#witnessing

The idea of being a foreign correspondent and wandering the world and witnessing great events, having adventures and covering the activities of world leaders, appealed to me greatly. It was a very glamorous life in those days. ↗

— Alan Cranston

#adventures #appealed #being #correspondent #covering

What we are witnessing now is a clash of civilisations, not just between states but within them. ↗

— Pim Fortuyn

#civilisations #clash #just #now #states

Systematic philosophical and practical anti-intellectualism such as we are witnessing appears to be something truly novel in the history of human culture. ↗

— Johan Huizinga

#culture #history #human #human culture #novel

Becoming aware of the intense suffering of billions of animals, and of our own participation in that suffering, can bring up painful emotions: sorrow and grief for the animals; anger at the injustice and deception of the system; despair at the enormity of the problem; fear that trusted authorities and institutions are, in fact, untrustworthy; and guilt for having contributed to the problem. Bearing witness means choosing to suffer. Indeed, empathy is literally 'feeling with.' Choosing to suffer is particularly difficult in a culture that is addicted to comfort--a culture that teaches that pain should be avoided whenever possible and that ignorance is bliss. We can reduce our resistance to witnessing by valuing authenticity over personal pleasure, and integration over ignorance. ↗

— Melanie Joy

#suffering #witnessing #anger

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man. ↗

— Ben Okri

#always #bit #bore #challenging #completely

"It worked." (said after witnessing the first atomic detonation). ↗

— J. Robert Oppenheimer

#atomic #first #said #witnessing #worked

I think that witnessing ecological problems visible from space is one of the new and essential roles of astronauts. ↗

— Philippe Perrin

#ecological #essential #i #i think #new

We are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. We are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government. ↗

— Zachary Quinto

#collective consciousness #consciousness #culture #enormous #government

In crises, the old is dying and the new has not been born. Hence, the revolts we are witnessing in Egypt and Tunisia, which may yet extend to other countries in the region, are full of uncertainties. ↗

— Jose Maria Aznar

#born #countries #crises #dying #egypt

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting. ↗

— George Orwell

#bound #disregard #fair #fair play #hatred