Philosophy of the day
Alain de Botton, the French philosopher, says that in order to cope with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, he recalls two quotations. One is from the Roman philosopher, Seneca: "What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears." The other is from the French moralist, Chamfort: "A man should swallow a toad every morning to be sure of not meeting with anything more revolting in the day ahead."
posted by Whispering Walls at 9:19 am
6 Comments:
I Like de Botton, because he has brought some philosophical thought to quite a large number of people who never thought of it before.
Mark you, I asked him to come to give a talk to friends of mine in Glasgow and his reply of far too busy - ever - seemed to me unfgracious, seeing as I was prepared to pay.
As I result I teased him a little, and asked him what he thought of the famous Cactus Gulch philosopher Lobey Dosser.
He was not amused to discover the truth....
In an idle moment here in Georgia I was watching on TV a French philospher musing on the current economic crisis, suggesting communism was the answer. When questioned on the practicality of his remedies, the replied (with a shrug and upturned hands, of course) "I do not have to answer this, I am a philospher, not an economist or politician." I love the French intellectual's attitude to life's slings and arrows.
I'd not heard the toad one - what an idea! I really like toads though, so perhaps I could slightly alter the phrase to swallowing worms/spiders....but somehow the toad is perfect and it can't be played with after all.
Tell me more, KL
Hello Mr Eurodog! How is Georgia? Theorists never like to dirty their hands with empirics.
Hi Mopsa - I expect the toads are more sacred than the lambs on your farm!
More in the Somme....
I think I'll go with Seneca...
Post a Comment
<< Home