HUMANITY 

OFF TUNE AT TIMES

Quote for Today - February 11. 2011


"There is an army barracks in the neighborhood where the soldiers practice playing the bugle every morning and every evening, without much sign of progress. I have heard other people say that the sound is pure torture, that the exercises grate on the ears, but somehow the noise doesn't bother me at all. Great music stands alone as a bequest to the world, belonging like all perfect things to a superhuman realm. It is only in the realm of perfect technique that the ever-tangled and tired human element is allowed a moment of rest. When one's technique has yet to be perfected, struggle, anxiety, disorder, and adventure predominate, and the human element remains strong. I like the sound of humanity because its 'always about to reveal itself.'"


Eileen Chang, Written On Water, translated by Andrew F. Jones, Weatherhead Books on Asia, Columbia University Press, New York, 1968, 2005, page 63