Xavier M

“How ridiculous were the attentions the weak paid one another in the shadow of the strong!”
― V.S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas

“Perhaps all life was like that--dull and then a heroic flurry at the end.”
― Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory

“In Russia, the land of spectral ideas and disembodied aspirations, many brave minds have turned away at last from the vain and endless conflict to the one great historical fact of the land. They turned to autocracy for the peace of their patriotic conscience as a weary unbeliever, touched by grace, turns to the faith of his fathers for the blessing of spiritual rest. Like other Russians before him, Razumov, in conflict with himself, felt the touch of grace upon his forehead.”
― Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

“The most dangerous worldviews are the worldviews of those who have never viewed the world.”
― Alexander von Humboldt