Novelists From Poland

"Two airline pilots, Adams and Anderson, were flying their D.C.3 the 130 miles from Memphis to Little Rock on the night of 31 March 1950 when a huge glowing flying saucer zoomed down at terrific speed to investigate them. On the central cupola there was a bright blue-white flashing light—either a signal or part of the propelling mechanism. And on the lower side, the airline pilots observed a row of eight or ten brilliantly lighted portholes. They thought they were portholes, but admitted that they could have been vents through which some kind of powerful energy was flowing."

"‘I’ve been a skeptic all my life’, said Adams in his report,’ but what can you do when you see something like that ? We were both flabbergasted.’ Both pilots were slightly blinded by the glare. ‘It was the strongest blue-white light I’ve ever seen,’ said Adams."

"Nine flying saucers, in loose formation, were seen by Captain E. Smith, of United Airlines, eight minutes flying time away from Boise, Idaho, on 4 July 1947. Smith and his copilot, Ralph Stevens, saw the disks silhouetted against the late-evening sky, and at first thought they were aircraft. Notice, please, that they were ‘silhouetted’. Fireballs, illusions, and refractions of light do not produce dark silhouettes against the evening, or any other, sky. Four more saucers joined the group, giving the two pilots and their stewardess time to observe them thoroughly."

"A red glow in the clouds over Godman Field, Kentucky—a disk the size of the Pentagon, lurking, silently, above a fighter base—a construction dwarfing the Queen Mary [British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967: 1,019.4 ft (310.7 m)] supported by dull orange flames that lit up the cloud base and caused Captain Mantell, of the U.S.A.A.F., to be dispatched in his tiny pursuit plane to investigate. When Mantell found it, his voice came over the radio, full of excitement. It was immense, he said, a colossal metallic thing, 500-1,000 feet in diameter, and cruising at 250 m.p.h. He was going to try to overtake it. As soon as it sighted (or sensed) him, the giant began climbing at 400 m.p.h. It accelerated faster than any jet, and Mantell went streaking up in pursuit. The next news of Mantell was that the wreckage of his plane had been found in tiny pieces, scored by peculiar deep lines as if he had got into a shower of some terribly powerful unexplainable something; as though he had flown into the tremendous exhaust stream—or worse—against which no terrestrial metal could survive."

"Ex Cathedra spoke Authority. First, Mantell had been ‘chasing the planet Venus’. Will some kind illusionist kindly explain how the planet Venus could appear as a disk 500 feet across, going at 200 m.p.h.; afterwards climbing rapidly and emitting orange flames ? Later, we read of a new official explanation, that Mantell had hit a ‘Skyhook’ meteorological balloon and crashed."

"Well, say he had ? Would it tear his plane to pieces ? I am quite willing, for anyone who will pay my expenses, to pilot a fighter plane through a Skyhook balloon any time of the day or night and observe the results, without very much fear of hurting myself. But when has a Skyhook ever cruised along at 250 m.p.h., or risen sharply at 400 m.p.h., with orange flames, etc., etc., into the bargain?"

"As I approached him a strange feeling came upon me and I became cautious. At the same time I looked round to reassure myself that we were both in full sight of my companions. Outwardly there was no reason for this feeling, for the man looked like any other man, and I could see that he was somewhat smaller than I and considerably younger."

"Suddenly, as though a veil was removed from my mind, the feeling of caution left me so completely that I was no longer aware of my friends... By this time we were quite close. He took four steps toward me, bringing us within arm's length of each other.""

"Now for the first time I fully realized that I was in the presence of a man from space - A HUMAN BEING FROM ANOTHER WORLD! The beauty of his form surpassed anything I had ever seen. And the pleasantness of his face freed me of all thought of my personal self. I felt like a little child in the presence of one with great wisdom and much love, and I became very humble within myself ... for from him was radiating a feeling of infinite understanding and kindness, with supreme humility."

"He made me understand that their coming was friendly. Also, as he gestured, that they were concerned with the radiation going out from earth. I asked if this concern was due to the explosions of our bombs with their resultant vast radio-active clouds? He understood this readily and nodded his head in the affirmative."

"A deep analysis of events of the past makes me firmly believe that these people from other planets are our friends. I am convinced that their desire and their object is to help us and perhaps to protect us from even ourselves, as well as that they mean to ensure the safety and balance of the other planets in our system."

"I have but one sincere purpose in narrating the foregoing experience: my most urgent message and plea to every person who reads it is:"

"Let us be friendly. Let us recognise and welcome the men from other worlds!"

"They are here among us. Let us be wise enough to learn from those who can teach us much — who will be our friends if we will but let them!"

"I do have witnesses to one of my journeys in a space craft. Both are scientists who hold high positions. Once they are able to make a statement the picture will change overnight. However, the way things are nowadays with everything classified as security, for the time being they must remain in the shadow. When they believe that they can release the substantiation they have without jeopardizing either the national defense or themselves, they have said that they will do so through the press. How soon that will be, your guess is as good as mine. But because they were with me at the request of the Brothers, some things are moving in behalf of both the Brothers and the general public that otherwise could not have been started. And much as we would like to, we cannot speak of these things yet because good intentions can have bad reactions. Anything acted upon prematurely can ruin the best beginnings."

"I can see your point about personal witnesses who, free from security or personal reasons, would be at liberty to speak out and support me. But just as skeptics would question my own affidavit, would they not question that of anyone else? This was proven in regard to the sworn testimony of witnesses present at the meeting described in Flying Saucers Have Landed. When a critic is a critic, one can bring the Almighty before him and still he will question. Even the average man is quick to doubt anything that is new to him."

"Look what they have said about the space craft photos which show objects entirely different from any made on Earth—and which have been photographed by many people in different parts of the world! So, no matter how you look at it, unless the person himself has that something necessary to recognize truth, it would make no difference what was presented as evidence, he still would want concrete proof to suit his own understanding, ignoring all the other minds in the world."

"It is almost like this: he who has the depth of life within his being needs none of these, but he who has not, as Jesus said, “shall ask for signs, but no signs shall be given,” for if they were, the doubters would not understand them. His words are just as true today."

"He who has the truth asks not for proof, for his inner feeling recognizes that truth which is in itself proof. And we have an outstanding corroboration of this in respect to Flying Saucers Have Landed. As you know, I am nobody, living by preference in the mountains rather than in a city where I could meet “all the right people.” In that book was plenty of material..."

"Was it not the so-called professed authorities in times gone by, as they are today, who criticized and disparaged everything proposed for the betterment of man? The kind of proof demanded was premature and could not in wisdom be given. But time and patience finally vindicated those who brought forth the ideas. Humanity is that much better off today because of them—not because of the skeptics!"

"Let the critics ask! Their very opposition may serve as a stimulant for their own curiosity, causing them to enter into a deeper research or analysis. The truth will always prevail in spite of personal or limited opinions."

"Perhaps the Brothers from other planets are waiting until the inner being of men on Earth stirs ever so slightly toward a wakening stage, with desire for a better living amongst his fellowmen. Perhaps faith is of paramount importance; not blind faith, but that knowing faith which comes only from within and cannot be swerved from what it knows to be true. The first book did contribute to such an awakening. The purpose of this book is to stimulate this activity into even greater growth and understanding."

"No scientific support of any kind was present for the events described in the first book. But events that have taken place since publication, and coming from different parts of the world, have proven greater support than anything that I could have produced on publication date. This has happened in spite of opposing forces who, for whatever reasons, do not wish the truth to come out... I have been well protected against many things, as well as guided. So far, the Brothers have never let me down. So if we wait patiently and in quiet confidence, things will come out as they should. There will be more abun­dant proof throughout the world than I, as one man, could ever be given or, in turn, give out."

"[Orthon:] Our ships perform feats in your skies which no Earthly planes of any nation can do. Your scientists know this. Your governments know this. The pilots of your planes everywhere in your world have seen us and marveled. Thousands of your people have looked up and been amazed. Thousands more everywhere are now watching and hoping for a glimpse of us. All this has been foretold by men of old. They have said in your written prophecies that the whole world will be disturbed... The conditions in your world today have placed you, as you put it, under the shadow of death. Your entire world is disturbed. And since the name you have for outer space is ‘Heaven,’ and since we too are Sons and daughters of God, could it not be that even now the ancient prophecy is being fulfilled? It has also been foretold that, when the time cometh, the dark races of the world will rise up and demand the right to equal respect and the lot of free men so long denied them by you of lighter skins. Is not this prophecy, too, being fulfilled in these very days on Earth You see, we know the history of your world well. The conception of ‘We are our brother’s keeper’ applies to all mankind everywhere. It is in this role that we come to you and say, ‘Let the Supreme Being of the Universe be the guiding word for your world that your troubles may vanish as darkness before light.’ What would man be without the breath of life? And who giveth unto him? Is it not to be found everywhere for the benefit of all? Then let Earthly man know that his God is not in some far distant place, but ever near in all manifestations, and within Man himself."

"Orthon ceased speaking and for a moment I sat with bowed head thinking of his words. Slowly, I became aware of a warmth that seemed to be entering into my spirit. Looking up, I saw from the faces of those around me that what I felt was a benediction that flowed from all of them toward me."

"[Orthon:].. much of what our brother has been saying to you is in conflict with many things your people have been taught to believe as truth. This, in itself, is of no importance, since that which was learned yesterday serves only as a stepping stone toward the greater truth we can learn tomorrow. That is the law of progress. Once on the right path, it cannot be otherwise. it is essential always that men work and strive together with open minds, ever aware that all is never known. There is an infallible guide in determining whether the path is a right one. That is very simple. If the results of your thoughts and actions are evil, then the path you are following leads away from the light of His countenance. If good things follow along the way you go, then your lives, and the lives of your children and of their children, will be joyous. Blessings, unbroken by sickness and strife, will be your eternal heritage."

"Of all the contactees, Adamski attracted the most controversy and odium; and none but a man of his strength of character could have survived the onslaught."

"Young George grew into adulthood with wonder and reverence toward all phases of nature. In such a world, the boy felt, it should be easy for people to live in harmony...It seemed...that the lessons to be found in the pages of history had not been learned... that the people... individually and collectively, were still walking in old ruts that could lead only to repetition of the same old disasters... With what knowledge he might gain, he hoped to serve his fellow man in some small way... Realizing that the student was not yet equipped to be the teacher, for many years he traveled around the nation, earning his living at any job that offered. It was a good way to study the problems and frustrations from which no man is free. His was no grimly pursued mission, nor was it in his nature to mount a soap box. The blend of patience, compassion and gaiety, so marked in the mature Adamski, must even then have been the qualities which attracted the confidences of his fellow workers. It was not until he was nearly forty that Adamski... settled down... in California. This was his first real home and here, through the nineteen thirties, he devoted full time to teaching the universal laws. His students soon numbered into the hundreds, he found himself in demand for lectures throughout Southern California and his talks were broadcast over radio stations KFOX in Long Beach and KMPC in Los Angeles."

"[The national economy is] a set of powers and ways used by a nation to keep and improve physical existence of its members... Moral good of a nation is a consequence of its education, and its physical good is a result of national economy."

"[Adam Smith was] a higher above all genius (...) who had recognized some mistakes of the mercantile and physiocrats systems, put new principles of a theory called the industrial system, and directed minds for this road, on which they should necessarily advance"

"Adam Smith, Say, and especially C. J. Kraus, one of the best teachers of Adam Smith’s theory, are my guides. The aim of my work is to present, in my own arrangement, their writings and thoughts clearly and plainly, together with some of my own observations."

"The powers inherent in man are his intelligence and his physical capacity for work. Those which arise from the condition of society consist of the capacity to divide up labour and to distribute different jobs amongst different People ... and the power to exchange mutual services and the products which constitute these means. The motive which impels a man to give his services to another is self -interest- he requires a reward for the services rendered. The right of exclusive private property is indispensable to the establishment of exchange amongst men... Exchange and division of labour reciprocally condition each other."

"As a foundation for his inquiries Skarbek took two principles: economic freedom and the private interest of an individual. From this position he criticized the feudal system of Polish economy, especially the serfdom of peasants. But he tried also to find some modifications of the liberal economy, to adapt it to the then Polish conditions."

"The only famous Yiddish stories from Latin America I'm able to make people invoke are the handful of ones by the masters Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. They are set in, or at least refer to, Argentina (and on occasion in an eternally rainy Brazil) and invariably deal with the Jewish prostitution ring-la trata de blancas."

"Sholem Asch and Isaac Bashevis Singer reflected through the prism of their personalities and unique talents the soul of the jew as a human being, and in this way they became universal writers."

"In the terrible revolutionary upheaval in the Jewish towns of Russia at the beginning of this century, when the entire Jewish youth was drawn into the vortex and confusion of strife, Asch remained loyal to his art. Not that he was indifferent to the momentous events, not that those terrible days failed to stir his soul and heat his blood. Nay, he saw all, he absorbed and responded. But this he did not as a worker, not as a participant in the struggle, not as a zealot, or a believer or soldier; but as the artist, as the dreamer, philosopher and interpreter and painter of emotions and impressions. This is also true of his attitude to the agitation over the Jewish problem that shook Russian Judaism in those days of storm and unrest. The questions of Zionism, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, the revival of Palestinism, the amalgamation of national and revolutionary principles, the neo-chassidism, these and many other creeds that sprang into life during those memorable days influenced Asch not as a crusader for one cause or the other, but as an interpreter of them all, as an artist purely and faithfully."

"The joy and hope which the Red Army marching forward calls forth in the hearts of the tortured masses, also throws fear and dread into the enemy's heart, into the hearts of the fascists of all colors, into the hearts of all the debased human worms who have the sorry courage to aid fascism, to give it comfort, to whitewash it and to deliver into its hands the fate of the Jewish masses. Woe to such misleaders!"

"The masses have learned the great lesson of what happens to an ideal when traitors abandon it to the enemy. German Social Democracy, Noske and Hitler, will forever stand before the eyes of the people like black shadows to teach them in whose hands to entrust power."

"Considering the world scene in this light, one can say with certainty that if Lenin had not succeeded in carrying through the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, and power had remained in the weak, half-traitorous hands of Russian Social Democracy, a Russian Hitler and a Russian Nazism would have arisen a decade earlier than in Germany. There would have been no Red Army to destroy Nazism and fascism today. The world is only now beginning to enjoy the fruit of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. It is thanks only to the Bolshevik Revolution that the world will arise cleansed of Hitler, even if wounded and bloody."

"When an idea, summoned by need and discontent, fails to be realized, an alien dark force, conceived by the devil, arrives and bestially throws itself into the void left by the ideal. It utilizes the despair created by the unrealized ideal, often operates with the same phrases, sows the same hopes until it wins over the deceived masses to its side. Like Satan, it stands upon the structure erected by the ideal, to usurp power. A clear example of this is the rise of Hitlerism in Germany. Nazism was made ripe by the leadership of German Social Democracy which had failed to fulfill its duty towards the embittered German masses. If German Social Democracy had used the power which bankrupt German Junkerdom so completely delivered over to it, if German Social Democracy had realized the revolutionary program which it had preached for generations, Hitler could not have deceived the German masses with a promise that he would realize the program in his own manner."

"Suffering, my son, is the fount of love. Suffering is the grace, the great grace, which our Father in heaven pours down upon us. For suffering gives men submissive hearts. He that does not suffer thinks that he stands upon a mighty rock which he himself has raised. He does not see his brother; he sees only himself. He believes in no one; he believes only in his own strength. His heart becomes a swamp which swarms with reptiles: pride, obstinacy, and self-love. And when his footstool is rolled away from under him, he sinks, together with all the reptiles, into the depths of hell. But he to whom God has granted suffering shall find his pains like ropes which bind him to his Father in heaven. His heart is awake to feel the pains of his brother in need. He sends afflictions upon you and makes you small on earth that you may be great in heaven."

"Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence."

"the great Sholem Asch never sees women as they really are, but rather as he would like them to be, that is, saintly and self-sacrificing. Her heart overflowing with love, the Yiddish literary heroine is ready to throw away her life for the man she loves and the people she loves. Asch's favourite female type is the mother. As is well-known, Asch suffered from a mother-fixation, a fixation that leads him to the apotheosis of all mother figures in the novel Mary, the third volume of his Christian trilogy. Even in earlier work - for instance, Kiddush-Hashem and "The Sorceress of Castille" - Asch describes his heroines, Dvora and Jephta, as if they were Jewish versions of the Virgin Mary. But Asch never shows us the human complexity that troubles his heroines' souls. In fact, in the course of the entire narrative of "The Sorceress of Castille," Jephta does not utter a single word."

"Don't allow the lucid moment to dissolve Let the radiant thought last in stillness though the page is almost filled and the flame flickers We haven't risen yet to the level of ourselves."

"December, herald of destruction, takes you on a long stroll through the black torsos of trees and leaves scorched in autumn’s fire,as if to say: so much then for your secrets and your treasures, the fervent trill of small birds, the promises of summer months."

"Our life is ordinary, I read in a crumpled paper abandoned on a bench. Our life is ordinary, the philosophers told me."

"You’ve seen the refugees heading nowhere, you’ve heard the executioners sing joyfully. You should praise the mutilated world. Remember the moments when we were together in a white room and the curtain fluttered. Return in thought to the concert where music flared. You gathered acorns in the park in autumn and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars. Praise the mutilated world and the gray feather a thrush lost, and the gentle light that strays and vanishes and returns."

"Probably I am an ordinary middle-class believer in individual rights, the word "freedom" is simple to me, it doesn't mean the freedom of any class in particular."

"For ordinary books are like meteors; each has its moment, that instant when it flies shrieking into the air, like a phoenix, all of its pages ablaze. For that moment, that single instant, we love them; although they are mere ashes by then. Sometimes, late at night, we wander in bitter resignation through their congealed pages, whilst they go on insisting, with their wooden clattering, like a rosary, on their dead formulæ."

"I call it simply the Book, with no qualifications or epithets, and in this abstinence and restraint there is a helpless sigh, silent capitulation to the immeasurableness of the transcendent; for no word, no allusion, could glisten, scent the air, or drift with such a shudder of terror, with any inkling of that unnameable thing, the very first taste of which, on the tip of the tongue, surpasses the capacity of our rapture."