Christopher Hitchens :
The museums of medieval Europe, from Holland to Tuscany, are crammed with instruments and devices upon which the holy men labored devoutly, in order to see how long they could keep someone alive while being roasted. It is not needful to go into further details, but there were also religious books of instruction in this art, and guides for the detection of heresy by pain. (p. 219)
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Invention and Inventor
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Books - Reading
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Museums and Galleries
Gift it
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88443&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=The+museums+of+medieval+Europe%2C+from+Holland+to+Tuscany%2C+are+crammed+with+instruments+and+devices+upon+which+the+holy+men+labored+devoutly%2C+in+order+to+see+how+long+they+could+keep+someone+alive+while+being+roasted.+It+is+not+needful+to+go+into+further+details%2C+but+there+were+also+religious+books+of+instruction+in+this+art%2C+and+guides+for+the+detection+of+heresy+by+pain.+%28p.+219%29&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=23138&author=Susan Sontag"e=++Al+forms+of+consensus+about+great+books+and+perennial+problems%2C+once+stabilized%2C+tend+to+deteriorate+eventually+into+something+philistine.+The+real+life+of+the+mind+is+always+at+the+frontiers+of+what+is+already+known.+Those+great+books+don%27t+only+need+custodians+and+transmitters.+To+stay+alive%2C+they+also+need+adversaries.+The+most+interesting+ideas+are+heresies.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F200%2FSusan+Sontag_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=78898&author=Alphonse de Lamartine"e=I+am+tired+of+museums+-+these+cemeteries+of+art.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F13739%2FAlphonse+de+Lamartine_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=19876&author=Pablo Picasso"e=++Museums+are+just+a+lot+of+lies%2C+and+the+people+who+make+art+their+business+are+mostly+imposters.+We+have+infected+the+pictures+in+museums+with+all+our+stupidities%2C+all+our+mistakes%2C+all+our+poverty+of+spirit.+We+have+turned+them+into+petty+and+ridiculous+things.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F232%2FPablo+Picasso_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=19872&author=Lewis H Lapham"e=++I+never+can+pass+by+the+Metropolitan+Museum+of+Art+in+New+York+without+thinking+of+it+not+as+a+gallery+of+living+portraits+but+as+a+cemetery+of+tax-deductible+wealth.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F840%2FLewis+H+Lapham_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=97876&author=Vladimir Mayakovsky"e=Art+must+not+be+concentrated+in+dead+shrines+called+museums.+lt+must+be+spread+everywhere+%E2%80%93+on+the+streets%2C+in+the+trams%2C+factories%2C+workshops%2C+and+in+the+workers%27+homes.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1770%2FVladimir_Mayakovsky_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=78768&author=Edgar Degas"e=The+museums+are+here+to+teach+the+history+of+art+and+something+more+as+well%2C+for%2C+if+they+stimulate+in+the+weak+a+desire+to+imitate%2C+they+furnish+the+strong+with+the+means+of+their+emancipation.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=19871&author=Helen Keller"e=++Museums+and+art+stores+are+also+sources+of+pleasure+and+inspiration.+Doubtless+it+will+seem+strange+to+many+that+the+hand+unaided+by+sight+can+feel+action%2C+sentiment%2C+beauty+in+the+cold+marble%3B+and+yet+it+is+true+that+I+derive+genuine+pleasure+from+touching+great+works+of+art.+As+my+finger+tips+trace+line+and+curve%2C+they+discover+the+thought+and+emotion+which+the+artist+has+portrayed.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1019%2FHelen_Keller_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=76049&author=Kenneth Clark"e=Great+works+of+art+can+be+produced+in+barbarous+societies+%E2%80%94+in+fact+the+very+narrowness+of+primitive+society+gives+their+ornamental+art+a+peculiar+concentration+and+vitality.+At+some+time+in+the+ninth+century+one+could+have+looked+down+the+Seine+and+seen+the+prow+of+a+Viking+ship+coming+up+the+river.+Looked+at+today+in+the+British+Museum%2C+it+is+a+powerful+work+of+art%3B+but+to+the+mother+of+a+family+trying+to+settle+down+in+her+little+hut%2C+it+would+have+seemed+less+agreeable+%E2%80%94+as+menacing+to+her+civilisation+as+the+periscope+of+a+nuclear+submarine.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F5008%2FKenneth_Clark_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=23135&author=Selma James"e=++We+have+needed+to+define+ourselves+by+reclaiming+the+words+that+define+us.+They+have+used+language+as+weapons.+When+we+open+ourselves+to+what+they+say+and+how+they+say+it%2C+our+narrow+prejudices+evaporate+and+we+are+nourished+and+armed.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=10445&author=Hubert H Humphrey"e=++The+difference+between+heresy+and+prophecy+is+often+one+of+sequence.+Heresy+often+turns+out+to+have+been+prophecy+--+when+properly+aged.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F11273%2FHubert+H_Humphrey_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88457&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=What+can+be+asserted+without+evidence+can+also+be+dismissed+without+evidence.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88438&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=The+Baghdad+regime+is+the+first+oil-producing+government+to+opt+for+100-per-cent+nationalisation%2C+a+process+completed+with+the+acquisition+of+foreign+assets+in+Basrah+last+December.+It+was+the+first+to+call+for+the+use+of+oil+as+a+political+weapon+against+Israel+and+her+backers.+It+gives+strong+economic+and+political+support+to+the+%E2%80%98Rejection+Front%E2%80%99+Palestinians+who+oppose+Arafat%E2%80%99s+conciliation+and+are+currently+trying+to+outface+the+Syrians+in+Beirut.+And+it+has+a+leader+%E2%80%94+Saddam+Hussain+%E2%80%94+who+has+sprung+from+being+an+underground+revolutionary+gunman+to+perhaps+the+first+visionary+Arab+statesman+since+Nasser.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88439&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=...in+fact%2C+the+war+against+Iraq+is+continuing.+And+it%27s+continuing+now+by+the+means+which+the+administration+described+as+contemptible+and+useless%2C+when+they+were+put+forth+as+an+alternative+to+an+actual+all-out+aerial+bombardment.+Namely%2C+economic+sanctions%2C+which+do+have+the+effect+of+slowly+starving+and+crippling+the+population+of+Iraq%2C+while+leaving+the+military+cast+of+Saddam+Hussein+and+his+criminal+Baath+Party+in+charge.+I+was+asked+the+other+day+...+why+do+you+think+the+administration+decided+to+spare+Saddam+Hussein+...+and+I+said+I+think+because+they+thought+they+might+need+him+again...%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=44508&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=++Our+belief+is+not+a+belief.+Our+principles+are+not+a+faith.+We+do+not+rely+solely+upon+science+and+reason%2C+because+these+are+necessary+rather+than+sufficient+factors%2C+but+we+distrust+anything+that+contradicts+science+or+outrages+reason.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88440&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=If+most+of+those+who+took+part+in+this+one-dimensional+debate+were+honest+with+themselves%2C+they+would+admit+that+they+do+not+in+principle+believe+that+the+United+States+can+do+any+good+overseas+for+anyone+but+the+American+government%2C+its+armed+forces%2C+or+privileged+American+elites.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88441&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=The+%28Catholic%29+church%2C+as+far+as+I+know%2C+has+not+endorsed+any+war+as+just+since+it+supported+General+Franco%27s+invasion+of+Spain+to+destroy+the+Spanish+republic+with+a+Muslim+mercenary+army+in+the+thirties%2C+on+the+side+of+Hitler.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88442&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=There+is+a+division+within+the+neo-conservative+movement%2C+which+is%2C+by+the+way%2C+one+of+the+tests+of+its+authenticity+as+a+tendency.+I+would+say+I+was+a+supporter+of+Paul+Wolfowitz.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88445&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=If+religious+instruction+were+not+allowed+until+the+child+had+attained+the+age+of+reason%2C+we+would+be+living+in+a+quite+different+world.+%28p.+220%29&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=88446&author=Christopher Hitchens"e=The+shedding+of+blood+%E2%80%94+which+is+insisted+upon+at+circumcision+ceremonies+%E2%80%94+is+most+probably+a+symbolic+survival+from+the+animal+and+human+sacrifices+which+were+such+a+feature+of+the+gore-soaked+landscape+of+the+Old+Testament.+By+adhering+to+the+practice%2C+parents+could+offer+to+sacrifice+a+part+of+the+child+as+a+stand-in+for+the+whole.+%28pp.+223-224%29&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F7992%2FChristopher+Hitchens_64x64.png){kind=link}