Adversaria (10)
In a certain sense, I think that my writing gets along better with the features of digital presence than physical presence. That’s why I’m sometimes tempted to post texts online, because there they can enjoy a continuous existence and, at least to all appearances, remain oblivious to worldly travails. The joy of forgetting and persisting at the same time.
‘It is the goal of all good craftsmanship to seek the for the object with which the craftsman is concerned’ —Ludwig Edelstein (‘The Hippocratic Oath’, in Ancient Medicine, trans. C. Lilian Temkin, p. 22)
‘The influence of that myth on medieval minds was deep and strange; but it is not the concern of this book’ —J.M. Wallace-Hadrill (The Barbarian West, p. 128)
‘They are ideal subjects for biography because they do not distract from or interrupt the accumulation of curious detail for which they are the excuse’ —Harriet Guest (Small Change, p. 67)
‘People are seldom guilty of excess in what is their daily fare. Nobody affects the character of liberality and good fellowship, by being profuse of a liquor which is as cheap as small beer.’ —Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations, vol. 2, p. 77 )
‘Men in general, though they are aware of the fact that some things, such as wine, may suddenly bring about a striking change in a person’s behavior, do not apprehend hat every kind of food or drink causes a certain mental habit, slight as the variation may be’ —Ludwig Edelstein (‘The Hippocratic Oath’, in Ancient Medicine, trans. C. Lilian Temkin, p. 22)
‘The marks on other people’s books (other people’s both because they belong to others and because they were written by others) confront him with that mixture of magic and righteousness that all restorative acts possess’ —Sergio Chejfec (Forgotten Manuscript, trans. Jeffrey Lawrence, p. 61)
‘For in history no less than in science, there are facts which one cannot afford to overlook; new discoveries are made which one must take into account, and doubtful instances ought not to be considered certain’ —Ludwig Edelstein (‘Petersen on Hippocratic Wisdom’, in Ancient Medicine, trans. C. Lilian Temkin, p. 130)