Veritum dies aperit.

More Veritum

There is nothing new under the sun.

Plus ça change, plus c'est pareil.

Vous êtes pas tannés de mourir bande de caves?

We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples? There are no limits to our greed, none to our cruelty. And as long as such crimes are committed by stealth and by individuals, they are less harmful and less portentous; but cruelties are practised in accordance with acts of senate and popular assembly, and the public is bidden to do that which is forbidden to the individual. Deeds that would be punished by loss of life when committed in secret are praised by us because uniformed generals have carried them out. Man, naturally the gentlest class of being, is not ashamed to revel in the blood of others, to wage war, and to entrust the waging of war to his sons, when even dumb beasts and wild beasts keep the peace with one another. Against this overmastering and widespread madness philosophy has become a matter of greater effort, and has taken on strength in proportion to the strength which is gained by the opposition forces. - Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65)

Notre frénésie n'est pas seulement individuelle, elle est nationale : nous réprimons les assassinats, le meurtre d'homme à homme; mais les guerres, mais regorgement des nations,[134] forfait couronné de gloire! La cupidité, la cruauté, ne connaissent plus de frein : ces fléaux toutefois, tant qu'ils s'exercent dans l'ombre et par quelques hommes, sont moins nuisibles, moins monstrueux ; mais c'est par décrets du sénat, c'est au nom du peuple que se consomment les mêmes horreurs, et l'on commande aux citoyens en masse ce qu'on défend aux particuliers. L'acte qu'on paierait de sa tête s'il était clandestin, nous le préconisons commis en costume militaire. Loin d'en rougir, l'homme, le plus doux des êtres, met sa joie à verser le sang de son semblable et le sien, à faire des guerres, à les transmettre en héritage à ses fils, tandis qu'entre eux les plus stupides et les plus féroces animaux vivent en paix. Contre une fureur si dominante et si universelle la tâche de la philosophie est devenue plus difficile; elle s'est munie de forces proportionnées aux obstacles croissants qu'elle voulait vaincre.

While French is a beautiful language of love, compassion and social revolution almost feminine in nature English is a language of international business, beautiful but masculine in nature and manipulative in the extreme usage.

http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/07may/article085.html

I would tend to agree and even to add that especially in this paragraph French seems to be totally emasculated, bland and powerless. No umph to it at all unlike the more aggressive English that seems to paint a more realistic picture even though all these words get totally lost either way as everyone reads them, forget them and go to bed exactly the same as they were.

La preuve du pire, c'est la foule.

"Therefore let us press on and persevere. There remains much more of the road than we have put behind us; but the greater part of progress is the desire to progress."

--- Seneca

I LOVE THE SMELL OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE MORNING!