Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid ... Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

(Bertrand Russell, Why Men Fight, 1916)    

Simple, but not simpler

«That the vulgar express their thoughts clearly, is far from true; and what perspicuity can be found among them proceeds not from the easiness of their language, but the shallowness of their thoughts».

(Samuel Johnson)

«Che le persone volgari esprimano i propri pensieri in modo chiaro è tutt'altro che vero; e la chiarezza che si può trovare in loro deriva non dalla padronanza della lingua, bensì dalla pochezza dei loro pensieri».

«Dass die einfachen Leute ihre Gedanken klar ausdrücken stimmt überhaupt nicht; und was dabei an Klarheit zu finden ist, kommt nicht von der Einfachheit ihrer Sprache, sondern von der Flachheit ihrer Gedanken».

non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa

“Maestro, che è quel ch’i’ odo?
e che gent’è che par nel duol sì vinta?”.
Ed elli a me: “Questo misero modo
tegnon l’anime triste di coloro
che visser sanza ‘nfamia e sanza lodo.
Mischiate sono a quel cattivo coro
de li angeli che non furon ribelli
né fur fedeli a Dio, ma per sé fuoro.
Caccianli i ciel per non esser men belli,
né lo profondo inferno li riceve,
ch’alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d’elli”.
E io: “Maestro, che è tanto greve
a lor, che lamentar li fa sì forte?”.
Rispuose: “Dicerolti molto breve.
Questi non hanno speranza di morte
e la lor cieca vita è tanto bassa,
che ‘nvidiosi son d’ogne altra sorte.
Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa;
misericordia e giustizia li sdegna:
non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa”.

“Master, what is it that I hear? Who are
those people so defeated by their pain?”
And he to me: “This miserable way
is taken by the sorry souls of those
who lived without disgrace and without praise.
They now commingle with the coward angels,
the company of those who were not rebels
nor faithful to their God, but stood apart.
The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened,
have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive them -
even the wicked cannot glory in them.”
And I: “What is it, master, that oppresses
these souls, compelling them to wail so loud?”
He answered: “I shall tell you in few words.
Those who are here can place no hope in death,
and their blind life is so abject that they
are envious of every other fate.
The world will let no fame of theirs endure;
both justice and compassion must disdain them;
let us not talk of them, but look and pass.”

(Dante Alighieri, Inferno, canto III (ca. 1317) (Courtney Langdon transl. 1918))