“everything a great essayist should be: infuriating, brilliant, highly provocative and yet intensely serious”
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Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British and American author and journalist. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, he gained prominence as a columnist and speaker. His epistemological razor, which states that "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence", is used in philosophy and law.
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culture · British and American author and journalist (1949–2011) · journalist · writer · essayist · autobiographer · literary critic · political scientist · also Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Eric Hitchens, Hitchens
Born 13 April 1949 · Died 15 December 2011 · Q49081
91 published statements · 0 followers
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Took myself and his son to get him into that chair - with a pole and eight lines going into his body - and there he was, a man with only a few days to live, turning out three thousand words to meet a deadline.
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2026· 6 entries
“Took myself and his son to get him into that chair - with a pole and eight lines going into his body - and there he was, a man with only a few days to live, turning out three thousand words to meet a deadline.”
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“He was a supporter of the Polish and Czech resistance of the 1970s, he supported Mrs Thatcher because he thought getting rid of the Argentinian fascist junta was a good idea .... He was a cross between Voltaire and Orwell. He loved words. He would drink a bottle of whisky when I would manage two glasses of wine and then be up in the morning writing 1,000 perfect words. He could throw words up into the sky, they fell down in a marvellous pattern.”
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“s been saying it for decades, day in and day out. I imagine most readers of the canonical sheet have long ceased to notice this bannered and flaunted symbol of its mental furniture. I myself check every day to make sure that the bright, smug, pompous, idiotic claim is still there. Then I check to make sure that it still irritates me. If I can still exclaim, under my breath, why do they insult me and what do they take me for and what the hell is it supposed to mean unless it”
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“the main source of hatred in the world”
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The New York Times: Christopher Hitchens
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2023· 2 entries
RealClearPolitics: Christopher Hitchens and the Collapse of Journalism
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The Guardian: Amis, Hitchens and Larkin: bad behaviour and a messy personal life were once a gift for authors. Not any more | Martha Gill
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2020· 1 entry
The Guardian: Martin Amis to publish novel inspired by death of Christopher Hitchens
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2019· 1 entry
Christianity Today: Atheist Christopher Hitchens Discredits Liberal Minister
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2017· 2 entries
The Guardian: Thirty years of Hay: Christopher Hitchens, Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel – in conversation
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The Guardian: I put Milo Yiannopoulos through the Christopher Hitchens test. He failed | Peter Bradshaw
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2016· 2 entries
The Guardian: Martin Amis working on novel about Christopher Hitchens, Saul Bellow and Philip Larkin
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The Guardian: Deathbed conversion? Never. Christopher Hitchens was defiant to the last | Nick Cohen
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2015· 1 entry
An annual prize of $50,000 was established in his honour by The Dennis and Victoria Ross Foundation for "an author or journalist whose work reflects a commitment to free expression and inquiry, a range and depth of intel
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2012· 2 entries
Awarded LennonOno Grant for Peace (2012).
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“The Importance of Being Orwell”
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2011· 26 entries
The Washington Post: Christopher Hitchens, under siege from book reviewers
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Died 2011-12-15.
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Awarded Richard Dawkins Award (2011).
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“Matka Teresa nigdy nie twierdziła, że jej działalność jest czymkolwiek innym niż fundamentalistyczną kampanią religijną, (…) przyznawała, że najubożsi z ubogich byli tylko jej narzędziem, dobrą okazją do wykazania się pobożnością.”
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“Codzienna dawka irytacji przedłuża życie.”
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“I have one consistency, which is [being] against the totalitarian – on the left and on the right. The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy – the one that’s absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes. (ang.)”
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“Nie daj się zaszufladkować; spodziewaj się jednak, że nazwą cię „fanatykiem” i „rozrabiaką.”
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“The True Spirit of Christmas”
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“Z całych sił staraj się zwalczać atrofię i rutynę. Kwestionowanie Oczywistości i tego, co dane z góry, jest najważniejszym elementem maksymy de omnibus dubitandum.”
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“Wyobraź sobie ciągły błogostan i harmonię, a ujrzysz rzeczywistość pełną monotonii, bezcelowości i przewidywalności.”
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“Umysł jest naszym najcenniejszym narzędziem – nie powinno się go przyzwyczajać do zakładania z góry tego, czego jeszcze nie dowiedziono.”
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“Tłum czy zbiorowość ma najczęściej niższą inteligencję niż składające się na niego poszczególne osoby.”
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“Sprzeciw nie jest równoznaczny z nihilizmem.”
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“Poznałem wielu odważnych, bezinteresownych buntowników, którzy bezrefleksyjnie wyznają islam albo wierzą w komunizm, nie zadając żadnych pytań. Ludzie tacy w moim przekonaniu nie zasługują na miano dysydentów czy opozycjonistów, ponieważ w ich wzorzec myślenia już są wpisane przyszłe opresje.”
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“I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.”
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“Nie ufaj nikomu, kto z przekonaniem używa zaimka „my.”
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“Dwie najgorsze rzeczy, o czym można się przekonać, nawet nigdzie nie wyjeżdżając, to rasizm i religia.”
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“Ćwierćinteligenci przystępują do kultów, których jedynym celem jest uśmierzenie bólu myślenia.”
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“Nie bój się, że będą nazywać cię maniakiem.”
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“(…) musimy wyjść poza naszą prehistorię i wyrwać się z kostropatych łapsk, które usiłują ciągnąć nas wstecz do katakumb i okopconych ołtarzy, ku grzesznej rozkoszy upokorzenia i służalczości”
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“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
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“Ci, którzy chcą myśleć niezależnie, zawsze będą w mniejszości.”
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“Byłem z komunistami przeciw apartheidowi, z „zimnowojennymi wojownikami” broniłem Czechosłowacji. W Bośni byłem po stronie muzułmanów, którzy nie zgadzali się ze mną w sprawie Salmana Rushdiego. Innym razem z Żydami, dla których byłem podejrzany z powodu popierania idei państwa palestyńskiego.”
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“Nie zapominajmy, że ci którzy potrafią wpływać na swój publiczny wizerunek, w istocie decydują o treści mitów na własny temat. Ludzie myślą o nich to, co oni sami o sobie myślą. W dzisiejszym świecie słowa i czyny osądza się na podstawie reputacji osoby, której słowa i czyny oceniamy, a nie odwrotnie.”
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“Ludzie bogaci chcą wierzyć, że ktoś, gdzieś naprawdę coś robi dla Trzeciego Świata. Dlatego nie chcą przyglądać się motywom działania i praktykom stosowanym przez tych, którzy zdają się pełnić tę rolę, bez względu na to, jak się z niej wywiązują.”
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“Żyj w zgodzie ze swoim wewnętrznym Yossarianem.”
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2010· 4 entries
Titled "Topic of Cancer", he stated that he was undergoing treatment for cancer
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“still [thought] like a Marxist”
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At the Pew Forum, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation
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Hitchens attacked Vidal in a Vanity Fair piece headlined "Vidal Loco", calling him a "crackpot" for his adoption of 9/11 conspiracy theories
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2009· 1 entry
Hitchens was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 25 "most influential liberals" in the US media
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2008· 3 entries
In the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God
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“s religious and ascetic worldview was fundamentally incompatible with secular and democratic politics. Following the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Hitchens argued in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt that Pakistan”
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For some of his columns in Slate but lost out to Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone
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2007· 10 entries
Awarded Great Immigrants Award (2007).
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Awarded Emperor Has No Clothes Award (2007).
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“On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part II”
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“Edmund Wilson: Literary Companion”
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“Arthur Schlesinger: The Courtier”
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Hitchens published one of his most controversial articles titled "Why Women Aren't Funny" in Vanity Fair
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Hitchens's work for Vanity Fair won the National Magazine Award in the category "Columns and Commentary"
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Claiming that Hitchens, while promoting his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, described the Christian evangelist Billy Graham as "a self-conscious fraud" and "a disgustingly evil man" and that the e
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After living in the United States for twenty-five years, Hitchens became an American citizen, electing to retain his UK citizenship
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The brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues
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2005· 1 entry
The main difference between the two is belief in the existence of God
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2004· 1 entry
And viewed Islamism as the principal threat to the Western world
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2002· 1 entry
After profoundly disagreeing with other contributors over the Iraq War
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2000· 1 entry
“Hostility Of America to Religion”
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1999· 2 entries
Hitchens wrote a profile of Donald Trump for The Sunday Herald
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Hitchens and Blue, both harsh critics of Bill Clinton, submitted an affidavit to the trial managers of the Republican Party in the impeachment of Clinton
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1993· 2 entries
Hitchens said, "As of 1992, there is now a Euro passport that makes you free to travel within the boundaries of
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“As of 1992, there is now a Euro passport that makes you free to travel within the boundaries of ... member countries, and I”
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1991· 3 entries
Awarded Lannan Literary Awards (1991).
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Hitchens married his second wife, Carol Blue, an American screenwriter, in a ceremony held at the apartment of Victor Navasky, editor of The Nation
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Received a Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction
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1990· 3 entries
“Nixon: Maestro of Resentment”
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“P.J. O'Rourke: Not Funny Enough”
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“How Neo-Conservatives Perish”
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1989· 1 entry
“Credibility Politics: Sado-Monetarist Economics”
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1988· 2 entries
“The Twilight of Panzerkommunismus”
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“It might interest your readers to know that Margaret Thatcher voted to keep capital punishment, to keep homosexuality criminal, to make divorce harder to get, and for the abortion bill. I gather that she”
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1987· 1 entry
Hitchens's father died of cancer of the oesophagus, the same disease that would later claim his own life
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1984· 1 entry
Has worked as a policy researcher in London
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1981· 1 entry
As part of an editor exchange programme between the New Statesman and The Nation
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1978· 1 entry
Where he became assistant editor and then foreign editor
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1977· 1 entry
Unhappy at the New Statesman, Hitchens moved to the Daily Express, where he became a foreign correspondent
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1973· 1 entry
Hitchens went to work for the New Statesman, where his colleagues included the authors Martin Amis, whom he had briefly met at Oxford, as well as Julian Barnes and James Fenton, with whom he had shared a house in Oxford
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1971· 1 entry
After spending a year travelling the United States on a scholarship, Hitchens went to work at the Times Higher Education Supplement where he served as a social science correspondent
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1970· 1 entry
From the University of Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics
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1968· 2 entries
“d moved on to girls. 1968 was a heady year to be a student. He appeared on University Challenge , spoke at the Oxford Union and dined with government ministers. But he also held forth from upturned milk crates, organized sit-ins and was charged with incitement to riot. The spirit of the times was intoxicating but there were limits: sex and rock”
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Took part in the TV quiz-show University Challenge
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1967· 1 entry
Where he read philosophy, politics and economics and was tutored by Steven Lukes and Anthony Kenny
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1965· 1 entry
But along with the majority of the Labour students' organisation was expelled in 1967, because of what Hitchens called "Prime Minister Harold Wilson's contemptible support for the war in Vietnam"
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1949· 1 entry
Born 1949-04-13.
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