Greg

“Mao Ch’iang and Li Chi were considered beautiful by men, but when fish saw them, they plunged into the depths; when birds saw them, they flew high in the sky; and when deer saw them, they ran away. Did any of these four really know the true principle of beauty in the world? As I see it, the principles of benevolence and righteousness and the paths of right and wrong are tangled and confused. How should I know how to distinguish them?”
― Chuang Tzu, The Book of Chuang Tzu

“Nowhere do “politicians” form a more distinct and powerful segment of the nation than in North America. Here, each of the two major parties, which take turns in power, is itself governed by people who treat politics as a business, who speculate on seats in the legislative assemblies of both the federal government and the individual states, or who make a living by campaigning for their party and are rewarded with positions after its victory. It is well known how Americans have been trying for 30 years to shake off this yoke, which has become unbearable, and how, despite all this, they are sinking ever deeper into this quagmire of corruption. It is precisely in America that we can best see how this separation of state power from society—of which it was originally intended to be merely an instrument—is taking place. Here there is no dynasty, no nobility, no standing army—except for the few men guarding the Indians—and no bureaucracy with permanent positions or pension entitlements. And yet we have here two large gangs of political speculators who take turns seizing state power and exploiting it through the most corrupt means and for the most corrupt purposes—and the nation is powerless against these two large cartels of politicians, who supposedly serve it but in reality dominate and plunder it.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)”
― Friedrich Engels, Der Bürgerkrieg in Frankreich: Adresse des Generalraths der Internationalen Arbeiter-Association. Dritte deutsche Auflage

“The world of the stories of the Holy Scriptures is not content with the claim to be a historically true reality - it claims to be the only true world, the world destined for sole dominion. ... The stories of Holy Scripture do not court our favor, as Homer's do, they do not flatter us in order to please and charm us - they want to subjugate us, and if we refuse, we are rebels. The belief in the one God who reveals himself to the world in Israel's destiny is imperious and exclusive.”
― Otto Kaiser, Zwischen Athen und Jerusalem: Studien zur griechischen und biblischen Theologie, ihrer Eigenart und ihrem Verhältnis (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die ... Wissenschaft, 320)

“We live, say well-informed people, in a century of disbelief and skepticism. Yet there is no shortage of gods or prophets.”
― Gérard de Nerval, God is dead! The gods return: An English version of Les chimères of Gerard de Nerval