Mike Mann

“The point of modernity is to live a life without illusions while not becoming disillusioned”
― Antonio Gramsci

“Man is above all else mind, consciousness -- that is, he is a product of history, not of nature.”
― Antonio Gramsci

“Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death--ought to decide, indeed, to earn one's death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible for life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

“The impossible is the least that one can demand.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time: Mcdougal Littell Literature Connections