Knowledge Cannot Be Solicited From The Gods

“If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The author at the RUSI Library of Military History in London.

by Kudakwashe Kanhutu

I, myself, am not the proverbial man of rare intellect. Instead, I was lucky enough to meet someone of rare intellect who selected for me these books which she herself had read. My course director for the Classics programme at Goldsmiths College (University of London), selected for me the books I have listed below. 

This is what is called the Western Canon, and it raises some controversy among post-colonial critics who feel it excludes the literature and cultures of the former colonies. They see this as a perpetuation of the dominant colonialist discourse. Fortunately for me, these are sentimentalities and sensibilities which do not concern me in the least. I am only concerned with taking what I need, wherever I may find it.

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

"Lugansk was a sea of flames when we drove through in the tanks...."



"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” 

“Men's indignation, it seems, is more exited by legal wrong than by violent wrong; the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled by a superior.”

“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”

"Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination."

“What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny.”

"They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force--nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.” 

“Bene disserer est finis logices (The end of logic is to dispute well.)” 

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..”

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”