"It is reality that awakens possibilities, and nothing would be more perverse than to deny it. Even so, it will always be the same possibilities, either in sum or on the average, that go on repeating themselves until a man comes along who does not value the actuality over the idea. It is he who first gives the new possibilities their meaning, their directions, and he awakens them."
- Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities
"The truth will set you free. But not until it is done with you."
- David Foster Wallace
“Recent polls suggest that in terms of national reaction, demonstrations are now counterproductive,” the interviewer told the civil rights leader. “By continuing them, don’t you run the risk of doing more harm than good?”
“I have never felt that demonstrations could solve the problem,” Dr. King replied. “Demonstrations dramatize the existence of certain social ills that could very easily be ignored if we did not have demonstrations, and the initial reaction to demonstrations is always negative.”
MSNBC’s Fresh-Faced Chris Hayes Makes it ‘Up’ as He Goes Along | The New York Observer