To act, in its most general sense, means to take an initiative, to begin... to set something into motion. Hannah Arendt More Quotes by Hannah Arendt More Quotes From Hannah Arendt Could the activity of thinking as such, the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention, regardless of results and specific content, could this activity be among the conditions that make men abstain from evil-doing? Hannah Arendt evil men thinking A theology which is not based on revelation as a given reality but treats God as an idea would be as mad as a zoology which is no longer sure of the physical, tangible existence of animals. Hannah Arendt animal reality ideas Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are subject. Hannah Arendt dying quiet death Poets are the only people to whom love is not only a crucial, but an indispensable experience, which entitles them to mistake it for a universal one. Hannah Arendt mistake love-is people At any rate, nothing was more characteristic of him [Walter Benjamin] in the thirties than the little notebooks with black covers which he always carried with him and in which he tirelessly entered in the form of quotations what daily living and reading netted him in the way of "pearls" and "coral." On occasion he read from them aloud, showed them around like items from a choice and precious collection. Hannah Arendt notebook choices reading In politics, love is a stranger, and when it intrudes upon it nothing is being achieved except hypocrisy. Hannah Arendt stranger hypocrisy love-is The human condition comprehends more than the condition under which life has been given to man. Men are conditioned beings because everything they come in contact with turns immediately into a condition of their existence. The world in which the vita activa spends itself consists of things produced by human activities; but the things that owe their existence exclusively to men nevertheless constantly condition their human makers. Hannah Arendt makers men world A functionary, when he really is nothing more than a functionary, is really a very dangerous gentleman. Hannah Arendt dangerous gentleman The role played by education in all political utopias from ancient times onward shows how natural it seems to start a new world with those who are by birth and nature new. So far as politics is concerned, this involves of course a serious misconception: instead of joining with one's equals in assuming the effort of persuasion and running the risk of failure, there is dictatorial intervention, based upon the absolute superiority of the adult, and the attempt to produce the new as a fait accompli, that is, as though the new already existed. Hannah Arendt effort political running The emotions I feel are no more meant to be shown in their unadulterated state than the inner organs by which we live. Hannah Arendt emotion states feels Equality...is the result of human organization. We are not born equal. Hannah Arendt equality born organization For excellence, the presence of others is always required. Hannah Arendt excellence writing Fear is an emotion indispensable for survival. Hannah Arendt survival emotion fear It belongs among the refinements of totalitarian government in our century that they don't permit their opponents to die a great, dramatic martyr's death for their convictions. Hannah Arendt dramatic opponents government What will happen once the authentic mass man takes over, we do not know yet, although it may be a fair guess that he will have more in common with the meticulous, calculated correctness of Himmler than with the hysterical fanaticism of Hitler, will more resemble the stubborn dullness of Molotov than the sensual vindictive cruelty of Stalin. Hannah Arendt stubborn sensual men They must remember that they are constantly on the run, and that the world's reality is actually expressed by their escape. Hannah Arendt running reality world It is rather hard and certainly depressing to admit guilt and to repent Hannah Arendt repent depressing guilt When we were told that by freedom we understood free enterprise, we did very little to dispel this monstrous falsehood. Wealth and economic well-being, we have asserted, are the fruits of freedom, while we should have been the first to know that this kind of happiness has been an unmixed blessing only in this country, and it is a minor blessing compared with the truly political freedoms, such as freedom of speech and thought, of assembly and association, even under the best conditions. Hannah Arendt freedom blessing country The monstrous sameness and pervasive ugliness so highly characteristic of the findings of modern psychology, and contrasting so obviously with the enormous variety and richness of overt human conduct, witness to the radical difference between the inside and the outside of the human body. Hannah Arendt psychology differences body The end of rebellion is liberation, while the end of revolution is the foundation of freedom. Hannah Arendt rebellion foundation revolution
