Monday, March 31, 2008

Quotes: Character (8)

The idea in the bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows. The number is the page where the quote was found.

Character (8)
Character 17 Portrait of an ordinary man. "Marianne on Edward: …his figure is not striking…his eyes want all that spirit, that fire, which at once announce virtue and intelligence…he has no real taste…he admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur…." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 21 From conjecture to belief in an instant. "She [Elinor] knew that what Marianne and her mother conjectured one moment, they believed the next—that with them, to wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 31 Well-bred, but a cipher for a personality. "Lady Middleton…though perfectly well-bred, she was reserved, cold, and had nothing to say for herself beyond the most commonplace inquiry or remark." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 365 An amateur marriage broker. "Mrs. Jennings was a widow…had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world… In promotion of this object she was zealously active…missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people of her acquaintance…was remarkably quick in the discovery of attachments…always anxious to get a good husband for every pretty girl." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 39 Self-control. "Elinor’s character: Even now her self-command is invariable; when is she dejected or melancholy?…does she try to avoid society, or appear restless and dissatisfied in it?" Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 70 She constantly speculated about all of her acquaintances. "…she was a great wonderer, as every one must be who takes a very lively interest in all the comings and goings of all their acquaintance." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 84 If she needed an explanation, she found one. "But Mrs. Dashwood could find explanations whenever she wanted them, which at least satisfied herself." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 95 "Do not you know that she calls everyone reserved who does not talk as fast, and admire what she admires as rapturously as herself?" Austen, Sense and Sensibility.


Character 106 Gauche. "He [Mr. Palmer] entered the room with a look of self-consequence, slightly bowed to the ladies, without speaking a word, and, after briefly surveying them and their apartments, took up a newspaper from the table, and continued to read it as long as he stayed." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Character 111 Rude. “My love, you contradict everybody,”—said his wife [to Mr. Palmer] with her usual laugh; “do you know that you are quite rude?” Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Quotes: Character (7)

The idea in the bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows. The number is the page where the quote was found.



Character 57 People are ridiculous when they pretend to be what they are not. "...for there is nothing truer than the trite observation, ‘that people are never ridiculous for being what they really are, but for affecting what they are not." Lord Chesterfield. “Upon Affectation.” 1755. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 70 You can learn more about a person from a short conversation with his servent than from writing a full-length biography. " ...more knowledge may be gained of a man’s real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral. "Samuel Johnson. “Dignity and Uses of Biography.” 1750. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 72 Few are envied more than the person whose company is anticipated and departure regretted. "Few are more frequently envied than those who have the power of forcing attention wherever they come, whose entrance is considered as a promise of felicity, and whose departure is lamented." Samuel Johnson. “Conversation.” 1751. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 75 Promoting cheerfulness is an art. "Such are the arts by which cheerfulness is promoted...." Samuel Johnson. “Conversation.” 1751. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 91 Those who ridicule others are most likely to be ridiculed. "I could not, however, help observing, ‘that they are generally most ridiculous themselves, who are apt to see most ridicule in others.’ "Oliver Goldsmith. “On Dress.” 1759. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 258 We suppress the confession of our woes. " ...we early apprentice ourselves to the art of self-suppression and sternly apply the gag to eloquence upon our own woes. Mark Rutherford." “Talking about Our Troubles.” 1900. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 273 People are perpetually saddened by the great things they will not try. "...with men and women, in their mixed and uncertain condition, always attractive, clothed sometimes by passion with a character of loveliness and energy, but saddened perpetually by the shadow upon them of the great things from which they shrink." Walter Pater. “Sandro Boticelli.” 1870. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 535 Complete understanding promotes good will. " …humorous good will of complete understanding. Sir William Empson." “The Faces of Buddha.” 1936. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 632 Ignoring reality leads to self-destruction. "People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction." James Baldwin. “Stranger in the Village.” 1953. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 651 The confidence of one who has solved his problems. "…not authority but confidence, completedness, a man who had solved his problems and now stood on top of the hill looking calmly back and calmly on." P.J. Kavanagh. “Is It Alas, Yorick?” 1983. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 654 I am not sure about people who have figured out life. "For I am never at ease with those who have come too surely to terms with life." P.J. Kavanagh. “Is It Alas, Yorick?” 1983. Gross, ed. Essays.


Character 6 She had a warm heart, but she knew how to govern her feelings. "She [Elinor] had an excellent heart;--her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them; it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn, and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.


Character 6 Her feelings were never expressed in moderation. "Marianne…was sensible and clever; but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation…." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Quotes: Character (6)

The idea in the bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Character (6)
Character 134 "I endeavor to make circumstances submit to me, not me to circumstances." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 181 "The countenance open, but the thoughts withheld." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 217 "The wolf changes his coat, not his disposition." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 227 "A mind undisturbed in adversities; equanimity in difficulties." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 240 "He has not lived ill who has lived and died unnoticed." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 302 "He quarrels about anything or nothing." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 324 "He hopes in adversity and fears in prosperity." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 338 "Character is habit of long duration." Plutarch. Greek. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 355 "I see and approve of the better things; I follow the worse." Ovid. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 326 "An insatiable desire for talking." Ovid. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 119 We disguise ourselves from others and ourselves. La Rochefoucauld: "We are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves." Reflections or Moral Thoughts and Maxims, 1665

Character 26 To determine a person's character, find out what he loves. "For in the scrutinies for righteousness and judgment, when it is inquired whether such a person be a good man or no, the meaning is not, what does he believe? or what does he hope? but what he loves." Jeremy Taylor, “Of charity, Or the Love of god.” 1650. Gross, ed. Essays.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Quotes: Character 5

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Character 58 "One does what one is; one becomes what one does." Robert Musil. 1930. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 61 "One is vain by nature, modest by necessity." Pierre Reverdy. 1889-1960. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 71 One's opinion reveals his character. "People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character." Emerson. 1860. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 82 "Every man has a mob self and an individual self, in varying proportions." D. H. Lawrence. 1929. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 91 "A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others." La Bruyere. 1688. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 116 "An attitude of permanent indignation signifies great mental poverty." Valery. 1941-43. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 141 A man who quarrels constantly to prove he is always right always puts other men in the wrong. "There is a sort of man who goes through the world in a succession of quarrels, always able to make out that he is in the right, although he never ceases to put other men in the wrong." Sir Henry Taylor. 1836. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 311 "The beautiful souls are they that are…open, and ready for all things." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 316 Insignificant people are popular if they accept their roles in life. "Insignificant people…are extremely agreeable, and even favorites, if they appear satisfied with the part they have to perform." Hazlitt. 1823. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 349 "Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week." William Dean Howells. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Character 60 "Nothing is so aggravating as calmness." Oscar Wilde. Portable Curmudgeon.

Character 214 "People are either charming or tedious." Oscar Wilde. Portable Curmudgeon.

Character 50 "He conquers twice who conquers himself in victory." Publius Syrus. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 110 "Mastery passes often for egoism." Goethe. German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 131 "A talent is developed in quiet (or in solitude), a character in the stream of the world." Goethe. German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Character 133 "Be what you seem to be." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friday, March 21, 2008

Quotes: Character (4)

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Character (4)
Character 1038 Witch. "There hobbles Goody Foster, a sour and bitter old beldam, looking as if she went to curse, and not to pray, and whom many of her neighbors suspect of taking an occasional airing on a broom stick." Hawthorne: “Main-Street”

Character 1051 "…he does not laugh like a man that is glad." Hawthorne:” Ethan Brand: A Chapter from an Abortive Romance”

Character 1059 A pipe lighted by the hell-fire of his swearing. "The doctor had an everlasting pipe in his mouth, and, as somebody said, in allusion to his habit of swearing, it was always alight with hell-fire." Hawthorne:” Ethan Brand: A Chapter from an Abortive Romance”

Character 1060 He called everybody "Captain." “ 'Oh, yes Captain' …whether as a matter of courtesy or craft, he styled everybody Captain…." Hawthorne:”Ethan Brand: A Chapter from an Abortive Romance”

Character 1078 The world progresses because of humble people doing as they should. "Not a day passed by, that the world was not the better because this man, humble as he was, had lived." Hawthorne: “The Great Stone Face”

Character 1081 A gifted statesman who achieved much, but whose life was empty because he had no ultimate purpose. "…the marvelously gifted statesman had always a weary gloom in the deep caverns of his eyes, as of a child that has outgrown its playthings, or a man of mighty faculties and little aims, whose life, with all its high performances, was vague and empty, because no high purpose had endowed it with reality." Hawthorne: “The Great Stone Face”

Character 1087 His head was as empty as the pots he sold. "…he [Mr. Lindsey] had a head as hard and impenetrable, and therefore perhaps as empty, as one of the iron pots which it was a part of his business [hardware] to sell." Hawthorne: “The Snow Image”

Character 1089 She retained her sense of poetry in spite of the realities of matrimony and motherhood. "The mother’s character…had a strain of poetry in it…that had survived out of her imaginative youth and still kept itself alive amid the dusty realities of matrimony and motherhood." Hawthorne: “The Snow Image”

Character 58 No one "finds" himself; people create themselves. "People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself; but the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates." Thomas Szasz. 1974. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Character (3)

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Character (3)
Character 741 A one-idea person. "Here was the abolitionist, brandishing his one idea like an iron flail." Hawthorne: “The Hall of Fantasy”

Character 767 One idea tyrannizes his mind. "Until now, he had not been aware of the tyrannizing influence acquired by one idea over his mind." Hawthorne: “The Birth Mark”

Character 788 He never looked at anyone directly. "…he had an evasive eye, which, in the course of a dozen years, had looked no mortal directly in the face." Hawthorne: “Egotism; or, the Bosom-Serpent”

Character 803 There are people who seem to raise the spirits of those around them although they never accomplish good deeds themselves. "Men who have spent their lives in generous and holy contemplation for the human race; those who, by a certain heavenliness of spirit, have purified the atmosphere around them, and thus supplied a medium in which good and high things may be projected and performed—give to these a lofty place among the benefactors of mankind, although no deed, such as the world calls deeds, may be recorded of them." Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”

Character 827 People who are graceful should die young and never grow old with care. "Persons who can only be graceful and ornamental—who can give the world nothing but flowers—should die young and never be seen with gray hair and wrinkles…." Hawthorne: “Buds and Bird-Voices”

Character 834 People who want to enjoy the world but never want to do the labor that enjoying the world requires. "Daffydowndilly was so called because in his nature he resembled a flower, and loved to do only what was beautiful and agreeable, and took no delight in labor of any kind." Hawthorne: “Little Daffydowndilly

Character 851 A man not able to conquer his despondency. "…a man of soft and gentle character, who had not energy to struggle against the heavy despondency to which his temperament rendered him liable." Hawthorne: “The Christmas Banquet”

Character 852 A person who had a message to deliver to the world, but found no listeners. "…a man naturally earnest and impassioned…felt the consciousness of a high message to the world, but, essaying to deliver it, had found either no voice or form of speech, or else no ears to listen…his whole life was a bitter questioning of himself." Hawthorne:” The Christmas Banquet”

Character 863 A person who needs no companionship as he goes through life. . "…old Gervayse Hastings, unscathed by grief—alone, but needing no companionship—continued his steady walk through life…." Hawthorne:” The Christmas Banquet”

Character 864 A person who has lost all sense of what his political party stands for. "…a gentleman in a predicament hitherto unprecedented…this person had prided himself on his consistent adherence to one political party, but, in the confusion of these latter days, had got bewildered, and knew not whereabouts his party was…wretched condition, so morally desolate and disheartening to a man who has long accustomed himself to merge his individuality in the mass of a great body….." Hawthorne:” The Christmas Banquet”

Character 874 A person who cannot find his intended place in the world; he is probably buried in the wrong grave, too. "I want my. place!—my own place!—my true place in the world!—my proper sphere!—my thing to do, which nature intended me to perform when she fashioned me thus awry, and which I have vainly sought, all my lifetime…if he died of the disappointment, he was probably buried in the wrong tomb…." Hawthorne:” The Intelligence Office”

Character 920 A person who saw only what he saw, but never the unseen. "Owen never met this man without a shrinking of the heart…of all the world, he was most terrible, by reason of a keen understanding, which saw so distinctly what it did see, and disbelieved so uncompromisingly in what it could not see. Hawthorne: “The Artist of the Beautiful”

Character 979 "She looked redundant with life, health, and energy." Hawthorne: “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

Character 988 Able to understand the nature of a person in an instant. "As he passed, this person exchanged a cold and distant salutation with Baglioni, but fixed his eyes upon Giovanni with an intentness that seemed to bring out whatever was within him worthy of notice." Hawthorne: “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Quotes: Character (2)

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Character (2)
Character 613 He may have been aristocratic, but he searched for and took home his own cow each night. "It made me smile, though with anything but scorn, in contrast to the aristocratic stateliness which I have witnessed elsewhere, to see him driving home his own cow, after a long search for her through the village." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley

Character 613 "...marked him as a man whose greatness lay within himself." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley

Character 615 He was so strong a character that even now I cannot believe that he is in his grave. "...yet, so strong was my conception of his energies--so like Destiny did it appear, that he should achieve everything at which he aimed--that, even now, my fancy will not dwell upon his grave, but pictures him still amid the struggles and triumphs of the present and the future." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley

Character 617 He saw people to be like him, searching only for their their tombstones. "…he seemed, unless my fancy misled me, to view mankind in no other relation than as people in want of tomb stones." Hawthorne: “Chippings with a Chisel”

Character 656 She saw herself as above human nature; nature will return her to the level of the lowest of other human beings. "She seeks to place herself above the sympathies of our common nature, which envelopes all human souls; see, if that nature do not assert its claim over her in some mode that shall bring her level with the lowest." Hawthorne: “Lady Eleanor’s Mantle”

Character 658 She saw herself well above other human beings. "…the deeper scorn of one whose spirit held itself too high to participate in the enjoyment of other human souls." Hawthorne: “Lady Eleanor’s Mantle”

Character 658 Her conversation consisted of sarcasm. "Then, with nervous shudder, she seemed to arouse her energies, and threw some bright and playful, yet half-wicked sarcasm into the conversation." Hawthorne: “Lady Eleanor’s Mantle”

Character 688 Every place he saw marked the scene of some tragedy. "The dismal shape of the old lunatic still glided behind them; and for every spot that looked lovely in their eyes, he had some legend of human wrong or suffering, so miserably sad, that his auditors could never afterwards connect the idea of joy with the place where it happened." Hawthorne.

Character 714 He projected a sense of hopelessness. "He is not desperate…but merely devoid of hope." Hawthorne.

Character 715 He saw his existence as poor, cold and uncomfortable. "He thinks it the definition of existence, so far as himself is concerned, to be poor, cold, and uncomfortable." Hawthorne.

Character 716 He was the epitome of patient despondency. "…the expression of frost-bitten, patient despondency…. Hawthorne.

Character 717 He makes brief responses and shrinks into himself again. " …makes the briefest possible response to all general remarks, and shrinks quietly into himself again."

Character 718 " …meek, downcast, humble, uncomplaining creature…." Hawthorne.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Quotes: Character (1)

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Character
Character 1422 "Hecate…an odd kind of person, who put all her enjoyment in being miserable…."“The Pomegranate-Seeds” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Character 1210 Some people make everybody they meet dull. "But some people have what we may call ‘the leaden touch,’ and make everything dull and heavy that they lay their fingers upon!" Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Character 516 Some people look like the product they make or sell. "The vinegar-faced traveler proves to be a manufacturer of pickles." Hawthorne: “The Toll-Gatherer’s Day: A Sketch of Transitory Life”

Character 510 Preacher. "Country preacher: horseman clad in black, with a meditative brow…through a mist of brooding thought…." Hawthorne: “The Toll-Gatherer’s Day: A Sketch of Transitory Life”

Character 522 The plodding prosper. "Since that event [dissolution of the partnership of Goldthwaite and Brown], John Brown, with exactly the qualities of a thousand other John Browns, and by just such plodding methods as they used, had prospered wonderfully, and become one of the wealthiest John Browns on earth." Hawthorne: “Peter Goldthwaite’s Treasure.”

Character 524 He looked like the empty schemes he fed on. "Gray-headed, hollow-eyed, pale-cheeked, and lean bodied, he was the perfect picture of a man who had fed on windy schemes and empty hopes…." Hawthorne: “Peter Goldthwaite’s Treasure.”

Character 576 “Dr. Caustic.” Hawthorne: “Thomas Green Fessenden

Character 583 He failed to understand the character of those he met. "Indeed, lacking a turn for observation of character, his former companions had passed before him like images in a mirror, giving him little knowledge of their inner nature." Hawthorne: “Thomas Green Fessenden

Character 608 His sympathy enabled him to understand the character of those he met. "He had a power of sympathy which enabled him to understand every character, and hold communion with human nature in all its varieties." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley"

Character 609 His adaptability and cheerfulness made him enjoy the challenges of difficulties. "...an elasticity and cheerful strength of mind which made difficulties easy, and the struggle with them a pleasure." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley

Character 610 He never let his bitter feelings prevent him from being courteous to his worst enemies. "...his own feelings were never so embittered by these conflicts, as to prevent him from interchanging the courtesies of society with his most violent opponents." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley

Character 610 His enemies resented him, but he never lost his composure while interacting with them. "While their resentments rendered his very presence intolerable to them, he could address them with as much ease and composure as if their mutual relations had been those of perfect harmony." Hawthorne: “Jonathan Cilley

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Quotes: Chance. Change.

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Chance
Chance 44 Chance appears to us to have been designed. "It may be that the whims of chance are really the importunities of design; but if there is a design, it aims to look natural and fortuitous; that is how it gets us into its web." Mary McCarthy. 1962. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Chance 90 Experiments and chance made him successful. "...his [Pasteur’s] instinct to do experiments, this instinct--and the Goddess of Chance came together to save him." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Change
Change 254 "All things change and we change with them." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Change 6 "...for time is the greatest innovator...." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 "...retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation; and they that reverence too much old times, are but a scorn to the new." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 Change is best when it is gradual and hardly noticed. "It were good therefore that men in their innovations would follow the example of time itself; which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 It is best not to experiment unless the need is urgent and the usefulness obvious. "It is good also not to try experiments...except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident...." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 Don't reject novelty, but be suspicious of it. "And lastly, that the novelty, though it not be rejected, yet be held for a suspect...." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 171 For all times, conservatives and innovators have battled. "The two parties which divide the state, the party of conservatism and that of innovation, are very old and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made." Emerson, “The Conservative.” 1841. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 354 "All movements go too far...." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 17 I'll change when I see reasons that I can accept. Leeuwenhoek: "My determination is not to remain stubbornly with my ideas but I’ll leave them and go over to others as soon as I am shown plausible reasons which I can grasp." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Change 214 My mind is open, but my life is not. "My mind is open to absolutely anything but my life is not; I don’t want to adjust." DeLillo, Underworld.

Change 9 One excuse not to change: fear of offending our forefathers, who are dead, of course. [In response to new ideas] "…they take refuge in saying, 'These things pleased our forefathers; if only we could match their wisdom' …as if it would involve terrible dangers if anyone were found wiser than his forefathers in any matter at all!" Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Change 34 "The acceleration of change…radically alters the balance between novel and familiar situations." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 46 "Transience: …rate at which our relationships turn over." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 56 Changing technology makes it easier to replace than to repair. "In the past permanence was the ideal [in producing products]…advancing technology tends to lower costs of manufacture much more rapidly than the costs of repair work…becomes cheaper to replace than repair…advancing technology makes it possible to improve the object as time goes by." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 85 Movement is positive, not merely an escape. "But movement becomes a positive value in its own right, an assertion of freedom, not merely a response to or escape from outside pressures." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 217 As innovation takes hold, we lose our sense of mastery. "…will significantly alter the balance that prevails in any society between the familiar and unfamiliar elements in the daily life of its people, between the routine and non-routine, the predictable and unpredictable… “novelty ratio” …as the level of newness or novelty rises, less and less of life appears subject to our routine form of coping behavior…growing weariness and wariness, a pall of pessimism, decline in our sense of mastery." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 326 People can deal with just so much change; there are limits to the amount of change humans can absorb. "It is the thesis of this book that there are discoverable limits to the amount of change that the human organism can absorb, and that by endlessly accelerating change without first determining these limits, we may submit masses of men to demands they simply cannot tolerate." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 320 "In every case, the correlation between change and illness has held." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 332 "…the higher the life change score, the more severe the illness was likely to be." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 359 You can deal with change if it is in a narrow sector of your life. "A second strategy of the future shock victim is specialism…doesn’t block out all novel ideas or information…energetically attempts to keep pace with change…only in a specific narrow sector of life…the physician or financier who makes use of all the latest innovations in his profession, but remains rigidly closed to any suggestion for social, political or economic innovation." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 360 Strategy for dealing with change: stay doggedly with previous decisions and habits. [Another strategy of the future shock victim]: "…sticks to his previously programmed decisions and habits with dogmatic desperation." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 301 Grasps at an idea that seems to explain all the change with which he is faced. [Another strategy of the future shock victim]: "…a single neat equation that will explain all the complex novelties threatening to engulf him…grasping erratically at this idea or that, he becomes a temporary true believer." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 362 Response to too much change: violence. "Violence, too, offers a “simple” way out of burgeoning complexity of choice and general overstimulation." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 377 No change at any time or for any reason. "Nothing is less sensible than the advice of the Duke of Cambridge who is said to have harrumphed: 'Any change at any time, for any reason is to be deplored.' ” Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 378 Find one stabilizing element in order to withstand all the other changes around you. "…existence of what might be called 'stability zones' in their lives—certain enduring relationships that are carefully maintained despite all kinds of other changes. Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 379 Keeping a daily routine is one way to deal with the changes around us. "A…form of stability zone is the habit pattern that goes with the person wherever he travels, no matter what other changes alter his life…same daily regimen wherever he is…reads between eight and nine in the morning, takes forty-five minutes to exercise at lunch time, and then catches a half-hour cat-nap before plunging into work…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 379 Don't try to suppress change; manage it. "The problem is not, therefore, to suppress change which cannot be done, but to manage it…opt for rapid change in certain sectors of life, we can consciously attempt to build stability zones elsewhere." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 383 "...to create an environment in which change enlivens and enriches the individual, but does not overwhelm him…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 383 Join with others to face change. "…bringing together people who are sharing or are about to share, a common adaptive experience." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 393 "In the past, ritual provided an important change-buffer." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change and the individual 35 People must find some part of their lives to anchor them in times of overwhelming change. "…the individual…must search out totally new ways to anchor himself, for all the old roots—religion, nation, community, family, or profession—are now shaking…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Quotes: Cause and Effect. Celebrity. Censorship.

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Cause and Effect
Cause and effect 44 Great events can be caused by trivial events. "It is not always that there is a strong reason for a great event. Sam. Johnson." 1771. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Cause and effect 45 Need can be named the cause of what has already occurred. "Need is considered the cause why something came to be; but in truth it is often merely an effect of what has come to be." Nietzsche. 1882-7. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Cause and effect 46 The goal often comes after the event. "Is the ‘goal,’ the ‘purpose’ not often enough a beautifying pretext, a self-deception of vanity after the event that does not want to acknowledge that the ship is following the current into which it has entered accidentally?" Nietzsche. 1882-7. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Cause and effect 17 Tangled causes rather then just one cause often complicate effects. "He [Leeuwenhoek] had a sound instinct—about the infinite complicatedness of everything—that told him the danger of trying to pick out one cause from the tangled maze of causes which control life." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Celebrity
Celebrity 61 "A sign of celebrity is that his name is worth more than his services." Daniel J. Boorstin. Portable Curmudgeon.

Celebrity 353 Celebrity subordinates the celebrity's judgment to the general opinion. "To be pointed out, admired, mentioned constantly in the press, and offered easy ways of earning much money is highly agreeable; and when all this is open to a man, he finds it difficult to go on doing the work that he himself thinks is best and is inclined to subordinate his judgment to the general opinion." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.

Celebrity 24 People defer to celebrities to see how they react to something. "And the way they use him as a reference for everything that happens…somebody makes a nice play, they look at Frank [Sinatra] to see how he reacts." DeLillo, Underworld.

Celebrity 720 She knew everything about the everyday lives, cosmetic surgeries and tragic marriages of movie stars. "She knew a lot about the [movie] stars…their favorite flavors and worst insect bites and their wallflower nights in high school…their basic everydayness inside the cosmetic surgeries and tragic marriages. DeLillo, Underworld.

Censorship
Censorship 1310 How did Hawthorne make suitable the detestable in the ancient myths? "…how he could have obviated all the difficulties in the way of rendering them [the classic myths] presentable to children…old legends, so brimming over with everything that is most abhorrent to our Christianized moral sense—some of them so hideous—others so melancholy and miserable, amid which the Greek tragedians sought their themes, and molded them into the sternest forms of grief that ever the world saw;--was such material the stuff that children’s playthings should be made of?…how was the blessed sunshine to be thrown into them?" “The Wayside: Introductory” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales.

Censorship 1310 Hawthorne overcame the moral objections to the ancient myths. "…he does really appear to have overcome the moral objections against these fables. “The Wayside: Introductory” ” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales.

Censorship 1234 Better let an adult hear these stories of ancient myths to determine if they are objectionable in any way. "The children have talked so much about your stories, that my father wishes to hear one of them in order to judge whether they are likely to do any mischief." “Tanglewood Fireside. Introductory to ‘The Three golden Apples’” Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Censorship 285 Burn books? They will eventually burn humans. "Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings." Heine. 1823. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Censorship 411 Anything that exists should be acknowledged. "…they saw no reason why anything which exists cannot also be acknowledged." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Censorship 51 Books are a private experience that cannot be censored. "A book that can be read privately, reflected upon as the eye unravels the sense of the words, is no longer subject to immediate clarification or guidance, condemnation or censorship…." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Censorship 286 Censors will study a text with excruciating care in search of buried messages. "[Comstock] lacked the perception and patience of more sophisticated censors, who will mine a text with excruciating care in search of buried messages." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Censorship 287 Credo of the censor. "[Comstock]: Art is not above morals; morals stand first." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Censorship 289 Terrorist don't just use bombs and guns, but also spread ideas contrary to civilization. "…as General Videla defined it, “a terrorist is not just someone with a gun or bomb, but also someone who spreads ideas that are contrary to Western and Christian civilization." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Censorship 289 Mandate a doctrine and welcome a censor. "…declaring the text subservient to a doctrine." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Quotes: California. Capital Punishment. Career. Carnival. Catholicism .

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

California
California 59 "In California, everyone goes to a therapist [or] is a therapist…." Truman Capote. Portable Curmudgeon.

California 59 "It’s a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point off your IQ every year." Truman Capote. Portable Curmudgeon.

Capital Punishment
Capital punishment 60 "There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it." George Bernard Shaw. Portable Curmudgeon.

Career
Career 91 A man with a career can't waste time on a wife, family and friends; he has to devote his time to his enemies. "A man with a career can have no time to waste upon his wife and friends; he has to devote it wholly to his enemies." John Oliver Hobbes. 1867-1906. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Career 91 A career involves breaking friendships. "The path to social advancement is, and must be, strewn with broken friendships." H. G. Wells. 1905. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Carnival
Carnival 654 Carnival is followed by Lent. "In modern times the indulgence of the Carnival is followed immediately by the abstinence of Lent…." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Catholicism
Catholicism 282 Catholicism emphasizes not life, but death. "Fernanda was scandalized that she did not understand the relationship of Catholicism with life but only its relationship with death, as if it were not a religion, but a compendium of funeral conventions." Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Catholicism and primitive belief 356 The Easter celebration of the risen Christ is based on the Pagan celebration of the risen Adonis. "When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and arisen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Catholicism and primitive belief 356 The Greek dying lover in the arms of his sorrowful goddess is the model for the Pieta. "The type, created by Greek artists, of the sorrowful goddess with her dying lover in her arms, resembles and may have been the model of the Pietá of Christian art, the Virgin with the dead body of her divine Son in her lap, of which the most celebrated example is the one by Michael Angelo in St. Peter’s." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Catholicism and primitive belief 378 A model for the execution of Christ? "The human victims dedicated to Odin were regularly put to death by hanging or by a combination of hanging and stabbing, the man being strung up to a tree or a gallows and then wounded with a spear." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Catholicism and primitive belief 404 A model for Christianity? "The corn-god produced the corn from himself; he gave his own body to feed the people: he died that they might live." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Catholicism and primitive belief 535 An ancient model for the Christian practice of fasting before taking Holy Communion? "Of all modes of purification adopted on these occasions none perhaps brings out the sacramental virtue of the rite so clearly as the practice of taking a purgative before swallowing the new corn…intention is thereby to prevent the sacred food from being polluted by contact with common food in the stomach of the eater…same reason Catholics partake of the Eucharist fasting…." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Quotes: Brotherhood. Bureaucracy. Business. Butterflies.

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Brotherhood
Brotherhood 1272 People who do not feel as if a stranger is a brother do not belong on this earth which is home for the human brotherhood. "When men do not feel towards the humblest stranger as if he were a brother, said the traveler, in tones so deep they sounded like those of an organ, they are unworthy to exist on earth, which was created as the abode of a great human brotherhood." “The Miraculous Pitcher” Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Brotherhood 119 The virtues refer to yourself, not to others. "Brotherhood, solidarity, unity, love: they all mean…you but not them." Michael Frayn. 1974. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Brotherhood 119 "That all men should be brothers is the dream of people who have no brothers." Charles Chincholles. 1880. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy 36 "Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies." Honoré de Balzac. Portable Curmudgeon.

Bureaucracy 144 "Three of the outstanding characteristics of bureaucracy were…permanence, hierarchy, and a division of labor." Toffler, Future Shock.

Bureaucrats 794 "Many chesty bureaucrats with interchangeable heads." DeLillo, Underworld.

Business
Business 7 Some business schools believed that business had social responsibilities as well as responsibilities to shareholders and would still be profitable. "Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration: [some professors] …taught that business leaders had a duty to serve society as well as their shareholders, and that a company could drive for profits and at the same time meet social responsibilities. McNamara In Retrospect.

Business 109 "The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling." Ambrose Bierce. 1906. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Business 408 "She discovered that in the afternoon, office routine stretches to the grave." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Business 408 An office has all the cliques and scandals as a small town. "She discovered that an office is as full of cliques and scandals as a Gopher Prairie." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Business 17 As soon as a man learns that he will get no free ride, he will begin to produce. "The sooner a man learns he isn't going to be coddled, and he needn't expect a lot of free grub…the sooner he'll get on the job and produce--produce--produce!" Lewis, Babbitt.

Business 31 "The zest of the spring morning was smothered in the stale office air." Lewis, Babbitt.

Business 89 Gossip, rumor, promotions, personalities are natural to the corporation. "The corporation is supposed to take us outside ourselves…gossip, rumor, promotions, personalities, it’s only natural, isn’t it—all the human lapses that take up space in the company soul." DeLillo, Underworld.

Business 266 "Frankly, I’d like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private industry." Heller, Catch-22.

Business 272 "The government has no business in business…." Heller, Catch-22.

Business Organization 134 Groups are gathered to achieve a specific goal and then are dismantled. "Clearly there is nothing new about the idea of assembling a group to work toward the solution of a specific problem, then dismantling it when the task is completed." Toffler, Future Shock.

Business and labor 258 Laborers want wages the way business people want profits. "Now, these strikers: Honest, they’re not such bad people; just foolish; they don’t understand the complications of merchandising and profit, the way we business men do, but sometimes I think they’re about like the rest of us, and no more hogs for wages than we are for profits." Lewis, Babbitt.

Butterflies
Butterflies 87 "…this big brown butterfly…seems to have neither haste nor hunger, only that need to ride the air, absorb the sun, be fully alive again." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Butterflies 236 "They [the monarch butterflies] come with the goldenrod and the asters, special spangles for late-summer days, and they stay until the maples have begun to turn to gold and crimson." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Quotes: Bore. Bowling. Bravery. British.

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Bore
Bore 208 "The secret of being a bore is to tell everything." Voltaire. 1738. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Bore 34 “ 'Bore' defined: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." Ambrose Bierce. Portable Curmudgeon.

Bore 34 "He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." Samuel Johnson. Portable Curmudgeon.

Bore 34 "We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore." La Rochefoucauld. Portable Curmudgeon.

Bore 34 A bore monopolizes a conversation. "A bore is a fellow talking who can change the subject back to his topic of conversation faster than you can change it back to yours." Laurence J. Peter. Portable Curmudgeon.

Boredom 71 "Somebody’s boring me…I think it’s me." Dylan Thomas. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Boredom 333 "The effect of boredom on a large scale in history is underestimated." W. R. Inge. 1948. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Bowling
Bowling 777 "Bowling, to me, it’s like lifting weights." DeLillo, Underworld.

Bravery
Bravery 178 "Fire tests gold, misery tests brave men." Seneca. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

British
British 245 Two things about England that I don't like: coal and Englishmen. "Heine: I might settle in England...if it were not that I should find there two things, coal-smoke and Englishmen; I cannot abide either." Matthew Arnold, “Heine and the Philistines.” 1863. Gross, ed. Essays.

British family 267 A matriarchy. "Mrs. Ferrars’s response to Edward’s marrying Lucy: His own two thousand pounds she protested should be his all; she would never see him again; and so far would she be from affording him the smallest assistance, that if he were to enter into any profession with a view of better support, she would do all in her power to prevent his advancing in it…Marianne, in an ecstasy of indignation, clapped her hands together, and cried, “Gracious God! Can this be possible?” [that Edward’s mother could treat him so, to which her brother responds]: 'Well may you wonder, Marianne…at the obstinacy which could resist such arguments as these.' " Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

British family 269 The ultimate insult. "Can anything be more galling to the spirit of a man…than to see his younger brother in possession of an estate which might have been his own?" Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Quotes: Books

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Books
Books 96 JFK recommended all who worked for him to read Barbara Tuchman's book on WWI to warn that his administration would not "bungle" into war. "Early in his administration, President Kennedy asked his cabinet officials and members of the National Security Council to read Barbara Tuchman’s book The Guns of August …said it graphically portrayed how Europe’s leaders had bungled into the debacle of WWI…emphasized: 'I don’t ever want to be in that position…we are not going to bungle into war.' ” McNamara’s In Retrospect

Books 761 People read many books, but learn nothing about how to guide their behavior in the future. "...all the sad experience, which it took mankind so many ages to accumulate, and from which they never drew a moral for their future guidance…." Hawthorne: “The New Adam and Eve”

Books 809 A more profitable use for books? "You observe this convenient bridge; we obtained a sufficient foundation for it by throwing into the Slough [of Despond] some editions of books of morality, volumes of French philosophy and German rationalism, tracts, sermons, and essays of modern clergymen, extracts from Plato, Confucius and various Hindu sages, together with a few ingenious commentaries upon texts of scripture—all of which by some scientific process, have been converted into a mass like granite." Hawthorne: “The Celestial Rail-Road”

Books 898 Burning books. "See!—See!—what heaps of books and pamphlets…now we shall have a glorious blaze…now we shall get rid of dead man’s thoughts, which has hitherto pressed so heavily on the living intellect…thick, heavy folios, containing the labors of lexicographers, commentators, and encyclopedists, were flung in, and, falling among the embers with a leaden thump, smoldered away to ashes, like rotten wood." Hawthorne: “Earth’s Holocaust”

Books 901 Nature, the heart and life are better than any book. …is not nature better than a book? ---is not the human heart deeper than any system of philosophy?—is not life replete with more instruction than past observers have found it possible to write down in maxims? Hawthorne: “Earth’s Holocaust”

Books 955 A library of books planned but not achieved. " …a splendid library, the volumes of which were inestimable, because they consisted not of actual performances, but of the works which the authors only planned, without ever finding the happy season to achieve them…the untold tales of Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims, the unwritten cantos of The Fairy Queen; the conclusion of Coleridge’s Christabel; and the whole of Dryden’s projected epic on the subject of King Arthur." Hawthorne: “A Select Party”

Books 245 "When a book and a head collide and there is a hollow sound, is it always in the book?" Lichtenberg. 1764-99. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 285 "There are more books upon books than upon any other subject." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 285 "Never disregard a book because the author of it is a foolish fellow." Lord Melbourne. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 286 "Books do not teach the use of books." Anon. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 286 "We find little in a book but what we put there; but in great books, the mind finds room to put many things." Joubert. 1842. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 187 "The better the book, the more room for the reader." Holbrook Jackson. 1934. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 289 "No furniture so charming as books." Sydney smith. 1855. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Books 34 "The multitude of books is making us ignorant." Voltaire. Portable Curmudgeon.

Books 167 "Books have their own destiny." Terentius Maurus. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Books 248 "There is no robber worse than a bad book." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Books 358 "Life without literature (or books) is death." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Books 12 The antiquary. Printed books he condemns, as a novelty of this latter age; but a manuscript he pores on everlastingly, especially if the cover be all moth-eaten... John Earle, “An Antiquary,” 1628. Gross, ed. Essays.

Books 515 "Perhaps it is only in childhood that books have any deep influence on our lives." Graham Greene, “The Lost Childhood.” 1947. Gross, ed. Essays.

Books 515 We read books in order to confirm what we already know. In later life we admire, we are entertained, we may modify some views we already hold, but we are more likely to find in books merely a confirmation of what is in our minds already…. Graham Greene, “The Lost Childhood.” 1947. Gross, ed. Essays.

Books 299 Seneca: "Many people…use books not as tools for study but as decorations for the dining room." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books 15 One becomes attached to the specific book that one has read. "I too soon discovered that one doesn't simply read Crime and Punishment or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn…one reads a certain edition, a specific copy, recognizable by the roughness or smoothness of its paper, by its scent, by a slight tear on page 72 and a coffee ring on the right-hand corner of the back cover." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books 53 Emerson: "All these books…are the majestic expressions of the universal conscience…." Manguel, A History of Reading. [I would substitute the word "consciousness" for "conscience." RayS. ]

Books 56 "Held in my hand, the book twice remembers." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books 125 The shape and size of the book are part of the memory of reading the book. "…books also declare themselves through their size… I judge a book by its cover; I judge a book by its shape." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books 237 My books are an inventory of my life. "I enjoy the sight of my crowded bookshelves…I delight in knowing that I’m surrounded by a sort of inventory of my life." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books 245 The time and place and the external characteristics of my book are part of my memory of reading the book. "Annotations, stains, marks of one kind or another, a certain moment and place, characterize that volume as surely, as if it were a priceless manuscript." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books and life 91 One cannot imprison life in a book. Kafka: "One tries to imprison life in a book, like a songbird in a cage, but it’s no good." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books classification 199 Books are difficult to categorize.; they often fit many categories. "Filed under Fiction, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a humorous novel of adventure; under Sociology, a satirical study of England in the eighteenth century; under Children’s Literature, an entertaining fable about dwarfs and giants and talking horses; under Fantasy, a precursor of science fiction; under Travel, an imaginary voyage; under classics, a part of the Western literary canon." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books classification 199 One's reading expands the categories under which the book is listed. "Categories are exclusive; reading is not…." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books future of 23 One day in the future, we might have to carry our books in our minds. "…in that cautionary future described by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, in which books are carried not on paper but in the mind." Manguel, A History of Reading.

Books, classic 286 Classic definition of a classic. "A classic is something that everyone wants to have read and nobody wants to read." Mark Twain. 1900. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Bookworm 901 A bookworm is a person whose only ideas have come from books. "…a bookworm—one of those men who are born to gnaw dead thoughts…clothes…are covered with the dust of libraries…has no inward fountain of ideas…." Hawthorne: “Earth’s Holocaust”