Straw Dogs: Thoughts on humans and other animals

'Those who struggle to change the world see themselves as noble, even tragic figures. Yet most of those who work for world betterment are not rebels against the scheme of things. They seek consolation for a truth they are too weak to bear. At bottom, their faith that the world can be transformed by human will is a denial of their own mortality.'

'Action preserves a sense of self-identity that reflection dispels. When we are at work in the world we have a seeming solidity. Action gives us consolation for our own inexistence.  It is not the idle dreamer who escapes from reality. It is practical men and women, who turn to a life of action as a refuge from insignificance.'

Extracts taken from pages 193 and 194

Straw Dogs: Thoughts on humans and other animals

John Gray

Granta Books, 2002