I regard the bad conscience as the serious illness that man was bound to contract under the stress of the most fundamental change he ever experienced-that change which occurred when he found himself finally enclosed within the walls of society and of peace. For these things travel by car or aeroplane is not the right thing.” -Werner Herzog, Of Walking in Ice “Big type, even huge type, can be beautiful and useful.īut poise is usually far more important than size -Īnd poise consists primarily of emptiness.”Īt this point I can no longer avoid giving a first, provisional statement of my own hypothesis concerning the origin of the “bad conscience”: it may sound rather strange and needs to be pondered, lived with, and slept on for a long time. If you live in England and your girlfriend is in Sicily, and it is clear you want to marry her, then you should walk to Sicily to propose. “I personally would rather do the existentially essential things in life on foot.