameni cred ca e autentic, chiar e.
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Iain Pears |
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5b5bbb7
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I cannot remember a single painting, although I do remember trying hard to be deeply impressed by them at the time.
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Iain Pears |