Topical Guide 951
Mark Dorset
Allusion
Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 26:
“People set themselves up, Peter. We’ve all got dirty hands. It’s just a question of who notices.”
Jean-Paul Sartre, Les Mains Sales:
HOEDERER. – […] Comme tu tiens à ta pureté, mon petit gars ! Comme tu as peur de te salir les mains. Eh bien, reste pur ! À quoi cela servira‑t‑il et pourquoi viens‑tu parmi nous ? La pureté, c'est une idée de fakir et de moine. Vous autres, les intellectuels, les anarchistes bourgeois, vous en tirez prétexte pour ne rien faire. Ne rien faire, rester immobile, serrer les coudes contre le corps, porter des gants. Moi, j'ai les mains sales. Jusqu'aux coudes. Je les ai plongées dans la merde et dans le sang. Et puis après ? Est‑ce que tu t'imagines qu'on peut gouverner innocemment ?
HOEDERER. – […] How you value your purity, my little boy! How afraid you are of getting your hands dirty. Well, stay pure! What good will it do, and why do you come among us? Purity is the idea of fakirs and monks. You intellectuals, you bourgeois anarchists, use it as an excuse to do nothing. Do nothing, stay still, press your elbows against your body, wear gloves. My hands are dirty. Up to my elbows. I've plunged them into shit and blood. And then what? Do you imagine that one can govern innocently?
See also:
Allusion; Quotation TG 140, TG 455, TG 462, TG 502, TG 506, TG 532, TG 559, TG 583, TG 592, TG 626, TG 654, TG 657, TG 714, TG 735, TG 736, TG 738, TG 780, TG 781, TG 802, TG 829, TG 832, TG 935
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