Men, forever tempted to lift the veil of the future-with the aid of computers or horoscopes or the intestines of sacrificial animals-have a worse record to show in these sciences than in almost any scientific endeavor. Hannah Arendt More Quotes by Hannah Arendt More Quotes From Hannah Arendt The ceaseless, senseless demand for original scholarship in a number of fields, where only erudition is now possible, has led either to sheer irrelevancy, the famous knowing of more and more about less and less, or to the development of a pseudo-scholarship which actually destroys its object. Hannah Arendt development knowing numbers Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. When we say of somebody that he is 'in power' we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name. The moment the group, from which the power originated to begin with ... disappears, 'his power' also vanishes. Hannah Arendt power names numbers Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future. Hannah Arendt kept-promises keeping-promises broken-promises If the ability to tell right from wrong should have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to 'demand' its exercise in every sane person no matter how erudite or ignorant. Hannah Arendt should-have exercise thinking The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the easy life of the gods would be a lifeless life. Hannah Arendt effort pain life Solitude is the human condition in which I keep myself company. Loneliness comes about when I am alone without being able to split up into the two-in-one, without being able to keep myself company. Hannah Arendt solitude loneliness two Although tyranny...may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people. Hannah Arendt war peace people Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it. Hannah Arendt incapable creating violence The most striking difference between ancient and modern sophists is that the ancients were satisfied with a passing victory of argument at the expense of truth, whereas the moderns want a more lasting victory at the expense of reality. Hannah Arendt victory differences reality What I propose, therefore, is very simple: it is nothing more than to think what we are doing Hannah Arendt propose simple thinking There always comes a point beyond which lying becomes counterproductive. This point is reached when the audience to which the lies are addressed is forced to disregard altogether the distinguishing line between truth and falsehood in order to be able to survive. Hannah Arendt lines order lying As citizens, we must prevent wrongdoing because the world in which we all live, wrong-doer, wrong sufferer and spectator, is at stake. Hannah Arendt diversity citizens culture Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. Hannah Arendt inspiring inspirational life ... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their bundance. Whatever we do, we are supposed to do for the sake of "making a living;" such is the verdict of society, and the number of people, especially in the professions who might challenge it, has decreased rapidly. The only exception society is willing to grant is to the artist, who, strictly speaking, is the only "worker" left in a laboring society. Hannah Arendt work numbers art Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think. Hannah Arendt tyrants women thinking Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being. Hannah Arendt speech political men Only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core. Hannah Arendt rotten hypocrisy hypocrite Poetry, whose material is language, is perhaps the most human and least worldly of the arts, the one in which the end product remains closest to the thought that inspired it. Hannah Arendt language poetry art With the rise of Christianity, faith replaced thought as the bringer of immortality. Hannah Arendt philosophy history art Thought and action must never part company. Hannah Arendt thoughts-and-actions company action
