The speech set a pattern that he would follow throughout the war, offering a sober appraisal of facts, tempered with reason for optimism. “It would be foolish to disguise the gravity of the hour,” he said. “It would be still more foolish to
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“The statue serves as an act of defiance. The sculptor knew exactly what he was doing. Ezekiel wanted to portray an “accurate” history of the loyal, happy slave, not the “lies” told through books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which showed the brutality of slavery. Instead, the artist said the monument represents the South, which fought “for a constitutional right, and not to uphold slavery.”54 Ezekiel created a monument to white supremacy at the final resting place for soldiers who fought and died to create a more just society, including African American soldiers. Inscribed on the monument is the Latin phrase “Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni,” by the Roman poet Lucan. The English translation reads, “The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the conquered cause pleased Cato.” My Roman history is weak, but the historian Jamie Malanowski broke down the meaning: You have to know your Latin history to know they’re talking about the Roman Civil War, that the dictator Julius Caesar won, and that Cato was pleased with the republicans’ sacrifice. With that background in mind the inscription is a ‘fuck you’ to the Union. It’s that sneaky little Latin phrase essentially saying ‘we were right and you were wrong, and we’ll always be right and you’ll always be wrong.’55”
― Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
― Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
“Food was how my mother expressed her love. No matter how critical or cruel she could seem—constantly pushing me to meet her intractable expectations—I could always feel her affection radiating from the lunches she packed and the meals she prepared for me just the way I liked them.”
― Crying in H Mart
― Crying in H Mart
“We read because without books our world shrinks our empathy thins and our liberty wanes. We read for the same reason that people have read and shared poems or stories for thousands of years, because our eyes are not enough by which to see.”
― Reading for the Love of God
― Reading for the Love of God
“As investor Michael Batnick says, "some lessons have to be experienced before they can be understood." We are all victims, in different ways, to that truth.”
― The Psychology of Money By Morgan Housel, You Are a Badass at Making Money By Jen Sincero, Money: Know More, Make More, Give More By Rob Moore 3 Books Collection Set
― The Psychology of Money By Morgan Housel, You Are a Badass at Making Money By Jen Sincero, Money: Know More, Make More, Give More By Rob Moore 3 Books Collection Set
“It felt like the world had divided into two different types of people, those who had felt pain and those who had yet to.”
― Crying in H Mart
― Crying in H Mart
Philip’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Philip’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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