Elie Wiesel, in a series of quasi-parables and paradoxes, stressed the tragic nature of the human condition, but because he did not have the time to provide a context for his remarks, he seemed quixotic and confused, conveying an impression
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“The influence of the Lutheran religion, which favored music as a source of religious edification, also gave musicians higher status and influence in Germany than they found elsewhere.5”
― In Praise of Commercial Culture
― In Praise of Commercial Culture
“Now we must ask whether the internet has created an asymmetric technology risk for democracies that authoritarian governments can counteract more readily than the republican form of government that Franklin’s words urge us to protect. The answer is probably yes. Digital technology has created a different world, and not always a better one.”
― Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age
― Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age
“Not faith but moral behavior is the essence of all religion.”
― The Pity of It All: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Epoch, 1743-1933
― The Pity of It All: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Epoch, 1743-1933
“Composing for money was held in no shame, and the public concert spread throughout Europe. Wealthy countries that did not groom their own composers, such as England, imported them from outside with lucrative offers. Handel and Haydn were their two most notable imports. British conductor Roger Norrington said of Handel: "[the Messiah] was written for money ... he was a commercial composer; if he were alive today, he'd be doing jingles for”
― In Praise of Commercial Culture
― In Praise of Commercial Culture
“I’ll tell you the truth, Dr. Singh, what I have discovered about these trees is not what I expected. It will not be what your pharmaceutical company expects. It is something much greater, much more ambitious than anything we had hoped for. That was Dr. Rapp’s great lesson in the Amazon, in science: Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”
― State of Wonder
― State of Wonder
Daniel Shugrue’s 2025 Year in Books
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