Quotes from Hannah Arendt

A fundamental difference between modern dictatorships and all other tyrannies of the past is that terror is no longer used as a means to exterminate and frighten opponents, but as an instrument to rule masses of people who are perfectly obedient.

Totalitaire overheersing is gericht op de vernietiging van de vrijheid, meer nog, op de eliminatie van de spontaniteit in het algemeen, en geenszins op de beperking, hoe tiranniek ook van de vrijheid. Technisch gesproken blijkt de afwezigheid van enig gezag of hiërarchie in het totalitaire systeem uit het feit dat er tussen de hoogste macht (de Führer) en de onderdanen geen tussenliggende niveaus zijn die elk hun aangepaste deel hebben in het gezag en de gehoorzaamheid.

Much more reliable will be the doubters and skeptics, not because skepticism is good or doubting wholesome, but because they are used to examine things and to make up their own minds. Best of all will be those who know only one thing for certain: that whatever else happens, as long as we live we shall have to live together with ourselves.

Each society demands of its members a certain amount of acting, the ability to present, represent, and act what one actually is. When society disintegrates into cliques such demands are no longer made of the individual but of members of cliques. Behavior then is controlled by silent demands and not by individual capacities, exactly as an actor's performance must fit into the ensemble of all other roles in the play.

Wanneer het totalitarisme aan de macht is, gebruikt het de staat als uiterlijke façade om het land in de niet-totalitaire wereld te representeren.[...]Ze moet de schijn van normaliteit en gezond verstand ophouden tegenover de normale buitenwereld.

This story took no more than perhaps ten minutes to tell, and when it was over - the senseless, needless destruction of twenty-seven years in less than twenty-four hours - one thought foolishly: everyone, everyone should have his day in court.

We did not care if we died today or only tomorrow, and there were times when we cursed the morning that found us still alive.

Het begrip 'objectieve tegenstander', waarvan de identiteit wijzigt in overeenstemming met de heersende omstandigheden - in die zin dat, zodara één categorie geliquideerd is, de oorlog kan worden verklaard aan een ander.

from the human viewpoint 'sub specie aeternitatis' always means also 'sub specie mortis

Menselijke wezens zijn per definitie verdacht, op grond van hun vermogen om te denken, en deze verdenking kan niet afgewend worden door voorbeeldig gedrag, want het menselijk vermogen om te denken is ook het vermogen om zich te bedenken.[...]De volgende beslissende stap is [...] de moord op de morele persoon in de mens. Dit gebeurt hoofdzakelijk door het martelaarschap onmogelijk te maken.

As?l sorun tam da Eichmann gibi onlarca insan?n olmas?ndan, onlarcas?n?n ne sap?k ne de sadist olmas?ndan; ne yaz?k ki hepsinin eskiden de, ÅŸimdi de dehÅŸet verici biçimde normal olmas?ndan kaynaklan?yordu. s.281

Într-o lume de neînÈ›eles, mereu schimb?toare, masele atinseser? punctul în care puteau crede, în acelaÈ™i timp, orice sau nimic, când ele gândeau c? totul este posibil È™i c? nimic nu e adev?rat. Amestecul era destul de ciudat, întru-cât demonstra sfârÈ™itul iluziei c? naivitatea era o sl?biciune a spiritelor primitive neb?nuitoare, iar cinismul reprezenta viciul unor minÈ›i superioare È™i rafinate.

it is rare to meet people who believe they possess the truth; instead, we are constantly confronted by those who are sure that they are right.

In the society founded on Adam man has made himself independent of the Creator. He depends on other persons and not on God. The human race as such originates in Adam and not in the Creator. It has come to be by generation and relates to its source only through all its generations. Based on kinship, the human community is thereby a society from and with the dead; in other words this community is historical.

Overtuigde communisten - de enige die vandaag enig belang heeft - zijn even belachelijk en evenzeer bedreigend voor het regime in Rusland als bijvoorbeeld de overtuigde nazi's van de Röhmfactie waren voor de nazi's.

Under normal circumstances the liar is defeated by reality, for which there is no substitute; no matter how large the tissue of falsehood that an experienced liar has to offer, it will never be large enough, even if he enlists the help of computers, to cover the immensity of factuality.

Fundamental and flagrant contradictions rarely occur in second-rate writers; in the work of the great authors, they lead into the very center of their work.

Gerçeklikten bu kadar uzak ve bu kadar fikirsiz olmak, belki de insan?n bünyesinde bulunan bütün ÅŸeytani içgüdülerin vereceÄŸi zarardan daha büyük bir y?k?ma yol açabilir -asl?nda insan?n Kudüs'teki duruÅŸmadan ç?karabileceÄŸi ders buydu. s.292

In order to make room for one's own action, something that was there before must be removed or destroyed, and things as they were before are changed.

But even non-tragic plots become genuine events only when they are experienced a second time in the form of suffering by memory operating retrospectively and perceptively.

Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs.

The Jewish notables (as they were called in the nineteenth century) ruled the Jewish communities, but they did not belong to them socially or even geographically.

For facts are stubborn; they do not disappear when historians or sociologists refuse to learn from them, though they may when everybody has forgotten them. In our case, such oblivion would not be academic, it would quite literally spell the end of the American Republic.

It was in the nature of the Nazi movement that it kept moving, became more radical with each passing month, but one of the outstanding characteristics of its members was that psychologically they tended to be always one step behind the movement—that they had the greatest difficulty in keeping up with it, or, as Hitler used to phrase it, that they could not "jump over their own shadow.