We have names for people who have many beliefs for which there is no rational justification. When their beliefs are extremely common we call them 'religious;' otherwise, they are likely to be called 'mad,' 'psychotic' or 'delusional'… Clearly there is sanity in numbers. And yet, it is merely an accident of history that it is considered normal in our society to believe that the Creator of the universe can hear your thoughts, while it is demonstrative of mental illness to believe that he is communicating with you by having the rain tap in Morse code on your bedroom window. And so, while religious people are not generally mad, their core beliefs absolutely are.
—Sam Harris
With everything (James)
Possibly there is such a thing as being so concerned with the self that one loses sight of the poet's privileged duty, which is to be concerned with everything, in the hope of producing something—a poem, a stanza, even a single line—that will live on its own, in its own time.
Clive James
Labels: quote
