Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Growth of Genius

"Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom. Persons of genius are, ex vi termini, more individual than any other people- less capable, consequently, of fitting themselves, without hurtful compression, into any of the small number of moulds which society provides in order to save its members the trouble of forming their own character."

- John Stuart Mill-
On Liberty pg. 54

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Advice for the Young



"Here are some simple pieces of advice for the young.
Don’t drink on an empty stomach: the main point of the refreshment is the enhancement of food.
Don’t drink if you have the blues: it’s a junk cure.
Drink when you are in a good mood.
Cheap booze is a false economy.
It’s not true that you shouldn’t drink alone: these can be the happiest glasses you ever drain.
Hangovers are another bad sign, and you should not expect to be believed if you take refuge in saying you can’t properly remember last night.
(If you really don’t remember, that’s an even worse sign.)
Avoid all narcotics: these make you more boring rather than less and are not designed –as are the grape and the grain— to enliven company.
Be careful about up-grading too far to single malt Scotch: when you are voyaging in rough countries it won’t be easily available.
Never even think about driving a car if you have taken a drop.
It’s much worse to see a woman drunk than a man: I don’t know quite why this is true but it just is. Don’t ever be responsible for it."

-Christopher Hitchens
Hitch 22, pg. 352

Friday, July 1, 2016

As I read Christopher Hitchens' memoir today, Hitch 22, I came across a section of text that I found to be distracting and beautifully written. He was writing in relation to becoming an American citizen.The documents he speaks of, are known as the Constitution of the United States and other governmental papers, which lay out the the idea of a free people's nation. He follows this by talking about the evolution of the amendments over many decades, from the 13th all the way through to the 22nd. 

"For a writer to become an American is to subscribe of his own free will to a set of ideas and principles and to the documents that embody them in written form, all the while delightedly appreciating that the documents can and often must be revised, so that the words therefore constitute, so to say, a work in progress."
-Hitch 22, pg.259