My mind
seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large
collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part
of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive. A man
with a mind more highly organized or better constituted than mine, would not, I
suppose, have thus suffered; and if I had to live my life again, I would have
made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every
week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept
active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may
possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character,
by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature. - Charles Darwin
When
evening has come, I return to my house and go into my study. At the door I take
off my clothes of the day, covered with mud and mire, and I put on my regal and
courtly garments; and decently reclothed, I enter the ancient courts of ancient
men, where, received by them lovingly, I feed on the food that alone is mine
and that I was born for. There I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask
them the reason for their actions; and they in their humanity reply to me. And
for the space of four hours I feel no boredom, I forget every pain, I do not
fear poverty, death does not frighten me. I deliver myself entirely to them. -
Niccolò Machiavelli
No comments:
Post a Comment