Friday, May 30, 2008

Quotes: Dragons. Dreams.

The idea in bold face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Dragons
Dragons 1236 A dragon with 100 heads. "It is said that there was a dragon beneath the tree, with a hundred terrible heads, fifty of which were always on the watch, while the other fifty slept." “The Three Golden Apples” Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Dreams
Dream 497 A dream of guilt. " …ever since the second ambush he had been feeling the apprehension of a man in a dream who knows he is guilty, is waiting for his punishment, and cannot remember his crime." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Dreams 20 Suing for pleasure in a dream denied in real life. "Lamia was ridiculously unjust to sue a young man for a reward, who had confessed that pleasure from her in a dream which she had denied unto his waking senses." Sir Thomas Browne, “On Dreams.” c. 1650. Gross, ed. Essays.

Dreams 196 Sleeper whose soul wanders away from his body to do things in his dream. "The soul of a sleeper is supposed to wander away from his body and actually to visit the places, to see the persons, and to perform the acts of which he dreams." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Dreams 196 Indian blames employer for what the employer did in the Indian's dreams. "An … Indian in weak health, who dreamed that his employer had made him haul the canoe up a series of difficult cataracts, bitterly reproached his master next morning for his want of consideration in thus making a poor invalid go out and toil during the night." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Dreams 601 Dreamed of wanting something then visited wigwams and were given gifts; if a gift was what had been dreamed of he was congratulated by everyone; those who did not get what they wanted would never get it. "Then they all dreamed of something, a knife, a dog, skin, or whatever…and when morning came they went from wigwam to wigwam asking for presents…received silently, till the particular thing was given them which they had dreamed about…uttered a cry of joy and rushed from the hut, amid the congratulations of all present…health of those who received what they had dreamed of was believed to be assured; whereas those who did not get what they had set their hearts upon regarded their fate as sealed." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Dreams 676 Mistletoe and dreams of good and bad omens. "…in Wales it was believed that a sprig of mistletoe gathered on St. John’s Eve (Midsummer Eve), or at any time before the berries appeared, would induce dreams of omen, both good and bad, if it were placed under the pillow of the sleeper." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Dreams 90 Waking from a wonderful, peaceful dream in a time of war. "Roth dreamt that he was catching butterflies in a lovely green meadow when Minetta wakened him for guard." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Quotes: Discipline. Disease. Dogs. doubt.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Discipline
Discipline 164 Either smack her or put her in the coal hole or she'll be uncontrollable. "But I put it upo’ your conscience, Master Marner, as there’s one of ‘em you must choose—ayther smacking or the coal-hole—else she’ll get so masterful, there’ll be no holding her." George Eliot, Silas Marner.

Discipline 167 If you can't stop her from touching things, then keep them out of her way. "…and if you can’t bring your mind to frighten her off touching things, you must do what you can to keep ‘em out of her way." George Eliot, Silas Marner.

Disease
Disease 785 People who are diseased are egocentric. "All persons, chronically diseased, are egotists, whether the disease be of the mind or body." Hawthorne: Hawthorne: “Egotism; or, the Bosom-Serpent”

Disease 326 You can't live and not be diseased. "Is not disease the rule of existence?" Thoreau. 1851. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Dogs
Dogs 87 "The average dog is a nicer person than the average person." Andrew Rooney. Portable Curmudgeon.

Dogs 87 "To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the consistent popularity of dogs." Aldous Huxley. Portable Curmudgeon.

3. Dogs 39 Her owner rejected her, but she followed him anyway because she had nowhere else to go or be. "But Godfrey thrust her [his brown-spaniel, Snuff] away without looking at her, and left the room, followed humbly by the unresenting Snuff--perhaps because she saw no other career open to her." George Eliot, Silas Marner.

Doubt
Doubt 231 If we see a proof, we will know where to put our doubts. "A proof tells us where to concentrate our doubts." Anon. Cit. W. H. Auden. 1971. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Doubt 270 If we solve one doubt, we create many more. "…we cannot solve one doubt without creating several new ones." Joseph Priestley. 1775-86. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Quotes: Decisive Moments. Democracy. Depression. Destiny. Difficulty.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Decisive Moments in History
Decisive moments in history 47 People celebrate a memorable event in the streets. "This is the nature of Thomson’s homer: it makes people want to be in the streets, joined with others, telling others what happened, those few who haven’t heard—comparing facts and states of mind." DeLillo, Underworld.

Democracy
Democracy 150 In politics, religion and art the American citizen chooses the best. "In politics and religion this Sane Citizen [of America] is the canniest man on earth; and in the arts he invariably has a natural taste which makes him pick out the best, every time." Lewis, Babbitt.

Democracy 311 The American democracy does not imply equality in wealth, but does include sameness in every other aspect of culture. "...and all of them perceived that American Democracy did not imply any equality of wealth, but did demand a wholesome sameness of thought, dress, painting, morals and vocabulary." Lewis, Babbitt.

Democracy 785 People don't want the same things, but they do want the same choices as everybody else. "…not that people want the same things, necessarily, but that they want the same range of choices." DeLillo, Underworld.

Democracy 476 No group in America can set goals for the whole. "…no group, however politically potent it may seem, can independently set goals for the whole." Toffler, Future Shock.

Democracy 477 You deal with minorities in America by making them partners in the system. "…the best way to deal with angry or recalcitrant minorities is to open the system further, bringing them into it as full partners, permitting them to participate in social goal-setting, rather than attempting to ostracize or isolate them." Toffler, Future Shock.

Democracy 477 If people affected do not participate in setting the goal, they will not participate in carrying it out. "…in politics, in industry, in education, goals set without the participation of those affected will be increasingly hard to execute." Toffler, Future Shock.

Depression
Depression 186 "I was once thrown out of a mental hospital for depressing the other patients." Oscar Levant. Portable Curmudgeon.

Destiny
Destiny 804 People who have not found their places in the world. "…all mortals who, from whatever cause, have lost, or never found, their proper places in the world." Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”

Destiny 806 The person who knew he was apt for something, but could never figure out what it was. "…the dreamer, who, all his life long, has cherished the idea that he was peculiarly apt for something, but never could determine what it was…." Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”

Difficulty
Difficulty 222 Artists use obscurity to hide the meaninglessness of their art. "Difficulty is a coin the learned make use of, like jugglers, to conceal the inanity of their art…." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Quotes: Debtors' Prison. December. Deception. Decision-making. Decisions.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Debtors’ Prison
Debtors’ prisons 80 Those who allow others to languish and die in debtors' prison are inhuman. "Surely, he whose debtor has perished in prison, though he may acquit himself of deliberate murder, must at least have his mind clouded with discontent when he considers how much another has suffered from him...if there are any...without dread or pity, I must leave them to be awakened by some other power, for I write only to human beings." Samuel Johnson. “Debtors’ Prison (2).” 1758. Gross, ed. Essays.

December
December 341 "…snow is still wonderful and mysterious in December…hasn’t become commonplace and worn out its welcome." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.

December 333 Sometimes December is like autumn and sometimes like January. "Sometimes it [December] has all the trappings of late autumn, and sometimes it is a full-fledged partner of January." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.

December 330 With the coming of December the leaves no long rattle by the roadside. "The arrival of December means the definite end to autumn…the leaf-rustle of the November wind whisking October’s brilliance along the country road is muted as the leaves settle down." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.

December 331 December and the autumn colors become muted. "December. ...the spectacular color has passed and we now have the quiet tones of winter around us, the browns, the tans, a narrower range of greens, with only an occasional accent in the lingering winter berries." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

December 332 "December. ...green with pine and bright with berry and...spangled with frost...." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

December 334 "December. ...winter’s moon with more than fourteen hours of darkness to rule in cold splendor." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

December 340 "December sunrise. the night’s cold seems to intensify as daylight comes." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

December 342 The dead sound of rattling leaves lingering in oak or beech trees. "December. Here and there an oak or a beech rustles, with its tatter of withered leaves still clinging; but it is a dead sound, as dead as the rustle of fallen leaves at the roadside." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

December 343 December reminds us that ice is the twin destructor with fire. "...December, the counterpart of June, reminds us that elemental ice is the twin of fire." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

December 353 December stars are more brilliant than those of June. "December. It is an illusion, of course, but the December stars seem twice as brilliant as those of June...." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Deception
Deception 220 If we deceive others, we will also deceive ourselves. "It is not in human nature to deceive others, for any long time, without, in a measure, deceiving ourselves." J. H. Newman. 1837-42. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Deception 225 "The world wants to be deceived." Sebastion Brant. 1494. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Decision-making
Decision-making 363 Too-frequent decision-making is a strain and a drain on the human psyche. "…total surrender before the strain of decision-making in conditions of uncertainty and over-choice." Toffler, Future Shock.

Decisions
Decisions 21 Don't make hasty decisions. "Wherefore in thy rage make no Persian decree which cannot be reversed or repealed; but rather Polonian laws, which, they say, last but three days: do not in an instant what an age cannot recompense." Thomas Fuller, “Of Anger.” 1642. Gross, ed. Essays.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Quotes: Death

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Death
Death 617 His sole task was to record the names of the dead so that their names will not be forgotten at the Resurrection. "His sole task…the duty for which Providence had sent the old man into the world, as it were with a chisel in his hand...was to label the dead bodies, lest their names should be forgotten at the resurrection." Hawthorne: “Chippings with a Chisel”

Death 623 Belief that one's spirit at death will be extinguished forever. "…an infidel, whose grave stone, by his own direction, bore an avowal of his belief that the spirit within him would be extinguished like a flame, and that the nothingness whence he sprang would receive him again." Hawthorne: “Chippings with a Chisel”

Death 724 "When death is nigh, men converse with dreams and shadows." Hawthorne: “The Antique Ring”

Death 762 The symbol for a person about to die would be flight upward. "The idea of Death is in them, or not far off; but were they to choose a symbol for him, it would be the butterfly soaring upward, or the bright angel beckoning them aloft…." Hawthorne: “The New Adam and Eve”

Death 824 Death will one day drown in his own cold waters. " …the chill that will never leave those waters, until Death be drowned in his own river…." Hawthorne: “The Celestial Rail-Road”

Death 1019 Think of the bones of the dead who once made a great deal of noise while they were alive. "…think much about graves, with the long grass upon them, and weather-worn epitaphs, and dry bones of people who made noise enough in their day…." Hawthorne: “P’s Correspondence”

Death 85 No one who retires or dies creates any chasm in the progress of the world. "It was perhaps ordained by Providence….that no individual should be of such importance, as to cause, by his retirement or death, any chasm in the world." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 85 "Soon you will have forgotten the world, and the world will have forgotten you." Marcus Aurelius. 2nd century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 229 "All the arts and sciences have their roots in the struggle against death." St. Gregory of Nyssa. 4th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 347 Every parting is a death. "In every parting there is an image of death." George Eliot. 1858. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 355 Our life is our last cruise. "Old and young, we are all on our last cruise." Robert Louis Stevenson. 1881. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 355 If some died and some didn't, death would be an affliction. "If some persons died, and others did not die, death would indeed be a terrible affliction." La Bruyere. 1688. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 355 We get into the habit of living and therefore are never ready for dying. "The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying." Sir Thomas Browne. 1858. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 355 By the time I am ready to die, I have grown used to death and dying. "I feel so much the continual death of everything and everybody, and I have so learned to reconcile myself to it, that the final and official end loses most of its impressiveness." Santayana. 1931. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 356 We are less ready to die if we know we have lived in vain. "Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain." Hazlitt. 1815. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 357 We progress through sickness and death toward final equality. "It may be said that disease generally begins that equality which death completes." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.


Death 358 When it comes to death, we are all apprentices because we only do it once. "A man may by custom fortify himself against pain, shame, and suchlike accidents; but as to death, we can experience it but once, and are all apprentices when we come to it." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 358 "It’s not that I’m afraid to die; I just don’t want to be there when it happens." Woody Allen. 1971. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 358 Death affects only the survivors. "A man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair than his own." Thomas Mann. 1924. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 359 We put on long faces at the funeral, but we are gay at the luncheon afterward because he died, not we. "At the funerals of our relations we do our best to put on long faces, but at the luncheon afterwards our hilarity breaks out; for it is he who has died and not ourselves." Gerald Brenan. 1978. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 359 Just don't let me be buried alive. "All I desire for my own burial is not to be buried alive." Lord Chesterfield. 1769. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 360 Every dying person had unique characteristics that are lost forever. "The deep pain that is felt at the death of every friendly soul arises from the feeling that there is in every individual something which is inexpressible, peculiar to him alone, and is, therefore, absolutely and irretrievably lost." Schopenhauer. 1851. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Death 254 "Death levels all things." Claudian. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Death 321 We never know when we are going to die. "Death keeps no calendar." Russian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Death 13 The old accept death calmly as a part of nature. "The next door of death sads him not, but he [the good old man] expects it calmly as his turn in nature...." John Earle, “A Good Old Man.” 1628. Gross, ed. Essays.

Death 41 We have only two things in common: we were born and we died and that is all that is remembered. "Most of them [tombstones] recorded nothing else of the buried person, but that he was born upon one day and died upon another; the whole history of his life being comprehended in those two circumstances, that are common to mankind...a kind of satire upon the departed persons; who had left no other memorial of them, but that they were born and that they died." Joseph Addison, “Thoughts in Westminster Abbey.” 1711. Gross, ed. Essays.

Death 41 After death, our remains have no distinguishing characteristics. "...I began to consider with myself what innumerable multitudes of people lay confused together under the pavement of that ancient cathedral; how men and women, friends and enemies, priests and soldiers, monks and prebendaries, were crumbled amongst one another, and blended together in the same common mass; how beauty, strength, and youth, with old age, weakness and deformity, lay undistinguished in the same promiscuous heap of matter." Joseph Addison, “Thoughts in Westminster Abbey.” 1711. Gross, ed. Essays.

Death 43 "When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the griefs of parents upon a tombstone my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions and debates of mankind." Joseph Addison, “Thoughts in Westminster Abbey.” 1711. Gross, ed. Essays.

Death 311 The only pleasure about other people dying is that we have outlived them. "They [the old] hear of the death of people about their own age, or even younger, not as if it was a grisly warning, but with a simple child-like pleasure at having outlived someone else...." Robert Louis Stevenson, “Aes Triplex.” 1878. Gross, ed. Essays.

Death 111 Most people accept death and are not angry about its inevitability. "You never really knew a man, he [Fuchs] said, until you saw him die; most men were game and went without a grudge." Cather, My Ántonia

Death 311 "One night he was gone—just as if you had blown out a candle." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Death 245 "She intended to meet her own end with senses intact, grasp it, know it finally, open herself to the mystery that others mistake for something freakish and unspeakable." DeLillo, Underworld.

Death 69 We know we are going to die, but when is a matter of circumstance. "That men would die was a matter of necessity; which men would die, though, was a matter of circumstance…." Heller, Catch-22.

Death 167 It's what death does to the body that is repugnant. "…the smells and the cruel shapes into which physical death could force a body." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Death 264 Do we know or care why we die? "They’d die without knowing why…." Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Death 267 He saw a man shot to death, executed, as a child and all his life he never forgot it. "…that distant dawn when Colonel Gerinoldo Marquez took him to the barracks, not so that he could see an execution, but so that for the rest of his life he would never forget the sad and somewhat mocking smile of the man being shot…not only his oldest memory, but the only one he had of his childhood." Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Death 113 People do not mourn those who die anticipating what is next. "Utopia. …whoever departs this life eagerly, full of good hope, is mourned by no one." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Quotes: Dark. Dawn.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Dark
Dark 106 In the dark, neither distance nor time had any meaning. "In the darkness, distance had no meaning, nor did time." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Dawn
Dawn 50 "Dawn…the sense of light is there before the light itself." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Dawn 51 "Any dawn is beautiful, even one filled with falling snow, simply because it is new…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Dawn 131 "Dawn: There is neither scurry nor haste at that hour; haste awaits man’s awakening." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Quotes: Curiosity. Curse. Custom. Cynic.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Curiosity
Curiosity 229 "Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will." James Stephens. 1912. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Curiosity 250 Curiosity is a sign of intelligence. "Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Curse
Curse 295 "…the devil salt and pickle his guts!" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Curse 156 "That goddam, red-faced, big-cheeked, curly headed, buck-toothed rat bastard son of a bitch!" Heller, Catch-22.

Curse 156 "That dirty goddam midget-assed, apple-cheeked, goggle-eyed, undersized, buck-toothed, grinning, crazy sonofabitchinbastard!" Heller, Catch-22.

Custom
Custom 851 A skeleton at every Egyptian feast. "…the fantasy of the old Egyptians, who seated a skeleton at every festive board, and mocked their own merriment with the imperturbable grin of a death’s head." Hawthorne: “The Christmas Banquet”

Custom 165 "The power of custom is most weighty." Publius Syrus. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Cynic
Cynic 74 "A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin." H. L. Mencken. Portable Curmudgeon.

Cynic 74 "Cynic: A blackguard [who]… sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." Ambrose Bierce. Portable Curmudgeon.

Cynic 75 "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." Oscar Wilde. Portable Curmudgeon.

Cynic 75 "Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth." Lillian Hellman. Portable Curmudgeon.

Cynics 317 "Those who despise mankind believe themselves great men." Vauvenargues. 1746. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Quotes: Cruelty. Crusader. Culture.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.

Cruelty
Cruelty 180 "Cruelty isn’t softened by tears; it feeds on them." Publius Syrus. 1st century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Crusader
Crusader 112 Crusaders enjoy being vicious in the name of virtue. "She was a crusader and, like every crusader, she exulted in the opportunity to be vicious in the name of virtue." Lewis, Babbitt.

Culture
Culture 74 "Culture is an instrument wielded by professors to manufacture professors, who when their turn comes, will manufacture professors." Simone Weil. Portable Curmudgeon.

Culture 107 The townspeople want noisy celebrations in town and I want culture in a quiet atmosphere. "They want shouts on Main Street, and I want violins in a paneled room." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Culture 166 "…champagne taste and beer income…." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Culture 262 Venice has gondolas, but America has better bathrooms. "I imagine gondolas [in Venice] are kind of nice to ride in, but we’ve got better bathrooms." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Culture 328 America's taste in plays--violence. "Oh, another play I wish we could do is Tennyson Jesse’s ‘The Black Mask’…never seen it, but—Glorious ending, where this woman looks at the man with his face all blown away, and she just gives one horrible scream." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Culture 329 There is a world where beautiful things are important. "You see, it’s so awful recent that I’ve found there was a world—well, a world where beautiful things counted." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Culture 330 We have to do practical things, yet we are not satisfied with just doing practical things. "We have to darn socks, and yet we’re not content to think of nothing but socks and darning-cotton." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Culture 10 Being immersed in a strange country can give one culture shock. "Culture shock is the effect that immersion in a strange culture has on the unprepared visitor." Toffler, Future Shock.

Culture 40 "Each culture has its own characteristic pace." Toffler, Future Shock.

Culture 347 Culture shock means having to deal with the unpredictable. "The culture shocked person, like the soldier and disaster victim, is forced to grapple with unfamiliar and unpredictable events, relationships and objects." Toffler, Future Shock.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Quotes: Criticism

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Criticism
Criticism 89 Three ways to revenge the world for censuring you: despise it, return it or avoid anything that can be censured. "There are but three ways for a man to revenge himself of a censorious world: to despise it, to return the like, or to endeavor to live so as to avoid it." Swift. 1711. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 201 Don't compliment and then follow it with a criticism. "You must not pay a person a compliment, and then straightway follow it with a criticism." Twain. Later 19th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 203 When you're being criticized, you are being recognized as superior. "Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 204 Insults are a sign of impotence. "Insults, sneers, and so forth are signs of impotence…." Valery. 1942. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 204 You will never know you are being criticized unless you have friends. "A man usually has no idea what is being said about him…entire town may be slandering him, but if he has no friends he will never hear of it." Balzac. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 205 If someone criticizes you, respond by saying, "He doesn't know me very well. There are so many other things he could have criticized me for." "If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’ " Epictetus. 2nd century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 206 If you want to know someone else's failings, note what he criticizes others for. "Do you wish to find out a person’s weak points? Note the failings he has the quickest eye for in others." Julius Hare. 1827. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 207 "No man can escape blame in this world." The Dhammapada. 3rd century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 231 Always assume a standing opposition party for whatever you do or say. "There is in my mind a standing opposition party which subsequently attacks everything I have done or decided, even after mature consideration, yet without its always being right… " Schopenhauer. 1857. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Criticism 242 Don't criticize what you don't know well. "Let not the shoemaker criticize beyond his last." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Criticism 296 Your reasoning might be good, but you are ignoring human nature. "Your reasoning is very good, but it is founded on ignorance of human nature." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Criticism 276 When an iconoclast turns on you, retort with confusing statistics. "She had the neophyte’s shock of discovery that…conservatives do not tremble and find no answer when an iconoclast turns on them, but retort with agility and confusing statistics." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Criticism 354 You can criticize customs if you follow them. "Think how much better you can criticize conventional customs if you yourself live up to them, scrupulously." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Criticism 126 Failure to criticizes implies lack of intelligence. "…as if they were afraid of being thought unintelligent if they could not find something to criticize in others’ discoveries." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Quotes: Critical Thinking

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking 26 "The truth is I did not understand the plan [for the Bay of Pigs invasion] very well and did not know the facts…had let myself become a passive bystander." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 29 "When John F. Kennedy became president, we faced a complex and growing crisis in Southeast Asia with sparse knowledge, scant experience, and simplistic assumptions." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 33 In Vietnam, we failed to criticize our assumptions, the foundations of our decision-making. "We failed to analyze our assumptions critically, then or later; the foundations of our decision-making were gravely flawed." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 39 "We failed to ask the five most basic questions: Was it true that the fall of South Vietnam would trigger the fall of all Southeast Asia? Would that constitute a grave threat to the West’s security? What kind of war—conventional or guerrilla—might develop? Could we win it with U.S. troops fighting alongside the South Vietnamese? Should we not know the answers to all these questions before deciding to commit troops?" McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 41 Assumption that the South Vietnamese leader shared Western values. "That he [Diem] had studied at a Catholic seminary in New Jersey in the early 1950s seemed evidence that he shared Western values." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 59 Continuing the course of action because we had gone so far already. "The president [JFK] agreed we should not go ahead simply because we had gone so far already." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 63 " …we still failed to analyze the pros and cons of withdrawal." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 153 Assumption that air power would be effective in Vietnam. "Air power advocates in the Air Force and Navy accepted bombing’s effectiveness as dogma and failed to examine precisely what it could accomplish in particular situations." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 156 "…on October 5, 1964, George Ball sent Dean, Mac, and me a sixty-two page memorandum challenging the assumptions of our current Vietnam policy." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 176 The media and the Vietnam War. "Oliver Stone’s fanciful movie JFK, for example, includes a scene in which President Johnson, during the 1964 campaign, is made to say, in effect: Gentlemen [Joint Chiefs], you give me my election and I will give you your war; such a scene is disgraceful; these men put their lives—and the lives of the men they felt responsible for and led into battle—at risk…to suggest that military leaders want war is to misunderstand what motivates them." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 180 Making changes in policy. "The actions themselves should be taken in ways that should minimize any appearance of sudden changes in policy…." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 184 Questions not asked about projected actions in the Vietnam War. "General agreement existed on the need for more U.S. forces to prevent Saigon’s collapse; but how many?” pursuing what strategy? with what effect?" McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 184 Incomplete report. "But, again, George’s paper failed to show how to achieve the objectives we all sought." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 195 Assumption behind the Vietnam war. "…his [Dean Rusk’s] view—that if we lost South Vietnam, we increased the risk of WWIII…." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 203 Failure to ask questions about the strategy in the Vietnam War. "Looking back, I clearly erred by not forcing—then or later, in either Saigon or Washington—a knock-down, drag-out debate over the loose assumptions, unasked questions, and thin analyses underlying our military strategy in Vietnam…had spent twenty years as a manager identifying problems and forcing organizations—often against their will—to think deeply and realistically about alternative courses of action and their consequences…doubt I will ever fully understand why I did not do so here." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Critical thinking 1236 Hearsay vs. reality. "All had heard of them, but nobody remembered to have seen any." “The Three Golden Apples” Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Critical thinking 577 Attacking not men, but ideas. "…attacking not men so much as principles and measures…." Hawthorne: “Thomas Green Fessenden

Critical thinking 46 Cliche. What does it mean? "He would like to start from scratch; where is scratch?" Elias Canett. 1978.

Critical Thinking 258 "Hear the other side that you may learn." Xenephon. Greek. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Critical thinking 298 Norman evasions. "To reply like a Norman: give an evasive answer." French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Critical thinking 82 Ambiguity is at the heart of disputes. "We find few disputes, that are not founded on some ambiguity in the expression. David Hume." “Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature.” 1741. Gross, ed. Essays.

Critical thinking 458 Not "either/or," but "and/also." "Enough of ‘nothing but’; it is a time to say again, with primitive common sense… ‘not only, but also.’ " Aldous Huxley. “Meditation on the Moon.” 1931. Gross, ed. Essays.

Critical thinking 472 Hard facts vs. guessing, hearsay and legend. "The technique of isolating hard facts from a sea of guess, or hearsay, or legend…." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.

Critical thinking 483 Prejudice, habit and education change what we see." "Nature, it is true, always holds up the same mirror, but prejudice, habit, and education, are continually changing the appearance of the objects seen in it." Edmund Wilson. “A Preface to Persius.” 1927. Gross, ed. Essays.

Critical thinking 84 Loaded language. "…and vomit out filthy atheism." Lewis, Babbitt.

Critical thinking 250 Putting positive labels on your side of an issue. "There was no one in Zenith who talked of anything but the strike, and no one who did not take sides...were either a courageous friend of labor, or you were a fearless supporter of the Rights of Property; and in either case you were belligerent, and ready to disown any friend who did not hate the enemy." Lewis, Babbitt.

Critical thinking 24 Questioning superstitions. "It was not only beginning to be permitted to question superstitions, it was becoming fashionable to do it." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 26 Take nothing for granted. "Spallanzani… questioning everything…taking nothing for granted…." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 35 Answering questions with empty words. "Nedham and Buffon had deluged the scientific world with words—they had not answered his facts, they had not shown where Spallanzani’s experiment of the sealed flask was wrong." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 37 Tried to challenge his own pet ideas. "Spallanzani was triumphant, but then he did the curious thing that only born scientists ever do—he tried to beat his own idea, his darling theory—by experiments he honestly and shrewdly planned to defeat himself." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 105 Enthusiasm and jumping to conclusions. "...the enthusiasms of Pasteur did not for one moment make him [Koch] jump at conclusions." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 143 Overly critical of his own theories. "Koch always recited his failures with just as much and no more enthusiasm than he did his triumph...he looked at his own discoveries as if they had been those of another man of whom he was a little over-critical." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 213 "Either/Or thinking." "For twenty years both sides were so engaged they could not stop to think that perhaps both our blood and our phagocytes might work together to guard us from germs." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 220 Twisting the facts to prove one's point. "[Metchnikoff] sat down to write a great book on all that he had found out about why we are immune...an enormous treatise...written in a style Flaubert might have envied...made every one of the ten thousand facts in it vivid, and everyone of them was twisted prettily to prove his point." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 233 Fine Buildings and apparatus did not distract him from clear thinking. "Theobald Smith did not confuse fine buildings and complicated apparatus with clear thinking...." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 312 Every eminent physician thought that yellow fever was contagious. "Everybody believed that clothing and bedding and possessions of yellow fever victims were deadly—millions of dollars worth of clothing and bedding had been destroyed; the Surgeon-General believed it; every eminent physician in America, North, South, and Central….believed it." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking 323 Thinking beyond the accepted answer. "…two plus two makes five…Paul Ehrlich was that kind of man." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Critical thinking. Emotion over rationality. Fanny: “Oh! never, never, never; he never will succeed with me” …spoke with a warmth which quite astonished Edmund [who responded] “Never, Fanny, so very determined and positive…not like yourself, your rational self.” Austen, Mansfield Park.

Critical thinking 83 Reporting, not defending. "Utopia. …I have promised to tell you of their practices, not defend them." Thomas More, Utopia.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Quotes: Creativity. Crime. Critic.

The idea in the bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Creativity
Creativity 13 "But creators must have audiences." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Creativity 54 The creative artist broods about experiences. "It is true that he [Pasteur] was more scared by it [searing of a wound in a farmer’s flesh made by a mad wolf], haunted by it for a longer time, brooded over it more, that he smelled the burned flesh and heard the screams a hundred times more vividly than an ordinary boy would—in short, he was the stuff of which artists are made." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Creativity 28 New products breed new ideas. "For new machines or techniques are not merely a product, but a source of fresh creative ideas." Toffler, Future Shock.

Crime
Crime 857 He brooded about whether he had intended to commit murder or not. "There was a man of nice conscience, who bore a blood-stain in his heart—the death of a fellow creature—which, for his more exquisite torture, had chanced with such peculiarity of circumstances, that he could not absolutely determine whether his will had entered into the deed or not…his whole life was spent in the agony of an inward trial for murder…until his mind had no longer any thought nor his soul any emotion, disconnected with it." Hawthorne: “The Christmas Banquet”

Crime 215 Having killed his wife, he was now the subject of public curiosity. Paul Riesling, after shooting his wife, now in jail, to Babbitt: “I’m glad you came; but I thought maybe you’d lecture me, and when you’ve committed a murder, and been brought here and everything—there was a big crowd outside the apartment house, all staring, and the cops took me through it…." Lewis, Babbitt.

Crime 17 They have been brought up to commit crimes all their lives and now you punish them. "When you allow people to be brought up in the worst possible way and their characters to be gradually corrupted from a tender age, and then punish them when they commit these crimes as men which they showed all signs of doing from their childhood on—I ask you, what else are you doing than making men thieves and then punishing them?" Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Crime 92 Use punishment to deter crime. Use rewards to incite people to "commit" virtue. "They [the Utopians] do not merely deter people from crimes by punishment; they also set up rewards to incite them to virtue." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

5. Crime and justice 92 A clear desire to commit a crime is the same as having committed it. "Utopia. To have tried to commit adultery is no less dangerous than to have succeeded…in the case of every crime, they [the Utopians] judge a fixed and clearly aimed attempt to be the equivalent of the deed itself." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Critic
Critic 270 What is the artist's peculiar quality that will not be found elsewhere? "What is the peculiar sensation, what is the peculiar quality of pleasure, which his work has the property of exciting in us, and which we cannot get elsewhere?...always the chief question which a critic has to answer." Walter Pater. “Sandro Boticelli.” 1870. Gross, ed. Essays.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Quotes: Courtesy. Courtship. Coward. Cows.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Courtesy
Courtesy 89 "Courtesy begets courtesy." Spanish. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Courtship
Courtship 47 He agreed with everything she said about books. "He [Willoughby] acquiesced in all her [Marianne’s] decisions, caught all her enthusiasm; and long before his visit concluded, they conversed with the familiarity of a long-established acquaintance…same books, the same passages were idolized by each—or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Courtship 47 If you two agree on everything what will you have to converse about? Elinor to Marianne: "But how is your acquaintance to be long supported, under such extraordinary dispatch of every subject for discourse?…will soon have exhausted each favorite topic; another meeting will suffice to explain his sentiments on picturesque beauty and second marriages, and then you can have nothing farther to ask." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Coward
Coward 40 "As cowardly as a coward is, it is not safe to call a coward a coward." Anon. Early 18th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Cows
Cows 1372 Trying to find his sister who has been transformed by a god into a cow. "He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to examine her, and see if she would appear to know him, or whether there were any peculiarities to distinguish her from a thousand other cows, whose only business is to fill a milk pail, and sometimes kick it over." “The Dragon’s Teeth” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Monday, May 12, 2008

Quotes: Convictions. Corporation. Courage.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Convictions
Convictions 71 "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies." Nietzsche. Portable Curmudgeon.

Corporation
Corporation 71 "Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility." Ambrose Bierce. Portable Curmudgeon.

Corporations 109 You'll never get justice from a company. It has no soul or body. "You never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose, nor a body to kick." Sydney Smith. 1855. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Courage
Courage 1329 "Sitting there on thy golden throne, and in thy robes of majesty, I tell thee to thy face, King Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself." “The Minotaur” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales.

Courage 1459 There is only one way to deal with a mad bull and you'll find out what it is at the moment he charges. Medea: "…there is but one way of dealing with a mad bull; what it is I leave you to find out in the moment of peril." “The Golden Fleece” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Courage 1460 If you are in doubt or afraid, don't go near the bulls. "If you doubt—if you are in the least afraid—said the Princess [Medea], looking him in the face, by the dim starlight—you had better never have been born than go a step nigher to the bulls." “The Golden Fleece” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Courage 1461 Overcome your fear by despising the thing you fear. "And, ever since that time, it has been the favorite method of brave men, when danger assails them, to do what they call ‘taking the bull by the horns’—and to grip him by the tail is pretty much the same thing—that is, to throw aside fear, and overcome the peril by despising it." “The Golden Fleece” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Courage 72 "Courage is the fear of being thought a coward." Horace Smith. Portable Curmudgeon.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Quotes: Conversation

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Conversation
Conversation 787 The topics of conversation are superficial, hiding the sad realities of life. "Strange spectacle in human life where it is the instinctive effort of one and all to hide those sad realities, and leave them undisturbed beneath a heap of superficial topics, which constitute the materials of intercourse between man and man!" Hawthorne: “Egotism; or, the Bosom-Serpent”

Conversation 129 In conversation, people appear to listen attentively, but, in reality, they are thinking of what they are going to say next. "One of the reasons why so few people are to be found who seem sensible and pleasant in conversation is that almost everybody is thinking about what he wants to say himself rather than about answering clearly what is being said to him; the more clever and polite think it enough simply to put on an attentive expression, while all the time you can see in their eyes and train of thought that they are far removed from what you are saying and anxious to get back to what they want to say." Reflections or Moral Thoughts and Maxims, 1665

Conversation 72 He who would please in conversation must not intimidate by excelling in expressing his opinions. "He that would please must rarely aim at such excellence as depresses his hearers in their own opinion, or debars them from the hope of contributing reciprocally to the entertainment of the company." Samuel Johnson. “Conversation.” 1751. Gross, ed. Essays.

Conversation 73 People love narratives in conversation. "...no style of conversation is more extensively acceptable than the narrative." Samuel Johnson. “Conversation.” 1751. Gross, ed. Essays.

Conversation 108 He read his newspaper, but when asked what was in the news, he said "nothing." "Lady Middleton could no longer endure such a conversation, and therefore exerted herself to ask Mr. Palmer if there was any news in the paper… “No, none at all,” he replied, and read on." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Conversation 233 The only poverty was in the conversation. "…no poverty of any kind, except of conversation, appeared—but there, the deficiency was considerable; John Dashwood had not much to say for himself that was worth hearing, and his wife had still less." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Conversation 359 When she failed to reinforce the dryness of the season, an awful pause in the conversation followed. " …with a countenance meaning to be open, she sat down again and talked of the weather…when Elinor ceased to rejoice in the dryness of the season, a very awful pause took place." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Conversation 49 She gossiped. "Juanita Haydock talked a good deal in her rattling voice but it was invariably of personalities: the rumor that Raymie Wutherspoon was going to send for a pair of patent leather shoes with gray buttoned tops; the rheumatism of Champ Perry; the state of Guy Pollock’s grippe; and the dementia of Jim Howland in painting his fence salmon-pink." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Conversation 50 She heard his impersonation of hen-catching seven times during the winter. "During the winter Carol was to hear Dave Dyer’s hen-catching impersonation seven times...." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Conversation 51 The ladies talked about children and sickness; did the men talk about ideas? "The men and women divided, as they had been tending to do all evening; Carol was deserted by the men, left to a group of matrons who steadily pattered of children, sickness, and cocks--their own shop talk...did [the men] rise from these housewifely personalities to a larger world of abstractions and affairs?" Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Conversation 135 "They fell joyfully into shop-talk, the purest and most rapturous form of conversation." Lewis, Babbitt.

Conversation 102 Some things should not be kidded. Toglio: "I think some things aren’t fit for kidding." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Conversation 110 The Christmas conversation was repeated on each holiday. "The doctor and his wife, uncle and aunt Kimble, were there, and the annual Christmas talk was carried through without any omissions, rising to the climax of Mr. Kimble’s experience when he walked the London hospitals thirty years back…." George Eliot, Silas Marner.

Conversation 165 Casual conversation is full of repetition. "Casual conversation tends to be filled with repetition and pauses; ideas are repeated several times, often in identical words…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Quotes: Consciousness. Conservatism. Consistency. Contentment.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Consciousness
Consciousness 107 "Somewhere deep inside himself was a wonder at the exhaustion his body could endure." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 117 "To counteract this mood [of weariness and depression], he began to feel the various objects in the hole." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 118 "His ears were keyed to all the sounds of the night, and from long experience he sifted out the ones that were meaningless." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 171 He had a physical sense of life, death and his vulnerability. "…and found his mind churning with the physical knowledge of life and death and his own vulnerability." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 418 "…he reeled into unconsciousness, his mind seeming to revolve over and over beneath his closed eyelids." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 440 "…at this moment he was living on many levels at once." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 534 "With a sick fascination, he envisioned a factory, watched his bullet being made, packed into a carton." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Consciousness 553 I'm just waiting to be hit and while I'm waiting, I'm finding things about myself that I don't want to know. "…we’re stuck over here God knows how long, never knowing when you’re going to catch something, just waiting and sweating it out, and finding out things about yourself that, by God, it don’t pay to know." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Conservatism
Conservatism 119 Conservatism is recognizing human limitations. "Conservatism is primarily based on a proper recognition of human limitations…." Sir Lewis Namier. 1958. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Consistency
Consistency 256 To be consistent, you should be as ignorant as you were a year ago. Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago. Bernard Berenson. 1892. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Contentment
Contentment 74 "Generally those who boast most of contentment have least of it." Thomas Fuller (1). 1642. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Contentment 173 "If you are foolish enough to be contented, don’t show it, but grumble with the rest." Jerome K. Jerome. 1889. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Quotes: Compliment. Computers. Confidence. Conformity. Consicence.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Compliment
Compliment 93 "A compliment is a[n]…anesthetic." Mr. Justice Darling. 1889. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Computers
Computers 560 Computers are an extension of the human brain. "After all, the whole point of computers is that they represent an extension of the human brain, vastly improved upon but nonetheless human…." Lewis Thomas. “To Err Is Human.” 1979. Gross, ed. Essays.

Computers 562 "Your average good computer can make calculations in an instant which would take a lifetime of slide rules for any of us." Lewis Thomas. “To Err Is Human.” 1979. Gross, ed. Essays.

Confidence
Confidence 147 "Confidence begets confidence." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Conformity
Conformity 208 Even nonconformists demand conformity. "Woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity." Eric Hoffer. Portable Curmudgeon.

Conscience
Conscience 174 Conscience is based on custom, not on nature. "The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Conscience 70 "Conscience: The inner voice which warns that someone may be looking." H. L. Mencken. Portable Curmudgeon.

Conscience 68 We always know when we are acting wrong. "Marianne: …for if there had been any real impropriety in what I did, I should have been sensible of it at the time, for we always know when we are acting wrong…." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Quotes: Communism. Comparison.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Communism
Communism 46 Defeating the Communists will require internal economic and social reform in addition to military force. "McNamara [March 1962]: …the application of military force alone will not automatically defeat the Communists unless there is internal economic and social reform." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Communism 38 Communism or community possessions will never work because people are unable to profit from their work and letting the other guy do the work will make people lazy. "I am of the…opinion that life can never be comfortable with community possessions…for considerations of his own profit do not urge him on, and confidence in another’s industry makes him lazy." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Comparison
Comparison 1358 "…for this little princess was active as a squirrel…." “The Dragon’s Teeth” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Comparison 101 "One evening not long after he took office, Johnson confessed to his aide Bill Moyers that he felt like a catfish that had ‘just grabbed a big juicy worm with a right sharp hook in the middle of it.’ " McNamara’s In Retrospect

Comparison 157 George Ball: "Once on the tiger’s back we cannot be sure of picking the place to dismount." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Comparison 828 "…withered leaves…the ideas and feelings we have done with." Hawthorne: “Buds and Bird-Voices”

Comparison 1089 "…she looked like a cheerful thought." Hawthorne: “The Snow Image”

Comparison 36 "I hate to be near the sea...it puts me in mind of the everlasting efforts of the human mind, struggling to be free and ending just where it began." Hazlitt. 1823. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Comparison 167 "The drop hollows the stone, not by force, but by constant dropping." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Comparison 193 To throw the helve after the hatchet; to give up in despair. French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Comparison 117 "We drove slowly away, against the fine, icy snow which cut our faces like a sand-blast."

Comparison 372 [Per Hansa] "…his whole figure seemed fearfully ravaged and broken, like a forest maple shattered by a storm." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Comparison 157 "I’m a hawk; a tiny leashed hawk, pecked to death by these large, white, flabby, wormy hens." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Comparison 198 "She saw that he had never been anything but a frame on which she had hung shining garments." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Comparison 201 "In fur coats and mufflers tied over caps they were a strange company, bears and walruses talking." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Comparison 313 "Probably I’m a hexagonal peg; solution: find the hexagonal hole." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Comparison 320 " …cud-chewing citizens…." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Comparison 4 "That man Leeuwenhoek was like a puppy who sniffs—with a totally impolite disregard of discrimination—at every object of the world around him." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Comparison 604 "It’s like the life and death of a fly, on a wall, in a village, somewhere in China…that’s how much I care." DeLillo, Underworld.

Comparison 77 "…the colonel surged to his feet like a gigantic belch." Heller, Catch-22.

Comparison 131 "The general after, for the second time, routing a force which had penetrated his lines: I’m the little lady who allows the lecher beside me to get his hand way up under my dress before I cut off his wrist." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

Comparison 355 "…described at the same time how it was always March there and always Monday." Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Comparison 297 "It will be a bitter pill to her, that is, like other bitter pills, it will have two moments ill-flavor, and then be swallowed and forgotten…." Austen, Mansfield Park.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Quotes: Clocks. College. Comedy. Communication.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Clocks
Clocks 910 A family clock that has lived the lifetimes of many generations. "If a family clock was entrusted to him for repair—one of those tall, ancient clocks that have grown nearly allied to human nature, by measuring out the lifetime of many generations …." Hawthorne: “The Artist of the Beautiful”

College
College 155 Fire cynical and pessimistic university teachers! "And when it comes to these blab-mouth, fault-finding, pessimistic, cynical university teachers, let me tell you that during this golden coming year, it’s…our duty to bring influence to have these cusses fired…." Lewis, Babbitt.

Comedy
Comedy 67 "Comedy corrects manners by laughing at them." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Comedy 654 It takes a personal disaster to get in the mood to write comedy. "Now that something terrible has happened to you, he said, perhaps you’ll write comedy." P.J. Kavanagh. “Is It Alas, Yorick?” 1983. Gross, ed. Essays.

Comedy, tragedy 191 "All tragedies are finished by death; all comedies are ended by marriage." Byron. Portable Curmudgeon.

Communication
Communication 105 Dilemma: giving people information during war without giving aid and comfort to the enemy. "It is a profound, enduring and universal ethical and moral dilemma: how, in times of war and crisis, can senior government officials be completely frank to their own people without giving aid and comfort to the enemy?" McNamara’s In Retrospect

Communication 215 To make a point you have to catch the listeners' attention. "Kennan’s point failed to catch our attention and thus influence our actions." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Communication 204 "Some sentences release their poisons only after years." Elias Canetti. 1978. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Communication 315 A genius can afford to confuse; all the rest of us had better just be intelligible. "Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible." Anthony Hope. 1894. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Communication 56 "In trying to become concise, I become obscure." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Communication 56 "God hearkens to short prayers." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Communication 214 "Explain one obscurity by another." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Communication 262 The eyes communicate without words. "At these words, Marianne’s eyes expressed the astonishment, which her lips could not utter." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Communication 137 People communicate differently when among equals than when they are dealing with a hierarchy. " …people communicating ‘sideways”—i.e., to others at approximately the same level of organization—behave differently, operate under very different pressures, than those who must communicate up and down a hierarchy." Toffler, Future Shock.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Quotes: Classics. Clergy. Cliche.

The idea in bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Classics
Classics ix The Greek and Roman Classics must be taught because of their knowledge, inspiration and excellent discipline in thought, debate and self-expression. "Greek and Roman classics…must be taught…because of the knowledge they transmitted, the inspiration that they imparted, and the excellence of the discipline that they afforded in the arts of thought, debate and self-expression." Introd. John Anthony Scott. Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Clergy
Clergy 110 A clergyman does nothing; his curate does all the work and the curate's main goal in life is to eat. "A clergyman has nothing to do but to be slovenly and selfish—read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife…curate does all the work, and the business of his own life is to dine." Austen, Mansfield Park.

Clergy 248 People need more than a weekly sermon; the clergyman must live among his parishioners to provide an example of how to live. "He [Edmund] knows that human nature needs more lessons than a weekly sermon can convey, and that if he does not live among his parishioners and prove himself by constant attention their well-wisher and friend, he does very little either for their good or his own." Austen, Mansfield Park.


Cliché
Cliché 848 People will fight for their hearths, but not their stoves. "Fight for your hearths? There will be none throughout the land; fight for your stoves? Not I, in faith." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Cliché 376 The vast mass of humanity, with their vast mass of idle books and idle words, have never doubted and never will doubt that courage is splendid, that fidelity is noble, that distressed ladies should be rescued, and vanquished enemies spared. G. K. Chesterton, “A Defense of Penny Dreadfuls.” 1901. Gross, ed. Essays.

Cliché 45 Marianne: "I abhor every common-place phrase by which wit is intended; and ‘setting one’s cap at a man,’ or ‘making a conquest,’ are the most odious of all…tendency is gross…and if their construction ever be deemed clever, time has long ago destroyed all its ingenuity." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Cliché 209 “This is beyond everything!” exclaimed Elinor. Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Cliché 165 "The room was drab-colored and ill-ventilated—Kennicott did not “believe in opening the windows so darn wide that you heat all outdoors.” Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Cliché 48 "I always say--and believe me, I base it on a pretty fairly extensive mercantile
experience--the best is the cheapest in the long run." Lewis, Babbitt.

Cliché 247 If that is peace, warn me when you are about to go to war. "Babbitt was up, hat in hand, growling, 'Well, if that’s what you call being at peace, for heaven’s sake just warn me before you go to war, will you?' ” Lewis, Babbitt.

Cliché 259 ."..but I do think that girls who pretend they’re bad by the way they dress really never go any farther." Lewis, Babbitt.

Clichés 281 There is profundity in cliches. "The immense profundity of thought contained in commonplace turns of phrase…." Baudelaire. 1862. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Clichés 359 People find comfort in cliches. "…finds comfort in such clichés as 'Young people were always rebellious' or 'There’s nothing new on the face of the earth' or 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' " Toffler, Future Shock.