Russell Shorto · 384 pages
Rating: (6.6K votes)
“It was possible, as far as they knew, that the western shore, which in fifty years’ time would be christened New Jersey, was in fact the backdoor of China, that India, with its steamy profusion of gods and curries, lay just beyond those bluffs.”
― Russell Shorto, quote from The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
“It was the Dutch of this era who invented the idea of the home as a personal, intimate space; one might say they invented coziness.”
― Russell Shorto, quote from The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
“This book tells the story of that moment in time. It is a story of high adventure set during the age of exploration—when Francis Drake, Henry Hudson, and Captain John Smith were expanding the boundaries of the world, and Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Galileo, Descartes, Mercator, Vermeer, Harvey, and Bacon were revolutionizing human thought and expression.”
― Russell Shorto, quote from The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
“Instead, power went to those who made things happen: businessmen and local magistrates. Over time, human nature being what it is, these men would create a kind of nobility, sometimes even buying titles from cash-poor foreigners, but this in itself underscores the point. Upward mobility was part of the Dutch character: if you worked hard and were smart, you rose in stature. Today that is a byword of a healthy society; in the seventeenth century it was weird.”
― Russell Shorto, quote from The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
Russell Shorto
Born place: Johnstown, Pennsylvania, The United States
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“Look on the bright side: if you cause an inferno, you can always put it out with a tidal wave.”
― Sarah Alderson, quote from Losing Lila
“يقول مثل قديم مأخوذ من العالم الخارجي المرئي "لن ينال الخبز إلا الرجل الكادح" والغريب أن هذا المثل لا ينطبق بصدق في ذلك العالم الذي ينتمي إليه بجلاء ذلك أن عالم الظاهر خاضع لقانون النقص-وفيه تتكرر حيناً بعد آخر تلك التجربة التي نرى فيها أن من لا يعمل يحصل أيضاً على الخبز-بل إن من ينام يحصل عليه بوفرة أكثر من الرجل الكادح،فهذا العالم اسير لقانون عدم الاكتراث(أو قانون استواء الطرفين)-أما في عالم الروح فالأمر جد مختلف-فهنا يسود النظام الإلهي الأبدي-وهنا لا تمطر السماء على العادل والظالم سواء-وهنا لا تشرق الشمس على الطيب والشرير معاً-وهنا ينطبق ذلك المثل-من يعمل هو وحده الذي يحصل على الخبز-ومن لا يعمل لا يحصل على الخبز بل يبقى مخدوعاً-وأن من يحيا في القلق وحده الذي يجد الراحة-وأن من يشهر السكين هو وحده الذي ينقذ اسحق”
― Søren Kierkegaard, quote from Fear and Trembling
“Maybe some people just aren't meant to be in our lives forever. Maybe some people are just passing through. It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something: a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn. And that's why they're here. You'll have that gift forever.”
― Danielle Steel, quote from The Gift
“Loyalty, Signor Molteni, not love. Penelope is loyal to Ulysses but we do not know how far she loved him...and as you know people can sometimes be absolutely loyal without loving. In certain cases, in fact, loyalty is form of vengeance, of black-mail, of recovering one's self-respect. Loyalty, not love.”
― Alberto Moravia, quote from Contempt
“You can never be done with music. No more than you can be done with breathing. The day you quit is the day you die.”
― Brom, quote from Krampus: The Yule Lord
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