If You Want To See

If Every Day A Man Takes Orders In Silence From An Incompetent Superior, If Every Day He Solemnly Performs Ritual Acts Which He Privately Finds Ridiculous, If He Unhesitatingly Gives Answers To Questionnaires Which Are Contrary To His Real Opinions And Is Prepared To Deny His Own Self In Public, If He Sees No Difficulty In Feigning Sympathy Or Even Affection Where, In Fact, He Feels Only Indifference Or Aversion, It Still Does Not Mean That He Has Entirely Lost The Use Of One Of The Basic Human Senses, Namely, The Sense Of Humiliation.

Every Consession Gives Rise To Further Concessions, We Cannot Back Down, Because Behind Us There Is Only An Abyss, We Must Keep Our Promises And Demand That They Be Kept.

Hope Is Not A Feeling. It Is Not The Belief That Things Will Turn Out Well, But The Conviction That What You Are Doing Makes Sense, No Matter How Things Turn Out.

The Role Of The Writer Is Not Simply To Arrange Being According To His Own Lights; He Must Also Serve As A Medium To Being And Remain Open To Its Often Unfathomable Dictates. This Is The Only Way The Work Can Transcend Its Creator And Radiate Its Meaning...

My Dear Fellow Citizens: For Forty Years You Have Heard From My Predecessors On This Day Different Variations Of The Same Theme: How Our Country Flourished, How Many Millions Of Tons Of Steel We Produced, How Happy We All Were, How We Trusted Our Government, And What Bright Perspectives Were Unfolding In Front Of Us. I Assume You Did Not Propose Me For This Office So That I, Too, Would Lie To You.