Vem aí o Mencken
Este moço descobriu o Mencken. Em boa hora o fez (vem aí a tradução do On Being an American, uma ínfima parte dos Prejudices). E ainda por cima via Bellow. Só boas referências. Deixo aqui um cheirinho e os links certos (aqui, aqui, aqui e aqui).
The Good Man
”Man, at his best, remains a sort of one-lunged animal, never completely rounded and perfect, as a cockroach, say, is perfect. If he shows one valuable quality, it is almost unheard of for him to show any other. Give him a head, and he lacks a heart. Give him a heart of a gallon capacity, and his head holds scarcely a pint. The artist, nine times out of ten, is a dead-beat and given to the debauching of virgins, so-called. The patriot is a bigot, and, more often than not, a bounder and a poltroon. The man of physical bravery is often on a level, intellectually, with a Baptist clergyman. The intellectual giant has bad kidneys and cannot thread a needle. In all my years of search in this world, from the Golden Gate in the West to the Vistula in the East, and from the Orkney Islands in the North to the Spanish Main in the South, I have never met a thoroughly moral man who was honourable.”
(in Smart Set, 1923)
The mind of Man
”The difference between a moral man and a man of honour is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.
Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly. He is like a watch of which the most that can be said is that its cosmetic effect is good.”
(in Smart Set, 1922)
”Man is one of the toughest of animated creatures. Only the anthrax bacillus can stand so unfavourable an environment for so long a time.”
”The human race has probably never produced a wholly admirable man. Such trite examples as Lincoln, Washington, Goethe and the holy saints are obviously very lame candidates. Even Jesus fails to meet any rational specification.”
(in Minority Report, 1956)
The Good Man
”Man, at his best, remains a sort of one-lunged animal, never completely rounded and perfect, as a cockroach, say, is perfect. If he shows one valuable quality, it is almost unheard of for him to show any other. Give him a head, and he lacks a heart. Give him a heart of a gallon capacity, and his head holds scarcely a pint. The artist, nine times out of ten, is a dead-beat and given to the debauching of virgins, so-called. The patriot is a bigot, and, more often than not, a bounder and a poltroon. The man of physical bravery is often on a level, intellectually, with a Baptist clergyman. The intellectual giant has bad kidneys and cannot thread a needle. In all my years of search in this world, from the Golden Gate in the West to the Vistula in the East, and from the Orkney Islands in the North to the Spanish Main in the South, I have never met a thoroughly moral man who was honourable.”
(in Smart Set, 1923)
The mind of Man
”The difference between a moral man and a man of honour is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.
Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly. He is like a watch of which the most that can be said is that its cosmetic effect is good.”
(in Smart Set, 1922)
”Man is one of the toughest of animated creatures. Only the anthrax bacillus can stand so unfavourable an environment for so long a time.”
”The human race has probably never produced a wholly admirable man. Such trite examples as Lincoln, Washington, Goethe and the holy saints are obviously very lame candidates. Even Jesus fails to meet any rational specification.”
(in Minority Report, 1956)
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