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On Anything
Excerpt from On Anything
One day in the town of Perpignan I was poking about to see where I could best get something to eat, when I saw a door open into a charming garden; and in the hope of finding it to be the garden of an inn, and at any rate of seeing the garden during the process of asking whether it were an inn, I walked in, but I found everything deserted.
There was a little house at the end with everything shut against the blinding sun, but the main door of it wide open. I walked in there too and heard no noise of men, and my curiosity took me up the stairs until I came out quite unexpectedly upon another little garden built on the flat roof of this dwelling and on its shady side. And there I saw a man sitting and looking dreamily towards the mountains.
He did not ask me how I came there, but I desired to tell him, for it was evidently his roof.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
One day in the town of Perpignan I was poking about to see where I could best get something to eat, when I saw a door open into a charming garden; and in the hope of finding it to be the garden of an inn, and at any rate of seeing the garden during the process of asking whether it were an inn, I walked in, but I found everything deserted.
There was a little house at the end with everything shut against the blinding sun, but the main door of it wide open. I walked in there too and heard no noise of men, and my curiosity took me up the stairs until I came out quite unexpectedly upon another little garden built on the flat roof of this dwelling and on its shady side. And there I saw a man sitting and looking dreamily towards the mountains.
He did not ask me how I came there, but I desired to tell him, for it was evidently his roof.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
- GenresPhilosophy
292 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1910
About the author
Hilaire Belloc
672 books431 followersJoseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, French-born British writer, is considered a master of light English prose and also widely known for his droll verse, especially
The Bad Child's Book of Beasts
in 1896.
The sharp wit of Belloc, an historian, poet, and orator, extended across a large literary output and strong political and religious convictions. Throughout his career, he prolifically wrote across a range of genres and produced histories, essays, travelogues, poetry, and satirical works.
Cautionary Tales for Children collects humorous yet dark morals, and the historical works of Hilaire Belloc often reflected his staunch Catholicism and critique of Protestant interpretations. He led advocates of an economic theory that promoted and championed distribution of small-scale property ownership as a middle ground between capitalism and socialism, alongside Gilbert Keith Chesterton, his close friend.
In politics, Hilaire Belloc served as a member of Parliament for the Liberal party, but the establishment disillusioned him. His polemical style and strong opinions made him a controversial figure, who particularly viewed modernism, secularism, and financial capitalism as threats to traditional Christian society in his critiques.
The sharp wit of Belloc, an historian, poet, and orator, extended across a large literary output and strong political and religious convictions. Throughout his career, he prolifically wrote across a range of genres and produced histories, essays, travelogues, poetry, and satirical works.
Cautionary Tales for Children collects humorous yet dark morals, and the historical works of Hilaire Belloc often reflected his staunch Catholicism and critique of Protestant interpretations. He led advocates of an economic theory that promoted and championed distribution of small-scale property ownership as a middle ground between capitalism and socialism, alongside Gilbert Keith Chesterton, his close friend.
In politics, Hilaire Belloc served as a member of Parliament for the Liberal party, but the establishment disillusioned him. His polemical style and strong opinions made him a controversial figure, who particularly viewed modernism, secularism, and financial capitalism as threats to traditional Christian society in his critiques.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 8, 2023
a friend of Chesterton is my friend, but how different is Belloc from Gilbert… An idea struck me when I was reading this collection of essays on European culture, civilisation, history, liberty… An idea that a so intelligent and well read and cultured author can be so provincially narrow minded. He talks about Culture and Civilisation as if there were no China, Japan, Africa, Middle East, Russia. Not even shadows or echoes of these great civilisations perturb his provincial European outlook! Conceit is the root of the “collective West”. Conceit and blindness to Others.
October 14, 2012
A very strange book that surprisingly grabbed my attention.
I've been listening to segments over the last couple of days after downloading it as an audiobook from Librivox and found it ammusing and thoughtful.
Its a bit like listening to the ramblings of either a drunk, someone in a mental health institution or an old man in a retirement home, randomly pulling topics out of the air and giving his view.
I've been listening to segments over the last couple of days after downloading it as an audiobook from Librivox and found it ammusing and thoughtful.
Its a bit like listening to the ramblings of either a drunk, someone in a mental health institution or an old man in a retirement home, randomly pulling topics out of the air and giving his view.
September 19, 2010
Listened to this via Libirvox download, quite unusual text, interesting, a bit philosophical in nature, and I must say that its really about, well, just as the title says, Anything!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews