100 citata iz 15 najboljih pročitanih knjiga— dio 3

Tjedno radimo po 20 citata iz 3 knjige tako da danas prelazimo polovinu citata s trećim dijelom. Do sada smo obradili 6 knjiga, a danas je vrijeme na ove tri: 

THE LESSONS OF HISTORY – WILL & ARIEL DURANT

Kratka knjiga koja sadrži povijesne lekcije iz 10 različitih dijelova ljudskog interesa i djelovanja. Svaka rečenica ove knjige je zlata vrijedna, a ne pamtim kada me 100 stranica naučilo toliko toga. Treba biti vodič u školama. 

1. Inequality is not only natural and inborn, it grows with the complexity of civilization. If we knew our fellow men thoroughly we could select thirty percent of them whose combined ability would equal that
   of all the rest.
2. Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias.
   For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and
   when one prevails the other dies. Leave men free, and their natural
   inequalities will multiply almost geometrically, as in England and
   America in the nineteenth century under laissez-faire. To check the
   growth of inequality, liberty must be sacrificed, as in Russia after
   1917. Even when repressed, inequality grows; only the man who is
   below the average in economic ability desires equality; those who
   are conscious of superior ability desire freedom; and in the end superior ability has its way. 
3. Nothing is clearer in history than the adoption by successful rebels of the methods they were accustomed to condemn in the forces they deposed.
4. men and women have gambled in every age. In every age men have been dishonest and governments have been corrupt; probably less now than generally before.
5. In progressive societies the concentration may reach a point
   where the strength of number in the many poor rivals the strength of
   ability in the few rich; then the unstable equilibrium generates a critical situation, which history has diversely met by legislation redistributing wealth or by revolution distributing poverty.
6. the first condition of freedom is its limitation; make it absolute and it dies in chaos.

ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON’S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE – ALFRED LANSING

Priča o Herojskom dobru istraživanja te ekspediciji na Antarktik– ideji jednog čovjeka da propješači s istoka na zapad Antarktike i prevali put od 2900 kilometara. Ekspedicija je propala, ali je ova priča ostala napisana kao jedna od najvećih u ljudskoj povijesti. 

1. “For scientific leadership give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”
2. In all the world there is no desolation more complete than the polar night. It is a return to the Ice Age—no warmth, no life, no movement. Only those who have experienced it can fully appreciate what it
   means to be without the sun day after day and week after week. Few men unaccustomed to it can fight off its effects altogether, and it has driven some men mad.
3. Many of them, it seemed, finally grasped for the first time just how desperate things really were. More correctly, they became aware of their own inadequacy, of how utterly powerless they were.
4. They were on land.
   It was the merest handhold, 100 feet wide and 50 feet deep. A meager grip on a savage coast, exposed to the full fury of the sub-Antarctic Ocean. But no matter—they were on land. For the first time in 497 days they were on land. Solid, unsinkable, immovable, blessed land.
5. The waves thus produced have become legendary among seafaring men. They are called Cape Horn Rollers or “graybeards.” Their length has been estimated from crest to crest to exceed a mile, and the terrified reports of some mariners have placed their height at 200 feet, though scientists doubt that they very often exceed 80 or 90 feet. How fast they travel is largely a matter of speculation, but many sailormen have claimed their speed occasionally reaches 55 miles an hour. Thirty knots is probably a more accurate figure. Charles Darwin, on first seeing these waves breaking on Tierra del Fuego in 1833, wrote in his
   diary: “The sight . . . is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about death, peril and shipwreck.”
6. By sea it would have been a voyage of more than 130 miles out around the western tip of the island and then along the north coast. By land it was a scant 29 miles in a straight line. The only difference
   between the two was that in the three-quarters of a century that men had been coming to South Georgia, not one man had ever crossed the island—for the simple reason that it could not be done.
   A few of the peaks on South Georgia rise to somewhat less than 10,000 feet, which certainly is not high by mountain-climbing standards. But the interior of the island has been described by one expert
   as “a saw-tooth thrust through the tortured upheaval of mountain and glacier that falls in chaos to the northern sea.” In short, it was impassable. Shackleton did it in three days.

THE 48 LAWS OF POWER – ROBERT GREENE

Knjiga koju smatraju nemoralnom i neetičkom, ali toliko moćnom da je zabranjena u skoro svim zatvorima svijeta upravo radi detaljnih opisa zakona moći. Čitaj da ne bi netko nad tobom provodio ove taktike. 

1. In fact, the better you are at dealing with power, the better friend, lover, husband, wife, and person you become.
2. Rather than flattering Louis XIV, Fouquet’s elaborate party offended the king’s vanity. Louis would not admit this to anyone, of course—instead, he found a convenient excuse to rid himself of a man who had inadvertently made him feel insecure.
3. A witness told Balcha what had happened. During the banquet, a large army, commanded by an ally of Selassie’s, had stolen up on Balcha’s encampment by a side route he had not seen. This army had not come to fight, however: Knowing that Balcha would have heard a noisy battle and hurried back with his 600-man bodyguard, Selassie had armed his own troops with baskets of gold and cash. They had surrounded Balcha’s army and proceeded to purchase every last one of their weapons. Those who refused were easily intimidated. Within a few hours, Balcha’s entire force had been disarmed and scattered in all directions.
4. One oft-told tale about Kissinger… involved a report that Winston Lord had worked on for days. After giving it to Kissinger, he got it back with the notation, “Is this the best you can do?” Lord rewrote and polished and finally resubmitted it; back it came with the same curt question. After redrafting it one more time—and once again getting the same question from Kissinger-Lord snapped, “Damn it, yes, it’s the best I can do. ” To which Kissinger replied: “Fine, then I guess I’ll read it this time. ”
5. People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it. The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power.
6. In 1917, during his later impoverished years, Tesla was told he was to receive the Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He turned the medal down. “You propose,” he said, “to honor me with a medal which I could pin upon my coat and strut for a vain hour before the members of your Institute. You would decorate my body and continue to let starve, for failure to supply recognition, my mind and its creative products, which have supplied the foundation upon which the major portion of your Institute exists.”
7. Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of
   opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.
8. Count Lustig, pulling the biggest con of his career, was about to sell the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting industrialist who believed the government was auctioning it off for scrap metal. The industrialist was prepared to hand over a huge sum of money to Lustig, who had successfully impersonated a government official. At the last minute, however, the mark was suspicious. Something about Lustig bothered him. At the meeting in which he was to hand over the money, Lustig sensed his sudden distrust.
   Leaning over to the industrialist, Lustig explained, in a low whisper, how low his salary was, how difficult his finances were, on and on. After a few minutes of this, the industrialist realized that Lustig
   was asking for a bribe. For the first time he relaxed. Now he knew he could trust Lustig: Since all government officials were dishonest, Lustig had to be real. The man forked over the money. By acting
   dishonest, Lustig seemed the real McCoy. In this case selective honesty would have had the opposite effect.

A idući tjedan idemo u citate ove tri knjige: 

UNSCRIPTED – MJ DEMARCO

THE ART OF LEARNING – JOSH WAITZKIN

EVERYTHING IS FUCKED – MARK MANSON

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