Thursday, July 31, 2008

Quotes: Greeks. Grief. Groups. Growth. Guilt.

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.

Greeks
Greeks 433 The Greeks faced death but loved life. " …the Greeks, like ourselves with death before them and a great love of life in their hearts." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Grief
Grief 95 "Light griefs find utterance; great ones are dumb." Seneca. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Grief 179 "Great griefs are silent." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Groups
Groups 796 People with the same physical diseases form a solitary group. "…all who are afflicted with like physical diseases form themselves into ranks." Hawthorne: Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”

Groups 797 Having the same disease eliminates social rankings. "…bond of mutual disease…makes the king a brother of the clown." Hawthorne: Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”

Growth
Growth 306 "...it was like watching the growth of a great man or of a great idea." Cather, My Ántonia

Guilt
Guilt 1364 He regretted giving up the quest for his sister in favor of his own comfort. "…never quite ceased to trouble him [Phoenix] for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her companions went onward." “The Dragon’s Teeth” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Guilt 786 He sought out his own disease in other breasts. "With cankered ingenuity, he sought out his own disease in every breast." Hawthorne: “Egotism; or, the Bosom- Serpent."

Guilt 789 His fatal inner serpent became the symbol of every man's fatal error, which he looked for throughout the city. "Thus, making his own actual serpent—if a serpent there actually was in his bosom—the type of each man’s fatal error, or hoarded sin, or unquiet conscience, and striking his sting so unremorsefully into the sorest spot, we may well imagine that Roderick became the pest of the city." Hawthorne: “Egotism; or, the Bosom-Serpent”

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Quotes: Greatness.

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.

Greatness
Greatness 312 Who knows whether the best of men were unknown, hidden from us for various reasons? "Who knows whether the best of men be known? Or whether there be not more remarkable persons forgot, than any that stand remembered in the known account of time?" Sir Thomas Browne. 1658. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 312 "To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die." Vauvenargues. 1746. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 312 Greatness involves the existence of opposite qualities. "Greatness is usually the result of a natural equilibrium among opposite qualities." Diderot. 1761. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 312 Greatness involves the simultaneous existence of incompatible qualities. "The best people usually owe their excellence to a combination of qualities which might have been supposed incompatible." Bertrand Russell. 1928. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 312 Great minds are androgynous, both feminine and masculine. "The truth is, a great mind must be androgynous." Coleridge. 1832. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 313 Men show themselves as they wish to be seen in great affairs, but in small affairs, they show themselves as they really are. "In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen, in small things they show themselves as they are." Chamfort. 1805. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 315 Necessity elevates man to greatness. "Great necessity elevates man…." Goethe. 1803. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 317 The great man has the heart of a child. "The great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child." Mencius. 4th century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 318 "…Every Goliath has his David and so on ad infinitum." Don Marquis. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Greatness 180 Great men have great defects. "Only great men have great defects." La Rochefoucauld. French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Greatness 243 "Nothing is great unless good." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Greatness 5 Great boldness produces some absurdity. "...great boldness is seldom without some absurdity." F. Bacon, “Of Boldness.” 1625. Gross, ed. Essays.

Greatness 5 Boldness is blind to danger and inconvenience. "...boldness is ever blind; for it seeith not dangers and inconveniences." F. Bacon, “Of Boldness.” 1625. Gross, ed. Essays.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Quotes; Government

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.

Government
Government 108 The civilian government needed to press the military for answers about Vietnam and we did not do so. "It was our job to demand the answers; we did not press hard enough for them…we—their [the military’s] civilian superiors—erred…by not forcing such an appraisal." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Government 142 Should a President take our nation to war without consent from the Congress? No! "The issue…involved at its most basic level a question of politics: should a president take our nation to war (other than immediately to repel an attack on our shores) without popular consent as voiced by Congress…no president should…President Johnson, and those of us who served with him, were wrong." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Government 314 Since authority for a cabinet officer comes from the President, he cannot act independently of or contradict the President. "A cabinet officer’s authority and legitimacy derives from the President [therefore, he cannot act independently of or in contradiction to the President]." McNamara’s In Retrospect

Government 111 If you haven't been in prison, you have no idea about the power of the state. "No one who has not sat in prison knows what the state is like." Tolstoy. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Government 113 Give me your tired and poor--after they have filled out the proper forms. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, provided they have satisfactorily filled out Forms 3584-A through 3597-Q." Dwight MacDonald. 1963. Revised inscription for the Statue of Liberty. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Government 116 "Every central government worships uniformity…." De Tocqueville. 1835. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Government 117 The worst enemies of freedom are anarchy and total efficiency. "The worst enemy of life, freedom and the common decencies is total anarchy; their second worst enemy is total efficiency." Aldous Huxley. 1956. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Government 117 "There has never been a perfect government, because men have passions; and if they did not have passions, there would be no need for government." Voltaire. 18th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Government 106 The government is the servant of the people. "The prince is the first servant of his state." Frederick the Great. German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Government 117 "Two things only do the people earnestly desire, bread and the circus (i.e., food and amusement)." Juvenal. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Government 286 Government does not show wisdom. "With how little wisdom the world is governed." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Government 289 If the government commits folly, those who suffer are the people. "Whatever folly their kings commit, it is the Greeks themselves that suffer." Greek. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Government 75 Prosperity depends on the number of people usefully employed. "The prosperity of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed." Samuel Johnson. “Debtors’ Prison (I).” 1758. Gross, ed. Essays.

Government 76 Civil regulations are designed to keep people from working against other people. "The end of all civil regulations is to secure private happiness from private malignity; to keep individuals from the power of one another." Samuel Johnson. “Debtors’ Prison (I).” 1758. Gross, ed. Essays.

Government 507 Gandhi could only arouse people if they could hear his message. Who can hear it when people disappear in the night? "…he [Gandhi] believed in ‘arousing the world,’ which is only possible if the world gets a chance to hear what you are doing…difficult to see how Gandhi’s methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the régime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard of again." George Orwell. “Reflections on Gandhi.” 1949. Gross, ed. Essays.

Government 527 Senators have the moral character of a hog. "…Mark Twain instituted his famous comparison between the moral character of senators and that of hogs." Lionel Trilling. “Adams at Ease.” 1952. Gross, ed. Essays.

Government 528 If you want something done, do it and then explain to the people what you have done. "…have always found that in practice it is best to present the general public with a fait accompli when a scheme is ultimately for its own good." Sir John Betjeman, “A New Westminster.” 1958. Gross, ed. Essays.

Government 85 If the government pays you for not growing something, take the money and buy more land on which you don't grow whatever the government will pay for. "His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any…government paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow… the more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce…worked without rest at not growing alfalfa…soon was not growing alfalfa better than any other man in the county." Heller, Catch-22.

Government 37 Fewer laws, better order; many laws, more crime. "So I think over the wise and holy customs of the Utopians, who need so few laws for government…then I compare and contrast…so many other nations, always making laws…countless laws passed every day." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Government, Democrats 124 Government consists of taking money from one class of citizen and giving it to another class. "In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of the citizens to give to the other." Voltaire. Portable Curmudgeon.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Quotes: Goethe. Good, Goodness. Gossip.

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.

Goethe
Goethe 242 "Goethe...a soldier in the war of liberation of humanity." Matthew Arnold, “Heine and the Philistines.” 1863. Gross, ed. Essays.

Good, Goodness
Good 868 Good actions lead to other good actions. "In every good action there is a divine quality, which does not end with the completion of that particular deed, but goes on to bring forth good works in an infinite series." Hawthorne: “A Good Man’s Miracle”

Goodness 174 Goodness increases with practice, not from nature. "More men become good through practice than by nature." Democritus of Abdera. 5th-4th century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Gossip
Gossip 124 "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." Oscar Wilde. Portable Curmudgeon.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Quotes: God

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.

God
God 22 "If man had created man, he would be ashamed of his performance." Twain. Late 19th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

God 31 Was the world God created a mistaken experiment? "...could not...our world be the work of one who did not know his job properly--an experiment?" Lichtenberg. 1764-99. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

God 193 "God prefers that you approach him thoughtful, not penitent." Thoreau. 1850. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

God 363 If the world's justice is any indication, God's justice will receive the wicked in heaven and send the good to hell. "I can believe anything, but the justice of this world does not give me a very reassuring idea of the justice in the next; I’m very much afraid that God will go on blundering: he will receive the wicked in Paradise and hurl the good into Hell." Jules Renard. 1906. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

God 363 "God is growing bitter; He envies man his mortality." Jacques Rigaut. 1920. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

God 120 "If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which he has inflicted upon men, He would kill himself." Alexandre Dumas fils. Portable Curmudgeon.

God 120 "Which is it: is man one of God’s blunders, or is God one of man’s blunders?" Nietzsche. Portable Curmudgeon.

God 120 "I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time." Nietzche. Portable Curmudgeon.

God 121 "It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him." H. L. Mencken. Portable Curmudgeon.

God 121 "Perhaps God is not dead; perhaps God is himself mad." R. D. Laing. Portable Curmudgeon.

God 189 "Man is a dog’s ideal of what God should be." Holbrook Jackson. Portable Curmudgeon.

God 3 From God, we must accept good and evil. Job: "Shall we...take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also?" F. Bacon, “Of Revenge.” 1625. Gross, ed. Essays.

God 267 "[Of God]...that it is fair and right to send afflictions upon the just--upon the unoffending as well as upon the offending, without discrimination." Mark Twain. “Thoughts of God.” 1890s. Gross, ed. Essays.

God 267 "God ...allow[s] no man peace till he get it in the grave...." Mark Twain. “Thoughts of God.” 1890s. Gross, ed. Essays.

God 268 "We hear much about His [God’s] patience and forbearance and long-suffering; we hear nothing about our own, which much exceeds [His]." Mark Twain. “Thoughts of God.” 1890s. Gross, ed. Essays.

God 268 "If men neglected ‘God’s poor’ and ‘God’s stricken and helpless ones’ as He does, what would become of them?" Mark Twain. “Thoughts of God.” 1890s. Gross, ed. Essays.

God 268 Is God a sinner? "The pulpit assures us that wherever we see suffering and sorrow which we can relieve and not do it, we sin, heavily; there was never yet a case of suffering or sorrow which God could not relieve; does He sin then?" Mark Twain. “Thoughts of God.” 1890s. Gross, ed. Essays.

God 117 Just as we cannot know what the sleeper knows, we cannot know the relationship between God and the departed. "Oh, great and just God, no man among us knows what the sleeper knows, nor is it for us to judge what lies between him and Thee." [Grandfather Burden’s prayer at Mr. Shimerda’s burial.] Cather, My Ántonia

God 264 Blaming God for his troubles. "Struggling through the storm, he felt more and more disgusted with God Almighty; to take him away from Beret now would be a wicked thing…what could he expect to accomplish by such a wrong?…was this the way God cared for His own?" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

God 320 "How could the good God permit creatures made in His image to fall into such tribulations?" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

God 321 Where was God's guiding hand? "Must man perish because of his own foolishness?…where then, was the guiding hand?" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

God 154 "I went to a denominational college and learned that since dictating the Bible, and hiring a perfect race of ministers to explain it, God has never done much but creep around and try to catch us disobeying it." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

God 10 On God's accomplishments. "He [Leeuwenhoek] not only believed in God but he admired him intensely--what a being to know how to fashion bees’ wings so prettily." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

God 184 "And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways, Yossarian continued…there’s nothing so mysterious about it; He’s not working at all; He’s playing; or else He’s forgotten all about us." Heller, Catch-22.

God 293 The image of God is beginning to waver. "…the lifelong trust he had placed in the wisdom and justice of an immortal, omnipotent, omniscient, humane, universal, anthropomorphic, English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon, pro-American God, which had begun to waver." Heller, Catch-22.

God 472 “Listen, Polack, you think there’s a God?” Polack grinned… “If there is, he sure is a sonofabitch.” Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.

God vs. humanity 26 Man does not measure up very well to God. "...there is in God an infinite nature, immensity or vastness without extension or limit, immutability, omnipotence, omniscience, holiness, dominion, providence, bounty, mercy, justice, perfection in himself, and the end to which all things and all actions must be directed, and will at last arrive; the consideration of which may be heightened, if we consider our distance from all these glories; our smallness and limited nature, our nothing, our inconstancy, our age like a span, our weakness and ignorance, our poverty, our inadvertency and inconsideration, our disabilities and disaffections to do good, our harsh natures and unmerciful inclinations, our universal iniquity, and our necessities and dependencies, not only on God originally and essentially but even our need of the meanest of God’s creatures, and our being obnoxious to the weakest and most contemptible." Jeremy Taylor, “Of charity, Or the Love of god.” 1650. Gross, ed. Essays.

gods 544 Gods cannot grow old. "The intention of thus putting a limit to the life of the human god was…to secure him from the weakness and frailty of age." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Quotes: Ghosts. Giants in the Earth. Gifts. Glory. Goal.

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.

Ghosts
Ghosts 1135 "Our ghost used to heave deep sighs in a particular corner of the parlor; and sometimes rustled paper, as if he were turning over a sermon in the long upper entry…." Hawthorne: Preface to “The Old Manse”

Ghosts 1135 "A yet stranger business was that of a ghostly servant-maid, who used to be heard in the kitchen, at deepest midnight, grinding coffee, cooking, ironing—performing, in short, all kinds of domestic labor—although no traces of anything accomplished could be detected the next morning." Hawthorne: Preface to “The Old Manse”


Giants in the Earth
Giants in the Earth xi "Rölvaag is preoccupied with the human cost of empire building, rather than with its glamour and romance." Lincoln Colcord, “Introduction.” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Giants in the Earth xi "Giants in the Earth never turns aside from the march of its sustained and inevitable tragedy." Lincoln Colcord, “Introduction.” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Giants in the Earth xii "When we lay it [Giants in the Earth] down we have gained a new insight into the founding of America." Lincoln Colcord, “Introduction.” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Gifts
Gifts 33 "The giver makes the gifts precious." Ovid. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Glory
Glory 162 "Glory is the shadow of virtue." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Goal
Goal 1367 Everything else is a dream except the quest. "It [the quest for the lost Europa] is no dream! said Cadmus; everything else is a dream, save that." “The Dragon’s Teeth” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Goal 1370 The quest was his only object and without it he had no life. "For, ever since he [Cadmus] was a child…it had been the great object of his life to find his sister…and, now, if he must give up the search, he seemed to have no more business in the world." “The Dragon’s Teeth” Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Quotes: Gentleman

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.

Gentleman
Gentleman 1235 Seeing a gentleman makes one want to look like a gentleman. " …and before the fire, in a deep arm-chair, sat Mr. Pringle, looking just fit to be seated in such a chair, and in such a room…always so nicely dressed, that even Eustace Bright never liked to enter his presence, without at least pausing at the threshold to settle his shirt collar." “Tanglewood Fireside. Introductory to ‘The Three golden Apples’” Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Gentleman 1104 Gentlemen have pumpkin heads like those of a scarecrow. "And many a fine gentleman has a pumpkin-head as well as my scarecrow." Hawthorne: “Feathertop: A Moralized Legend”

Gentleman 1115 A gentleman can be recognized as a gentleman regardless if he is wearing rags. "It is some great nobleman beyond question…if he came among us in rags, nobility would shine through a hole in his elbow…I never saw such dignity of aspect…he has the old Norman blood in his veins…but, in my judgment, this stranger hath been bred at the French Court, and hath there learned politeness and grace of manner, which none understand so well as the nobility of France…that gait, now; a vulgar spectator might deem it stiff—he might call it a hitch and jerk—but, to my eye, it hath unspeakable majesty, and must have been acquired by constant observation of the deportment of the Grand Monarque…he is a French ambassador, come to treat with our rulers about the cession of Canada." Hawthorne: “Feathertop: A Moralized Legend”

Gentleman 1116 A gentleman has perfect equanimity. "There needed no other proof of his rank and consequence, than the perfect equanimity with which he comported himself, while the curiosity and admiration of the town swelled almost into clamor around him." Hawthorne: “Feathertop: A Moralized Legend”

Gentleman 1120 A gentleman has well-ordered manners. "…the perfect witchery of well-ordered manners." Hawthorne: “Feathertop: A Moralized Legend”

Gentleman 1122 Many apparent "gentlemen" fail to see themselves for what they are. "My poor, dear, pretty Feathertop! There are thousands upon thousands of coxcombs and charlatans in the world, made up of just such a jumble of worn-out, forgotten, and good-for-nothing trash, as he was; yet, they live in fair repute, and never see themselves for what they are; and why should my poor puppet be the only one to know himself and perish for it." Feathertop: A Moralized Legend

Gentleman 119 Gentlemen live by robbing the poor. "Gentleman: I am a gentleman: I live by robbing the poor." George Bernard Shaw. Portable Curmudgeon.

Gentleman 43 A gentleman is a good shot and a bold rider. Willoughby’s character: "As good a kind of fellow as ever lived…a very decent shot, and there is not a bolder rider in England." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Gentleman 51 Portrait of a gentleman. Elinor on Col. Brandon: "I can only pronounce him to be a sensible man, well-bred, well-informed, of gentle address, and I believe possessing an amiable heart." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Gentleman 338 Portrait of a gentleman: manners, gentleness, attention to others and simplicity. "…the Colonel’s manners…their gentleness, their genuine attention to other people and their manly unstudied simplicity…." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Gentleman 236 To understand people, listen carefully to them when they talk about themselves. "His [Fanny’s brother William’s] recitals were amusing in themselves to Sir Thomas, but the chief object in seeking them, was to understand the recitor, to know the young man by his histories; and he listened to his clear, simple, spirited details with full satisfaction—seeing in them, the proof of good principle, professional knowledge, energy, courage, and cheerfulness—everything that must deserve or promise well." Austen, Mansfield Park.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Quotes: Genius

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.

Genius
Genius 798 Perhaps genius is only in the expression. "Perhaps…he, whose genius appears deepest and truest, excels his fellows in nothing save the knack of expression…."Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”

Genius 920 "Mad" is the verdict on people who speak beyond the ordinary as well as too wisely or too well. "Owen Warland had gone mad…how universally efficacious—how satisfactory, too, and soothing to the injured sensibility of narrowness and dullness—is this easy method of accounting for whatever lies beyond the world’s most ordinary scope; from Saint Paul’s days, down to our poor little artist of the beautiful, the same talisman has been applied to the elucidation of all mysteries in the words or deeds of men, who spoke or acted too wisely or too well." Hawthorne: “The Artist of the Beautiful”

Genius 938 The spirit of genius goes beyond the rules. "The very spirit of genius, muttered Copley to himself; how otherwise should this carver feel himself entitled to transcend all rules and make me ashamed of quoting them." Hawthorne: “Drowne’s Wooden Image”

Genius 952 "…there can never be an American genius." Hawthorne: “A Select Party”

Genius 118 You'll know a genius when all the dunces together speak against him. "When a genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in confederacy against him." Jonathan Swift. Portable Curmudgeon.

Genius 209 "Genius is patience." French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Genius 477 A true genius implies intuitive thoughts, stored experience, and a giant leap across the abyss. "…but to be a true genius, whether as a poet or a scientist, implies thought on a profound intuitive level—the drawing upon an inexhaustible store of miscellaneous experience absorbed and filed away in subterranean cellars of memory, and then making a mental leap across the dark void of ignorance." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.

Genius 479 Genius thinks intuitively and then rationalizes. "…geniuses—minds which first think intuitively and then rationalize their feelings…." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.

Genius 571 Genius poses new questions that others can later resolve. "The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose new questions, which time and mediocrity can resolve." H.R. Trevor-Roper. “Thomas Hobbes.” 1945. Gross, ed. Essays.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Quotes: Generalizations. Generations. Generosity.

Generalizations
Generalization 95 "Crafty men deal in generalizations." Anon. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Generations
Generations 319 "Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." George Orwell. 1945. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Generosity
Generosity 49 "He gives twice who gives quickly." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Quotes: Gardening

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.

Gardening
Gardening 1131 Childless men should plant a garden to learn what it is like to grow something from seed. "Childless men, if they would know something of the bliss of paternity, should plant a seed-be it squash, bean, Indian corn, or perhaps a mere flower…should plant it with their own hands and nurse it from infancy to maturity…." Hawthorne: Preface to “The Old Manse”

Gardening 1132 Plant a garden in order to understand creation. "But I used to visit and revisit it [his garden], a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny, with a love that nobody could share nor conceive of, who had never taken part in the process of creation." Hawthorne: Preface to “The Old Manse”

Gardening 1133 "Gazing at them [his squashes], I felt that, by my agency, something worth living for had been done." Hawthorne: Preface to “The Old Manse”

Gardening 83 The three gardens. "Every garden is grown three times over…first time is when the seed catalogs arrive and fill January days with dreams and perfection, all achieved without one callus or one drop of sweat…late march…second garden appears, in the village hardware store…there are spades, the hoes, the rakes, sprouted in neat and shining array." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Gardening 111 "[In gardening] you become partner of sun and wind and rain." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Gardening 276 "October. Put away the hoe, close the garden gate, and let it frost." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Monday, July 14, 2008

Quotes: Frost. Fruit. Future.

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

Frost
Frost 207 "…this is the season when the most fragile of all common crystals [frost] makes a dazzling wonderland of the countryside." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.

Fruit
Fruit 146 "Wild strawberries, when you can still find them, are prime examples of how much flavor can be stowed in a small package." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fruit 146 "If there were wild strawberries in Eden, and there must have been, Adam was a fool as well as a sinner to taste any other fruit." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fruit 229 "Crab apples are ripe; they hang like scarlet jewels in the late August sun on a thousand hills and in the dooryards and along the green borders…and on ten thousand shelves are glasses of fresh honey-amber crab apple jelly…flavor has something of late frost and stony hillsides…[the crab apple] has enough flavor for an apple three times its size." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fruit 233 "But concentrate on the apple itself, which is the roundness of the earth, the red and gold of the sunrise, and the summary of the fruitful season’s sweet ripeness." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fruit 233 "The apple is juicy crispness to the tooth and tongue." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fruit 295 "There are pumpkins aplenty, heaped at roadside stands, glowing in orange beauty on rural doorsteps, even lying like full moons in the fields." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fruit 295 "[Pumpkin pie]. ...golden brown, rich as an old gold coin...savory as secret spice, autumn made manifest...smooth to the tongue...ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon...in a crust that melts in the mouth." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year


Future
Future 119 We're one massacre away from a golden future. "Only one more indispensable massacre of Capitalists or Communists or Fascists or Christians or Heretics, and there we are—there we are in the Golden Future." Aldous Huxley. 1944. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Future 105 "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face—forever." George Orwell. Portable Curmudgeon.

Future 740 What field lies beyond science? "…and as science has supplanted its predecessors [magic and religion], so it may hereafter be itself superseded…by some totally different way of looking at the phenomena…the dreams of magic may one day be the waking realities of science." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.

Future 122 What trends of today will be fulfilled in the future? "It would be absurd to assume that the future holds nothing more than a straight-line projection of present trends, that we must necessarily reach that ultimate degree of…but it is not absurd to recognize the direction in which we are moving." Toffler, Future Shock.

Future 124 "One of the most persistent myths about the future envisions man as a helpless cog in some vast organizational machine." Toffler, Future Shock.

Future 239 "…the future is more open than it would appear." Toffler, Future Shock.

Future 263 Most writers see the future as more standardized than ever before. "Most writers…conjure up a dark vision of the future, in which people appear as mindless consumer-creatures, surrounded by standardized goods, educated in standardized schools, fed a diet of standardized mass culture, and forced to adopt standardized styles of life." Toffler, Future Shock.

Future 462 Method of guessing the nature of the future. "Delphi attempts to deal with very distant futures by making systematic use of the “intuitive” guesstimates of large numbers of experts." Toffler, Future Shock.

Future 463 We must see multiple visions of the future in order to decide which we choose. "Today…we need a multiplicity of visions, dreams and prophecies—images of potential tomorrows…[to] rationally decide which alternative pathways to choose." Toffler, Future Shock.

Future Shock 2 Future shock is too much change in too short a time for people to be able to adapt to it. “ 'Future Shock': …the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time…the disease of change." Toffler, Future Shock.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Quotes: Frontier

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.

Frontier
Frontier 7 "I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got over the edge of it, and were outside man’s jurisdiction." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 66 "Next to getting warm and keeping warm, dinner and supper were the most interesting things we had to think about...and the return of the men at nightfall." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 78 "They’re wanting in everything and most of all in horse-sense; nobody can give ’em that." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 86 "..and we sat about the stove, enjoying the deepening gray of the winter afternoon and the atmosphere of comfort and security in my grandfather’s house." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 86 "I suppose, in the crowded clutter of their cave, the old man [Mr. Shimerda] had come to believe that peace and order had vanished from the earth, or existed only in the old world he had left so far behind." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 93 "By five o’clock the chores were done--just when it was time to begin them all over again." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 196 "At last there was something to do in those long, empty summer evenings, when the married people sat like images on their front porches, and the boys and girls tramped and tramped the board sidewalks--northward to the edge of the open prairie, south to the depot, then back again to the post-office, the ice-cream parlor, the butcher shop." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 198 The girls in the early years who laid the groundwork for those who came later learned from their mothers and grandmothers, sacrificed for the generation that came after, the generation that did not appreciate what the earlier girls had done for them. "Those girls had grown up in the first bitter-hard times, and had got little schooling themselves; but the younger brothers and sisters, for whom they made such sacrifices and who have had ‘advantages,’ never seem to me, when I meet them now, half as interesting or as well educated...older girls, who helped to break up the wild sod, learned so much from life, from poverty, from their mothers and grandmothers; they had all, like Ántonia, been early awakened and made observant by coming at a tender age from an old country to a new." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier 209 "In every frontier settlement there are men who have come there to escape restraint." Cather, My Ántonia

Frontier xi "…the grim reality of pioneering." Lincoln Colcord, “Introduction.” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 6 "…their course was always the same—straight toward the west, straight toward the skyline." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 16 It was a matter of life and death to find the trail--soon! "The only thing he felt sure of was that he wasn’t on the right track; otherwise, he would have come across the traces of their camps…getting to be a matter of life and death…to find the trail—and find it soon." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 16 The inexperienced newcomer on the frontier. "But here was he, the newcomer, who owned nothing and knew nothing, groping about with his dear ones in the endless wilderness." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 29 "How will human beings be able to endure this place [the endless prairie]…there isn’t even a thing that one can hide behind." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 32 "No one put the thought into words, but they all felt it strongly; now they had gone back to the very beginning of things…." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 32 "They were so far from the world…cut off from the haunts of their fellow beings…so terribly far." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 32 The battle against depression. "The faces that gazed into one another were sober now, as silence claimed the little company; but lines of strength and determination on nearly every countenance told of an inward resolve to keep the mood of depression from gaining full control." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 36 "All the while, the thought that had struck her yesterday when she first got down from the wagon, stood vividly before her mind: here there was nothing even to hide behind." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 37 "Could no living thing exist out here, in the empty, desolate, endless wastes of green and blue?" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 37 "If life is to thrive and endure, it must at least have something to hide behind." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 38 The mood of depression. "She threw herself back in the grass and looked up into the heavens; but darkness and infinitude lay there also." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 39 The experience of the frontier. "But it had been as if a resistless flood had torn them loose from their foundations and was carrying them helplessly along on its current—flinging them here and there, hurling them madly onward, with no known destination ahead." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 41 "…her nerves were taut as bowstrings; her head kept rising up from the pillow to listen—but there was nothing to hear, except the night wind, which now had begun to stir…it stirred so many unknown things." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 42 Beret: "Oh, Per, it’s only this—I’m so afraid out here…it’s all so big and open…so empty." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 98 The feeling of living on the frontier. "It seemed plain to her now that human life could not endure in this country…not a settled habitation of man lay nearer than several days’ journey; if any visitor came, it was a savage, a wild man, whom one must fear…to get what supplies they needed they must journey four whole days, and make preparations as if for a voyage…what would happen if something sudden should befall them…attack, sickness, or fire…yes, what would they do?" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 125 The people kept coming--and going, west. "Seventy miles farther into the evening glow these fellows were going—seventy long miles…this place would no longer be life’s last outpost…folks were coming, were passing on…folks who intended to build homes." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 127 "To Beret the visit had seemed nothing but a brief interruption to the endless solitude." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 135 The effects of nationality on the frontier. "…the idea of chasing people [Germans, Irish] away from a place that was nearly destitute of human beings already seemed comical." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 137 "The government is all right in its place—no one questions that…out here this morning, the government is a little too far away…." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 182 The greatest fear on the frontier. "…he, too, ought to be able to see by this time that they would all become wild beasts if they remained here much longer." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 220 The impoverished and the unhappy in civilization were now on the loose on the frontier. "Now she saw it clearly: here on the trackless plain, the thousand-year-old hunger of the poor after human happiness had been unloosed!" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 221 She was married to him, but she could never be like him in his hopeful attitude toward living on the frontier. "She had bound herself inseparably to this man; now she was but a hindrance to him…she was only in his way…but that he could not understand…could not fathom the source of her trouble; that seemed incomprehensible to her; didn’t he realize that she could never be like him…no one in all the world was like him…how could she be?" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 228 Beret: "Human beings cannot exist here…they grow into beasts…." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 250 "…the school bound subtly and inseparably together the few souls who lived out there in the wilderness." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 252 "Problems in arithmetic always had to be worked out mentally, on account of the lack of writing materials." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 274 The monotony of the frontier. "It was a terrible, hopeless day out of doors…and all the days were alike." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 274 "Under the strain of this winter the courage of the men was slowly ebbing away." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 286 Per Hansa's vision of the future on the frontier. "Here he sat playing with the good fairies [grains of wheat] that had the power to create a new life over this Endless Wilderness, and transform it into a habitable land for human beings." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 287 The promise of kernels of wheat. "His wonder grew as he gazed at the kernels; there they lay, so inanimate, yet so plump and heavy, glowing with smoldering flame…as if each kernel had light within it—life now asleep…seemed to be charged with a delicate life that was seeking release." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 289 "He felt profoundly that the greatest moment in his life had come…he was about to sow wheat on his own ground." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 314 "The sense of home, of people who lived in an orderly fashion, swept over her like a warm bath." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 321 Beret's experience of life on the frontier. "…here she sat, thousands of miles from home and kindred, lost in a limitless void." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 328 "Now he was binding his own wheat, his hands oily with the sap of the new-cut stems; a fine oil it was, too—he rubbed his hands together and felt a sensuous pleasure welling up within him; his body seemed to grow a little with every bundle he tied." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 363 The frontier was not for those whom the Lord had given a sad heart. "Here was the endless prairie, so rich in its blessings of fertility, but also full of a great loneliness—a form of freedom which curiously affected the minds of strangers, especially those to whom the Lord had given a sad heart." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 375 Per Hansa: "There are some people, I know now, who never should emigrate, because, you see, they can’t take pleasure in that which is to come—they simply can’t see it!" Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 413 Solitude is not for everyone. "…the strange spell of sadness which the unbroken solitude cast upon the minds of some." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 413 The effects of living on the frontier. "Many took their own lives; asylum after asylum was filled with disordered beings who had once been human." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 413 On the prairie. "It is hard for the eye to wander from sky line to sky line, year in and year out, without finding a resting place." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 414 The dangers of nature on the frontier. "And on the hot summer days terrible storms might come; in the twinkling of an eye they would smash to splinters the habitations which man had built for himself…." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Frontier 416 The cycle of misery on the frontier. "In the late spring, when all this snow had to thaw, the floods would come." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth

Frontier 453 Per Hansa--dead, broken but hopeful man. "To the boys it looked as though the man were sitting there resting while he waited for better skiing…his face was ashen and drawn…his eyes were set toward the west." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Quotes: Friends, Friendship.

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.

Friends, Friendship
Friends 3 Cosmus, duke of Florence: "You shall read...that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends." F. Bacon, “Of Revenge.” 1625. Gross, ed. Essays.

Friendship 133 "Enemies publish themselves; they declare war; the friend never declares his love." Thoreau. 1856. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Friendship 134 "In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends." Churton Collins. 1914. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Friendship 134 A man laughing at his troubles loses many friends who lament the opportunity to laugh at his troubles. "When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a good many friends; they never forgive the loss of their prerogative." H. L. Mencken. 1928. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Friendship 134 "True friendship is never serene." Madame De Sevigne. 1671. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Friendship 135 "Don’t go to visit your friend in the hour of his disgrace." Rabbi Simeon Ben Eleazar. 2nd century AD. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Friendship 135 "Never speak ill of yourself, your friends will always say enough on that subject." Talleyrand. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Friendship 104 "It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you: the one to slander you, and the other to bring the news to you." Mark Twain. Portable Curmudgeon.

Friendship 105 "Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other." Honoré De Balzac. Portable Curmudgeon.

Friendship 85 "Many acquaintances, few friends." Spanish. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friendship 124 "Better one good friend than a hundred relatives." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friendship 204 "Friendship is love without his wings." Byron. French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friendship 345 "Where there are friends, there is wealth." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friendship 355 "Friendless in life, friendless in death." Spanish. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friendship 363 "The common herd values friendships for their usefulness." Ovid. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Friendship 83 Friendship is actually a business arrangement from which one is out to gain a profit. La Rochefoucauld: "What men have called friendship is merely association, respect for each other's interests, and exchange of good offices, in fact nothing more than a business arrangement from which self-love is always out to draw some profit." Reflections or Moral Thoughts and Maxims, 1665. Gross, ed. Essays.

Friendship 258 Seek sympathy and end friendship. "By perpetually asking for sympathy an end is put to real friendship." Mark Rutherford. “Talking about Our Troubles.” 1900. Gross, ed. Essays.

Friendship 119 In a friendship, relationships change as interests change. "For if friendship is based on shared interests or aptitudes, friendship relationships are bound to change when interests change…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Quotes: Forbidden. Forgiveness. Fortune. France. Freedom.

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

Forbidden
Forbidden 1217 The box kept getting in the way. "It seemed as if the box were bewitched and as if the cottage were not big enough to hold it, without Pandora’s continually stumbling over it, and making Epimetheus stumble over it likewise, and bruising all four of their shins." “The Paradise of Children” Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book for Boys and Girls

Forgiveness
Forgiveness 145 You can achieve by forgiveness every act for which you intended resentment. "There are many occasions in life where it is possible to effect by forgiveness every object which you propose to effect by resentment." Sydney Smith. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Fortune
Fortune 151 "Fortune favors the brave." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Fortune 151 "Fortune favors fools." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Fortune 152 "Fortune makes a fool of him whom she favors too much." Publius Syrus. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

France
France 101 "France is the only country where the money falls apart and you can’t tear the toilet paper." Billy Wilder. Portable Curmudgeon.

France 102 If the French talk, they lie. "To the French, lying is simply talking." Fran Lebowitz. Portable Curmudgeon.

Freedom
Freedom 15 If you have the freedom to do something, have the prudence not to. "In our country we have these three unspeakably precious things: Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either. Mark Twain. Portable Curmudgeon.

Freedom 103 "The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving any excuse." Jules Renard. Portable Curmudgeon.

Freedom 103 "You are free and that is why you are lost." Franz Kafka. Portable Curmudgeon.

Freedom 283 "The republic has its advantages; among these is the liberty to say, ‘Down with the Republic!’ " Ambrose Bierce. “Disintroductions.’ 1902. Gross, ed. Essays.

Freedom 406 Her freedom was empty. "She had her freedom, and it was empty." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.

Freedom 321 You can never have absolute freedom. "Despite romantic rhetoric, freedom cannot be absolute." Toffler, Future Shock.

Freedom and humor 276 One characteristic of freedom is that you are free to joke. "Freedom produces jokes and jokes produce freedom." Jean Paul Richter. 1804. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Freedom of thought 478 People who should value free thought don't. "The truth is that politicians, salesmen, priests, teachers and scientists are (often against their private conscience) forcibly banded together in the public interest against all who demand personal liberty of thought." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Quotes: Flying. Fog. Food. Fools.

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.

Flying
Flying 340 The reality of flying in an airplane. "What preposterous madness to float in thin air two miles high on an inch or two of metal, sustained from death by the meager skill and intelligence of two vapid strangers, a beardless kid named Huple and a nervous nut like Dobbs." Heller, Catch-22.

Fog
Fog 104 "Fog, which technically is nothing but a cloud in contact with the earth." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fog 105 "The fog rises and the familiar world reappears…but for a little while the fog made a world all its own, a fantastic, mysterious world, evanescent as the fog itself." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Food
Food 103 "French fries: …a furry-textured substance with the taste of plastic wood." Russell Baker. Portable Curmudgeon.

Fools
Fool 5 "Every fool is pleased with (or rides) his own hobby." French Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Fools 245 "It is the property of fools, to be always judging." Thomas Fuller II. 1732. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Fools 190 "Learned fools are the biggest fools." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Fools 253 "Every fool is ready with advice." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Quotes: Fishing. Flattery. Flowers.

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.

Fishing
Fishing 170 "There is a common and accepted fiction that fishermen go fishing to catch fish."Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fishing 170 "Yet it’s really the dawn world that a [fisher] man goes out to see…full of robin song…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flattery
Flattery 60 "The arch-flatterer...is a man’s self." Bacon. 1597-1625. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Flattery 70 "He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter himself." Sam. Johnson. 1779-81. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Flattery 202 "A flatterer is a man that tells you your opinion and not his own." Anon. Early 18th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Flowers
Flowers 827 "…it seems as if such plants, as they grow only for beauty, ought to flourish in immortal youth, or, at least, to die before their sad decrepitude." Hawthorne: “Buds and Bird-Voices”

Flowers 140 "Until a few generations ago their [horsetails’] stems, embedded with tiny grains of silica, were used for scouring pots and pans; today they are weeds…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 75 "Like many of our wild flowers, coltsfoot is an alien…brought here by early colonists for use in herbal medicine…decoction of the leaves and roots was believed to be good for coughs and those late winter colds that could turn into pneumonia." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 109 "There aren’t many flowers prettier than a dandelion, if you can look at a dandelion as a blossom, not a weed." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 110 "The dandelion’s old virtues are almost forgotten, nowadays …self-blanched inner leaves made an excellent spring green, fresh or cooked…roots were used for potherbs…wine was made from those bright blossoms…dried roots were ground and substituted for coffee…that was before the dandelion became a dooryard weed." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 126 May. "The bluet is a blossom of no particular consequence individually…but bluets grow in vast numbers in old pastures and on stony hillsides …some call them Quaker-ladies and some know them as Innocence… by June they will be lost among the buttercups and early daisies… in early May they are beautiful and insistent by their very numbers…bright embroidery on the first green frock of the rural countryside." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 134 "…it is hard to think of May without violets." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 135 The Jack-in-the-pulpit blossoms on all the hillsides of May. "And who can say that his [the jack-in-the-pulpit’s] voice isn’t heard all through the woodland and across the meadow …before he is through there is a veritable hallelujah of blossoming, a glory on all the hillsides of May." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 165 "June without roses, all kinds of roses, just wouldn’t be June." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 183 "By the first week in July the day lilies at the roadside and the brown-eyed Susans in the old pastures splash the countryside with Van Gogh orange." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 185 The daisy is called the "farmer's curse." "Daisies…sometimes called Farmer’s Curse…daisies beautify rural roadsides, but they invade meadows, pastures and all kinds of cultivated fields." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 187 "…wild chicory is warm blue, and Queen Anne’s lace is a white cloud at the roadside." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 198 "Chicory is…one of the few wildings of the season that have a color to match the July sky…some call it the blue daisy…bright as a summer morning…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 202 "A single milkweed pod will spill 200 winged seeds to the wind." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 202 "…some species [of wild flowers] can lie dormant, awaiting a favorable season, thirty or forty years." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 206 "Soon the country roadside will gleam with goldenrod, late summer’s answer to June’s buttercups." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 218 The worts are a complete apothecary. "The worts, the persistent herbs of the old back-country apothecary, constitute a kind of folk poetry of human ills and aches, of pain and hope and trust, and inevitably of occasional cure." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 231 "One thing about the zinnia: It doesn’t need pampering; give it a rootbed, sunlight and a start, and it will make its own way…colors are strong, old-fashioned colors with little subtlety…generosity is magnificent; cut one bloom and two will take its place…liken it to the sunflower…there’s kinship, too, with the big daisies and, in lesser degree, with the asters…as native to the continent as the pumpkin…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 241 "Goldenrod comes by mid-August, but it seems to rise to a peak of golden abundance in early September." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 241 "But the particular spectacle of September is the asters." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 254 America's wildflowers: a floral Eden. September. "With a greater wealth of wildflowers than any other land on earth, this country could be a floral Eden." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Flowers 262 September and burs. "Half an hour’s walk can provide half an hour’s work getting [burs] off your clothes, to which they cling with hooks and spurs and barbs and spines." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Quotes: Fireflies. Fireplace.

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.

Fireflies
Fireflies 171 How do the fireflies do it? "We can now name the chemicals that seem to create their [the fireflies’] heatless fire, and we can say the process is something like an enzyme action…but the fact remains that we don’t know why or precisely how the firefly creates light." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fireplace
Fireplace 841 The replacement of the stove for the fireplace changed the nature of society. "It is a great revolution in social and domestic life…this almost universal exchange of the open fireplace for the cheerless and ungenial stove." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Fireplace 843 My predecessor turned a forest to oak logs to ashes annually. "The good old clergyman, my predecessor in this mansion, was well acquainted with the comforts of the fireside…yearly allowance of wood…was no less than sixty cords; almost an annual forest was converted from oak logs into ashes, in the kitchen, the parlor and the little study." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Fireplace 845 "…an incense of night-long smoke, creeping quietly up the chimney." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Fireplace 846 Social intercourse has lost something without firelight. "It is my belief, that social intercourse cannot long continue what it has been, now that we have subtracted from it so important and vivifying an element as firelight." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Fireplace 847 "But we at least have our youthful recollections tinged with the glow of the hearth." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Fireplace 874 What is lost without the fireside. "[Without the fireside] domestic life…will seek its separate corners, and never gather itself into groups; the easy gossip—the merry, yet unambitious jest—the live-long, practical discussion of real matters in a casual way—the soul of truth, which is so often incarnated in a simple fireside word—will disappear from the earth." Hawthorne: “Fire-Worship”

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Quotes: Ferns. Fiction. Figurative Language. Film.

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.

Ferns
Ferns 108 "Like the very old and very wise of our own race, they [ferns] seem to have outgrown haste and impatience…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

Fiction
Fiction 147 "Fictions, if they are to please, should bear the semblance of truth." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Figurative Language
Figurative language 372 "It seemed to the minister as if the sum total of human tragedy sat talking to him." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.

Film
Film 100 Woody Allen at his best. "If my film makes one more person miserable, I’ve done my job." Woody Allen. Portable Curmudgeon.

Film on TV 597 Much detail is lost in old movies on the small TV screen. "Not all old movies look bad now, of course; the good ones are still good—surprisingly good, often, if you consider how much of the detail is lost on television." Pauline Kael. “Movies on Television.” 1967. Gross, ed. Essays.

Film on TV 597 Movies on TV. "On television, a cattle drive or a cavalry charge or a chase—the climax of so many a big movie—loses the dimensions of space and distance that made it exciting…also partly destroyed by deletions and commercial breaks and the interruptions incidental to home viewing." Pauline Kael. “Movies on Television.” 1967. Gross, ed. Essays.

Film on TV 602 Movies on TV lose the intensity of movies on the big screen in the theater. "People who see a movie for the first time on television don’t remember it the same way that people do who saw it in a theater; even without the specific visual loss that results from the transfer to another medium, it’s doubtful whether a movie could have as intense an impact as it had in its own time." Pauline Kael. “Movies on Television.” 1967. Gross, ed. Essays.

Film response 598 Our memory plays a large part in our reactions to films. "Sometimes we suspect, and sometimes rightly, that our memory has improved a picture—that imaginatively we made it what we knew it could have been or should have been—and, fearing this, we may prefer memory to new contact…remember it better if we don’t see it again—we’ll remember what it meant to us." Pauline Kael. “Movies on Television.” 1967. Gross, ed. Essays.