Quote

The English reputation for humour is a way by which people avoid revealing themselves and have superficial relationships, so that you can engage in banter without making yourself vulnerable.

Theodore Zeldin

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Theodore Zeldin
Age: 91
Born: 1933
Born: August 22
Historian
Sociologist
University Teacher
British Mandate for Palestine
People
Reputation
Vulnerable
Avoid
Relationships
Banter
English
Revealing
Making
Humour
Without
Superficial
Way
Engage

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Art is, nowadays, our new religion and museums are our cathedrals.
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The institution of marriage, if you look at it over many centuries, has come and gone.
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All invention and progress comes from finding a link between two ideas that have never met.
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To be a catalyst is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they can control it, wish to influence its direction.
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The kind of conversation I like is one in which you are prepared to emerge a slightly different person.
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Conversation creates a new kind of network within organizations. Current networks are used for competitive advantage, but conversation is focused on encouraging people to realize their potential.
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Each person is an enigma. You're a puzzle not only to yourself but also to everyone else, and the great mystery of our time is how we penetrate this puzzle.
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When will we make the same breakthroughs in the way we treat each other as we have made in technology?
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Only when people learn to converse will they begin to be equal.
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The British have turned their sense of humour into a national virtue. It is odd, because through much of history, humour has been considered cheap, and laughter something for the lower orders. But British aristocrats didn't care a damn about what people thought of them, so they made humour acceptable.
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The past is what provides us with the building blocks. Our job today is to create new buildings out of them.
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The violent have been victorious for most of history because they kindled the fear with which everyone is born.
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What we make of people, and what we see in the mirror when we look at ourselves, depends on what we know of the world, what we believe to be possible, what memories we have, and whether our loyalties are to the past, the present or the future.
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Breaking accepted rules does bring people together.
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People in this world of superficial communication find themselves isolated and lonely and have difficult in talking about personal things that really matter to them.
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The French have made conversation their claim to civilisation.
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To idolise a person means you don't get to know them, and the idea that you can become one is a myth, and it also means that you don't need to talk to one another because you're the same person.
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