According to the famed military strategist, Carl von Clausewitz, two conditions must be met if victory in war is to be achieved: First, “The fighting forces must be destroyed”. That is, “they must be put in such a condition that they can no longer carry on the fight”. And second, “The country must be occupied, …
Tell me, dear friend and reader: have you traveled lately? Have you thought deeply lately? Please—don’t withhold from me your answers. I know just how static and monotonous life can sometimes be. I know how inert and incurious we can sometimes get. If, to those two questions, you answered in the negative, here’s what I’ll …
The following essay/meditation is from my sister project, Pneuma. If you’re interested in this essay and would like to listen to the podcast, visit the website pneumameditations.com or search Pneuma By Daniel Finneran on any of your favorite podcast streaming platforms Hello friends, and welcome to another episode of Pneuma A few episodes back, I …
The following is an essay/meditation from my sister project, Pneuma. If you’d like to listen to the podcast, visit my website, pneumameditations.com or search Pneuma By Daniel Finneran on any of your favorite podcast streaming platforms. Hello all you beautiful, brilliant, remarkable people, and welcome to this episode of Pneuma. The great sages of the …
“An Honest Heart and a Knowing Head” | Lessons from Thomas Jefferson on How to Live Well Read More »
It’s my habit, whenever I’m in conversation with someone of a strong and unconcealed political bent, from whom the gift of a sound civic education and a talent for an idea’s thoughtful expression haven’t been withheld, to ask him which of America’s two central documents, the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, he regards more …
Unlike most of his corpulent countrymen, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, spent more time at the gambling than at the dinner table. A founding member of the notorious Hellfire Club, to which only the most refined rakes and well-born lechers in England were granted admittance, Montagu was, by any measure, an extraordinary man. …
Louis XVI: C’est une grande révolte! La Rochefoucault-Liancourt: Non, Sire, c’est une grande révolution. Upon learning of the fall of the Bastille in the summer of 1789, Louis XVI—the hapless (and soon to be headless) French king against whom popular opinion in the country had long since turned—responded with one of the great understatements of …
On Revolts and Revolutions: 18th-Century France and Modern China Read More »