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| t h e l a t e s t b l o g e n t r i e s |
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| t h e l a t e s t q u o t e |
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| The Sterile Profession of Letters |
Giacomo Leopardi (1845) |
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No profession is so sterile as that of letters. But the world puts such a high value on deceit that with its help even letters becomes fruitful. Fraudulence is as it were the soul of social life. Given its effects on the human mind, no art or human faculty is really perfect without it. If you were to study the histories of two people--the one honest in all things, the other deceitful-you would always find the latter more fortunate than the former. The Honest man is in fact almost entirely barren of good fortune. Artifice lacking truth is valuable and effective, but truth lacking artifice is impotent. I don't think this is due to the wicked inclinations of our species, but rather because in everything he does man needs some illusion and glamour, since truth is always too flawed and impoverished. Illusion pleases and inspires him. He lives for the promise of something more, and better, than what the world can actually give. Even Nature is deceitful toward man: it makes life congenial and tolerable only through imagination and artifice.
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| t h e l a t e s t p h o t o g r a p h y |
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| Photo of the Month, May 2022 |
| Toad Mountain Sunset |
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| All site contents copyright 2024 Edward W. Farrell |
This page last updated on 2024-07-05 |
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