Gerard Russell Quotes & Sayings

In respect to Drower, and still more with Biruni and his medieval contemporaries, I am reminded of the praise given to Sir William Jones, the proponent of the idea that European and Indian languages had one common source. 'Blessed are the peacemakers,' commented political economist James Anderson, 'who by painful researches, tend to remove those destructive veils which have so long concealed mankind from each other. — Gerard Russell

Back in the eighth century bc two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, occupied roughly the territory of modern Israel. The two kingdoms fought each other, but their inhabitants shared a religion and a common ancestry, because all of them belonged to one of twelve tribes descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. The kingdom of Israel was the older of the two and was originally the location of the religion's holy sites. When that kingdom was invaded by the Assyrians in the eighth century bc, though, tens of thousands of its inhabitants were carried off to northern Iraq. The kingdom of Judah was spared; its inhabitants came to be called Judeans, and then Jews. They, too, were taken into exile in Babylon, and came back with new ideas and changed traditions. As for the exiles from Israel, they were never heard of again, and came to be called the Ten Lost Tribes. But not all the ten tribes were truly lost, say the Samaritans. Some were deported by the Assyrians, yes, but others remained. — Gerard Russell

To reveal a truth to a man unready to accept it is three sins at once. It makes him disbelieve in the truth, makes him think wrongly about you, and makes him say the truth is nonsense
- Hermis Tresmegistus, the founder of astronomy — Gerard Russell

I found myself navigating exaggerated compliments, half-meant invitations, and gargantuan hospitality. One particular exchange that the priest had with a flower merchant summed it up for me. After a lengthy negotiation over price, the flower seller declared: "Of course, I would like you to have them for free." Nimbler at this than I would ever have been, the priest had an equally insincere compliment ready in reply: "You know, I only came here for the pleasure of seeing you. — Gerard Russell

The Iranian revolution of 1906 gave Zoroastrians a seat in the country's parliament. — Gerard Russell

A Zoroastrian Persian emperor called Shapur condemned Christians because they "attribute the origin of snakes and creeping things to a good God." For him, such things could only be the creation of a separate, malign creator. The great Persian national epic the Shahnamah begins with a great army of fairies and animals that had chosen the side of good over evil, setting out for battle with Angra Mainyu. (If this sounds like C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, that is because he was a great admirer of the Shahnamah - and he called Zoroastrianism his favorite "pagan" religion.) — Gerard Russell