Dutch Journalist Quotes

Geert Mak
Hans Koning

The foundation for a new era was laid but yesterday. The human was given its first chance to become truly civilised when it took courage to question all things and made 'knowledge and understanding' the foundation upon which to create a more reasonable and sensible society of human beings.

In mathematics madness often comes with the territory.

Racing is licking your opponent's plate clean before starting on your own

So there is no single European people. There is no single all-embracing community of culture and tradition among, say, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Berlin and Belgrade. In fact, there are at least four communities: the Northern Protestant, the Latin Catholic, the Greek Orthodox, and the Muslim Ottoman. There is no single language - there are more than twenty. (...) There are no real European political parties (...). And most significantly of all: unlike the United States, Europe still does not have a common story.

Geert Mak
Geert Mak
For all the gold and silver stolen and shipped to Spain did not make the Spanish people richer. It gave their kings an edge in the balance of power for a time, a chance to hire more mercenary soldiers for their wars. They ended up losing those wars anyway, and all that was left was a deadly inflation, a starving population, the rich richer, the poor poorer, and a ruined peasant class

Hans Koning
Hans Koning
For us Westerners, time has an economic value: it's scarce. We want so much but have so little time for everything. We're supposed to have a career by the time we're thirty. A full agenda is a prerequisite for a successful life. Every minute of our life must have a meaningful purpose. Wasting time, or waiting, is the equivalent of flushing money down the toilet.