JohannesAcademie

Sebastian-Roch Nicholas Chamfort

"I cannot swear to everything I have said in this argument - but one thing I am ready to fight for in word and deed, that we shall be better, braver and more active men if we believe it is right to look for what we do not know, than if we think we cannot discover it and have no duty to seek it."
Plato

"Where caution is everywhere, courage is nowhere to be found. Our ancestors were not quiescent; we shall die of prudence yet, you will see."
A bishop of Poitiers

"Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism."
Vaclav Havel

These are a few of the quotes subtitling the chapters of The Heart Must Break - The fight for democracy and truth in Burma, by James Mawdsley. James refound meaning in his life after a period of deep disillusionment with life as western society sees and presents it. He did this by plunging into passionate and perilous friendship and struggle for truth. It was a journey which brought him multiple encounters with imminent death, bare-faced hatred and violence, and more pointedly with the depths of man's unavoidable need for the freedom to live and love that only truth can offer... a truth man has been willing to pay the highest price for. He was an ordinary university student who's story through confusion and bitter searching testifies to the beauty of life worth seeking and fighting for.

The Heart Must Break, James Mawdsley, Century 2001