Compelling passages, notable quotables, bon mots, disjecta, ephemera, and miscellany.

“A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization.

“A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a sick civilization.

“A civilization that plays fast and loose with its principles is a dying civilization.”

— Opening lines to Discourse on Colonialism, by Aimé Césaire; translated by Joan Pinkham (Monthly Review Press, 1972, 2000)