Sep 6– From “Sir Walter Scott” by Thomas Carlyle (1838)
Summary: "No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offence. His life is a battle, in so far as it is an entity at all."
Commentary: This one is kind of odd. It starts out with a couple paragraphs devoted to the almost tautological, "men to look at any man who has become distinguished."
There's then a somewhat awkward summary/commentary on Sir Walter Scott and his biography. In the end, the best part is when Carlyle talks about how too many biographers pull their punches and don't want to offend their subjects or paint anything less than a fully positive picture. In the quote above, he notes how no one gets through life without somehow offending somebody. It's a great reminder that the modern push for inoffensive art/entertainment isn't has modern as some people think.
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