Edwin O. Reischauer famous quotes

The real strength of democracy is that anyone who is not specifically against it must ultimately be for it, while communism suffers from the great tactical liability that anyone who is not specifically for it is eventually forced to oppose it.
-- Edwin O. Reischauer

#Real #Suffering #Democracy

Absolutely delightful, at first for its unspoiled picture of late-nineteenth-century Japan as seen through the eyes of three remarkable but very different Americans, [the missionary William Elliot Griffis [1843-1928], the scientist Edward Sylvester Morse [1838-1925], and the writer Lafcadio Hearn], and then for the marvelous reconstruction of how Japan worked on their minds, radically changing their perceptions of the country and the whole relationship between East and West--between the barbarian and the civilized. The book is a tour de force.
-- Edwin O. Reischauer

#Country #Book #Eye

Hangeul is perhaps the most scientific system of writing in general use in any country.
-- Edwin O. Reischauer

#Country #Writing #Korea

I'd rather feel something for real than pretend it's not what it is.

I want to be a real artist to consumers. I want to be the real thing for them.

I don't look at myself as suffering.

Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.

I suffer from and enjoy an incredibly vivid dream life. A lot of times there is a sort-of narrative and other times they are just funhouses of non-linear imagery and other scary stuff.

The sight or sound of perfect things causes a certain suffering.

I take a grave view of the press. It is the weak slat under the bed of democracy

My critique of democracy begins and ends with this point. Kids must be educated to disrespect authority or else democracy is a farce.

The goal of a great democracy should be fulfillment, not ease. It should be adequacy, not serenity.

As a rule, dictatorships guarantee safe streets and terror of the doorbell. In democracy the streets may be unsafe after dark, but the most likely visitor in the early hours will be the milkman.