Saturday 20 June 2015

To say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book

SHARE
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book, said Nietzsche. Here are ten sentences of mine.

Romania is the Orient dreaming that it is France.

The Balkans is not a geographical expression but a state of mind.

The Victorians liked sex. If they hadn't there wouldn't have been any Edwardians.

One tells oneself Guardian readers are people too but somehow that makes the offence worse.

The existence of women is the strongest proof of the existence of God.

Biology is very right-wing.

History, like poetry, art and jokes, exists to reveal a hidden order and meaning in the world.

Economics does not determine culture, as Marxists taught. Culture, of course, determines economics. Culture is determined most by religion, then by history and genetics. Nobody knows in which order the last two go.

When I was growing up I used to thank God every day that I wasn't American, but now I take it for granted. I am at ease in Zion.


Life is a helter-skelter. I am clinging to the sides.

2 comments:

  1. I believe that in your ninth paragraph you have yielded to the temptation to reach for effect rather than fact. It would be tedious to say why I know this is not so, therefore I won't.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are right to correct me, now I think of it. Women with large breasts sometimes forgive large breasts, though often they do not.

    ReplyDelete