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Quotations from authors

Last updated:  30 April 2000


Icon Theodor W. Adorno - a German philosopher who had to emigrate to the USA during Facism; he's the co-author of the study The authoritarian personality (1946) and afterwards he reminded us that Germany is not that peaceful a country that it projects - thanks Teddy! He wrote lots of philosophical books. Check also the philosophical web page which helps you to understand why Teddy is such a big shot.

Icon Ernst Bloch - a German philosopher coming back from the USA due to emigration because of Fascism who lived until the end of the 50s in the German Democratic Republic and then moved to the Federal Republic of Germany; afterwards he taught at the University of Tübingen; he was one of the most important current German philosophers and the quotes presented here are from The Principle of Hope. Cambridge, Mass (MIT Press). Well, if you've got the money, buy this voluminous book. It'll change your mind. The quotes I put in here, however, only refer to health. The bandwidth of The principle of hope is much wider, though!

Icon Kinky Friedman - he's a strange guy. Writing thrillers located in New York City but being a Texan musician. Well, you've gotta a be a male chauvinist to like his stuff, don't you? ATTENTION, some of Kinky's comments may be offensive if you're believing in the fundamental value of family life and the evil of pre- and extramarital sex.

Icon Anthony Giddens - well, I consider Anthony to be one of the most innovative sociologists of our times (besides Jürgen Habermas - the German sociologist and philosopher who has contributed so much to the further development of critical theory; maybe I open an extra-page for this theory some time later). These quotes of Giddens' work are just to stimulate your intellectual appetite. I like his style, I like his historical knowledge of sociological theory which is mainly German (that's true, we haven't been the bad guys for all of our existence) and this knowledge is hard to find among native English speaking sociologists. I like his way to think about the world.

Icon Antonio Gramsci - an Italian philosopher and politician who worked on the cultural side of historical-materialism - and he lost, of course, as all the others. What a shame.

Icon Hippocrates - this is a Greek medical doctor who lived around 2500 BC. He's the author of the Hippocratic Oath which each medical doctor subscribes to - at least in theory. This guy knew more about public health than some of our high level professorial professionals.

Icon Herbert Marcuse - another German emigrant to the USA who had to get out of fascistic Germany in the 1930s. He was one of the most creative minds of the bunch of Germans stranded somewhere in the US of A in the late 1930s. Marcuse's One-dimensional man (1964, I guess) of which the quotes are from is still an exciting book. You don't believe it? Well, check it out or forget it.

Icon Geoffrey Rose - he was one of the outstanding epidemiologists our century has seen who was able to see the limits of his profession at the very end of his career. I would have wished that Geoffrey had an earlier "coming out". Well, it wasn't to be and now he's dead . No more insights from Geoffrey, what a pity, because I believe he was on the right track, and we're in desperate need of someone of his quality.

Icon P.J. O'Rourke - P.J. O'Rourke is considered to be either an asshole (which he is!) or a brilliant satirical commentator of what's going on in this world (which he is, too!). His work appears among others in Rolling Stone which doesn't make him a good person and Rolling Stone a bad journal or vice versa. ATTENTION: Tipper Gore would never dare to be exposed to this male-chauvinist writer - and if you don't want, you better find another place to feel comfortable again. O'Rourke is controversial, to say the least - but sometimes, when nobody watches you, you may feel, he's just fun. Don't tell anybody about your cynical, or perhaps realistic feelings - my best advice to anyone who smiles when reading O'Rourke.

Icon Robert M. Pirsig - well, he taught us the zen of motorbicycle riding and repairing and now he tells us something about moral & ethics - he's so different! What a compliment in times of political correctness and intellectual uniformity.

Icon Paul Theroux - Paul is a writer who writes either brilliant travel reports or rather dull novels (which he probably considers to be more valuable than his travel reports - forget an author's assessment). The quotes here refer to his traveling of the Pacific Islands including Australia and New Zealand. ATTENTION: You may not like his observations - but does that make Theroux a bad person? What a question in the times of Pauline Hanson!

Icon Mark Twain - this links to the most comprehensive collection of Mark Twain resources on the Net, provided by Jim Zwick






Copyright © by Eberhard Wenzel, 1997-2001