We don't understand

‘Yes, I have (…) experienced all this to be so: that is to say, that the upright and the wise, with their activities, are in the hands of God. We do not understand either love or hate, where we are concerned, both of them are futile. And for all of us is reserved a common fate, for the upright and for the wicked, for the good and for the bad; whether we are ritually pure or not, whether we offer sacrifice or not: it is the same for the good and for the sinner, for someone who takes a vow, as for someone who fears to do so. This is another evil among those occurring under the sun: that there should be the same fate for everyone. The human heart, however, is full of wickedness; folly lurks in our hearts throughout our lives, until we end among the dead. But there is hope for someone still linked to the rest of the living: better be a live dog than a dead lion. The living are at least aware that they are going to die, but the dead know nothing whatever. No more wages for them, since their memory is forgotten. Their love, their hate, their jealousy, have perished long since, and they will never have any further part in what goes on under the sun. So, eat your bread in joy, drink your wine with a glad heart, since God has already approved your actions. At all times, dress in white and keep your head well scented.’

Ecclesiastes : 9, 1-8

Money

'Money is now quite beyond human control. Governments do not control their country's money, though they like to pretend they do. True, there are some immensely wealthy individuals and international corporations whose actions briefly van have some noticeable effects on the world economy, but there is no one individual or corporation who can claim to understand, much less direct, the universal, changing patterns of money and its effects'

D.Rowe. 1997. The real meaning of money. London: HarperCollinsPublishers.

Unduly wise

'In my futile life, I have seen everything:
the upright person perishing in uprightness
and the wicked person surviving in wickedness.
Do not be upright to excess
and do not make yourself unduly wise:
why should you destroy yourself?'

Ecclesiastes: 7, 15-16

Fear

'The price of peace, probably the only thing that can make humanity abandon its longstanding desire to try its hand at the game of war, is, unfortunately, fear'

Crevelt, M. van. 2008. The culture of war. New York: Ballantine books, 289

Speculations

'Countless academic nuclear strategists like nothing better than to write lengthly treatises on whether this or that technological development, way of deploying nuclear weapongs, or doctrine will make nuclear war more or less likely. In practice their speculations have proved almost entirely irrelevant, because they were never put to the test. All the strategists can do is play with words, sometimes supplemented with mathematical equations few people can understand and which may be even less relevant to any kind of reality than words are.'

Creveld, M. van. 2008. The culture of war. New York: Ballantine books, 286

Oppression and injustice

'If in a province you see the poor oppressed, fair judgement and justice violated, do not be surprised, for over every official there watches a higher official, and over these, higher officials still.' Ecclesiastes: 5.7

Gelijkheid?

'Zich in het grondprobleem ‘man en vrouw’ te vergissen, hier het grondeloos diepe antagonisme en de noodzakelijkheid van een eeuwig vijandige spanning te loochenen, hier wellicht van gelijke rechten, gelijke opvoeding, gelijke aanspraken en verplichtingen te dromen, dat is een typisch teken van een bekrompen geest'.

Friedrich Nietzsche