"The superior man is distressed only by the limitations of his ability. He is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has."
This is the sort of aphorism it's always difficult for me to pass along without embarrassment. Maybe Confucius loses something in translation, some idiomatic sense which doesn't transfer well into English, but in Chinese avoids implying, y'know, "...and I, Confucius, am just such a superior man!"
Swift's bit, "...when a great genius appears in the world the dunces are all in confederacy against him" -- that falls into the same category.
Well, 'superior' for us has all those negative connotations of snobbishness and putting on airs and graces. In a more abstruse, philosophical sense, he's talking about (I assume - I don't know much about Confucius) more closely approaching an ideal of 'the good'.
I wondered if you were suggesting that it's impossible to say anything about 'genius' (et al) without insinuating that you are one. A line that suddenly popped into my head (though perhaps it wouldn't pass that test; perhaps nothing would) was: Genius is the cleverness that even dumb people can recognise.
Probably doesn't pass the test. I quite like it, though. Might use it for a 'Bon mot of the week' one day.
A leading presenter on China Central Television's English-language channel has revealed himself to be a xenophobic hate-monger. WHY does he still have a job? Lobby for his dismissal - by any and all means.
Days Ai Weiwei was detained
80
With ironic, sinister symmetry, the celebrity artist/activist was incarcerated on the same day that my friend Wu Yuren was finally released from 10 months' detention.
Now, like Wu, he's been released on extremely restrictive 'bail' terms - but could face re-arrest at any moment. He was detained incommunicado from April 3rd to June 22nd 2011.
Days Wu Yuren was in prison
307
"Released on parole" after 10 months; "parole" lifted another year later. The original charges against him were apparently dropped without his trial ever being formally concluded.
Froog is an escaped lawyer - but there is no need for alarm; he is only a danger to himself, not to the general public. An eternal wanderer, he now lives in an exotic city somewhere in the 'Third World' *, where he is held prisoner by an unfinished novel (or, more precisely, an unstarted novel). He spends a lot of time running, writing, taking photographs, and falling in love with women who fail to appreciate him. He also spends a lot of time in bars.
[* OK, I'll come clean: I've been living in Beijing since summer '02.]
2 comments:
This is the sort of aphorism it's always difficult for me to pass along without embarrassment. Maybe Confucius loses something in translation, some idiomatic sense which doesn't transfer well into English, but in Chinese avoids implying, y'know, "...and I, Confucius, am just such a superior man!"
Swift's bit, "...when a great genius appears in the world the dunces are all in confederacy against him" -- that falls into the same category.
Well, 'superior' for us has all those negative connotations of snobbishness and putting on airs and graces. In a more abstruse, philosophical sense, he's talking about (I assume - I don't know much about Confucius) more closely approaching an ideal of 'the good'.
I wondered if you were suggesting that it's impossible to say anything about 'genius' (et al) without insinuating that you are one. A line that suddenly popped into my head (though perhaps it wouldn't pass that test; perhaps nothing would) was:
Genius is the cleverness that even dumb people can recognise.
Probably doesn't pass the test. I quite like it, though. Might use it for a 'Bon mot of the week' one day.
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