"Few people realize that the Bible discourages people from studying foreign languages."

Thorsten J. Pattberg See all quotes by Thorsten J. Pattberg →

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More by Thorsten J. Pattberg

“The shengren is the single most important concept in Chinese history.”

“Honesty and facts are almost irrelevant. Getting attention is key, causing offence is desirable, and provoking a physical response is the jackpot.”

“Any sage can do philosophy, but not every philosopher is a sage.”

“Chinese holiday names are not dead yet, although I would hardly call them alive either: they are truly undead vocabularies.”

“Harvard has de facto become a Chinese outpost. -- Oh, boy, do the Chinese love Harvard! , China Daily, Beijing”

“As a rule, for any society that is single-mindedly interested in its own promotion and thus survival, it would have to have a h uge population and it would have to send its people out, not letting too many others in.”

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— Stephen Fry

Entertainment1957

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"Two signs of learned person are: acceptance of other people's criticism, and being knowledgeable about the angles and dimensions of rhetoric and debate."

— Imam Husayn ibn Ali (A.S.)

Religion626–680

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"Today I have been reading Linné again and am quite unnerved by this extraordinary man. I have learned an infinite amount from him, not just in botany. Outside of Shakespeare and Spinoza, I know of no …"

— Baruch Spinoza

Philosophy1632–1677

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"Animals and plants cannot understand our business, so we have denied that they can understand their own. What we call inorganic matter cannot understand the animals' and plants' business, we have ther…"

— Samuel Butler (novelist)

Literature1835–1902

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