Saturday, February 13, 2010

Going Up!


"When you're down and out, something always turns up - and it's usually the noses of your friends."
Orson Welles

4 comments:

  1. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

    Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur. Uncertain situations reveal if a friendship can give you certainty.

    Freunde in der Not gehen tausend auf ein Lot, which means that in the need a thousand friens make just one carat.

    The italian proverb is quite sarcastic. Che Dio mi guardi dagli amici, dai nemici mi guardo da solo, which means May God protect me from my friends! I will protect myself alone from my enemies.

    What really hurts is when even your brother or sister put their noses up!! Not to speak of your father or even mother...

    I do not know any proverb warning about this possibility... Let us consider this a sign that the possibility is quite remote, let us hope this. After all nothing is more important than the family, even if italians say Parenti serpenti (Relatives are snakes in the grass).

    But there is a traditional jewish story on betrayal (told by James Hillman at the beginning of one of his books; if I remember well the title is "Puer Aeternus"), which warns even of betrayal by a loving father!

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  2. "High Noon" is fiction.

    "Touching the Void" isn't fiction.

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  3. Of course, something always turns up, when you are down. Perhaps it´s better the postman ringing at the door than snoopy noses of your friends coming for help. Better Welles should have locked the door and hear or play music. Or read a book. The best friends are not your buddies but your favourite books.

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  4. @cs

    Actually there was a period when I was down and out, and the postman was ringing every day because of all the books I finally had decided to order at amazone!

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