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.
LBJ
LBJ 200 After the divisiveness of the Vietnam War, LBJ will be credited for his social legislation. "But I believe future historians, less influenced by the divisiveness of the war, will offer a more balanced assessment [of Johnson’s presidency], crediting him with two legislative landmarks: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965…history will record [these acts to be] among the greatest political achievements of this century." McNamara’s In Retrospect
LBJ 315 McNamara to President Johnson: "One hundred years of neglect cannot be overcome overnight; but you have pushed, dragged, and cajoled the nation into basic reforms from which my children and my children’s children will benefit for decades to come." McNamara’s In Retrospect
LBJ 317 McNamara on LBJ: "Many in this room believe Lyndon Johnson is crude, mean, vindictive, scheming, untruthful; perhaps at times he has shown each of these characteristics; but he is much, much more…in the decades ahead, history will judge him to have done more—for example, through such legislation as the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Great Society legislation—to alert us all to our responsibility toward the poor, the disadvantaged, and the victims of racial prejudice than any other political leader of our time." McNamara’s In Retrospect
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Quotes: Law and Lawyers.
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.
Law
Law 897 What is the purpose of law? "How can human law inculcate benevolence and love while it persists in setting up the gallows as its chief symbol?" Hawthorne: "Earth's Holocaust"
Law 110 The law protects the wealthy. "People say law but they mean wealth." Emerson. 1841. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Law 110 The law classifies, punishes and invents crime. "The law does not content itself with classifying and punishing crime; it invents crime." Norman Douglas. 1945. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Law 168 Law robs us of our liberty. "Every law is an infraction of liberty." Jeremy Bentham. Portable Curmudgeon.
Law 173 After age fifty, people seek litigation rather than sex. "For certain people, after fifty, litigation takes the place of sex." Gore Vidal. Portable Curmudgeon.
Law 7 The act and the intention must be proved before one can be declared guilty. "The act does not make a man guilty unless the mind (or intentions) be guilty." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 86 " Custom is held as law (i.e., in the absence of any specific law, custom or usage decides the point at issue)." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 89 A great number of laws produces the greatest amount of corruption. "In the most corrupt state, the most laws." Terence. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 155 "The foundation of justice is good faith." Cicero. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 196 "Extreme law is often extreme wrong." Terence. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 203 "Hunger has no laws." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 207 Law and wealth go hand in hand. "Laws go where dollars please." Portuguese. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 247 Because it is lawful does not mean it is honorable. "Not every lawful thing is honorable." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 345 "Uncertainty destroys law." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 217 People who talk too much make bad witnesses. "The trouble with you Babbitt, is that you’re one of these fellows who talk too readily…like to hear your own voice; if there were anything for which I could put you in the witness-box, you’d get going and give the whole show away." Lewis, Babbitt.
Laws 24 Laws are only as good as their administration. "Better a good king than a good law; laws avail nothing unless ably administered." Portuguese. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Laws 209 Laws reflect custom. "Laws are subservient to custom." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Laws 289 Laws do not replace morals. "What can idle laws avail in the absence of morals?" Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Lawyers
Lawyer defined: "One skilled in the circumvention of the law." Ambrose Bierce. Portable Curmudgeon.
Lawyers 93 In Utopia every man pleads his own case. "…they [the Utopians] exclude absolutely all lawyers since these plead cases with cunning and slyly dispute the laws…think it is useful that each man should plead his own case…in Utopia every man has a good knowledge of law." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.
Law
Law 897 What is the purpose of law? "How can human law inculcate benevolence and love while it persists in setting up the gallows as its chief symbol?" Hawthorne: "Earth's Holocaust"
Law 110 The law protects the wealthy. "People say law but they mean wealth." Emerson. 1841. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Law 110 The law classifies, punishes and invents crime. "The law does not content itself with classifying and punishing crime; it invents crime." Norman Douglas. 1945. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Law 168 Law robs us of our liberty. "Every law is an infraction of liberty." Jeremy Bentham. Portable Curmudgeon.
Law 173 After age fifty, people seek litigation rather than sex. "For certain people, after fifty, litigation takes the place of sex." Gore Vidal. Portable Curmudgeon.
Law 7 The act and the intention must be proved before one can be declared guilty. "The act does not make a man guilty unless the mind (or intentions) be guilty." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 86 " Custom is held as law (i.e., in the absence of any specific law, custom or usage decides the point at issue)." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 89 A great number of laws produces the greatest amount of corruption. "In the most corrupt state, the most laws." Terence. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 155 "The foundation of justice is good faith." Cicero. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 196 "Extreme law is often extreme wrong." Terence. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 203 "Hunger has no laws." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 207 Law and wealth go hand in hand. "Laws go where dollars please." Portuguese. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 247 Because it is lawful does not mean it is honorable. "Not every lawful thing is honorable." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 345 "Uncertainty destroys law." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Law 217 People who talk too much make bad witnesses. "The trouble with you Babbitt, is that you’re one of these fellows who talk too readily…like to hear your own voice; if there were anything for which I could put you in the witness-box, you’d get going and give the whole show away." Lewis, Babbitt.
Laws 24 Laws are only as good as their administration. "Better a good king than a good law; laws avail nothing unless ably administered." Portuguese. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Laws 209 Laws reflect custom. "Laws are subservient to custom." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Laws 289 Laws do not replace morals. "What can idle laws avail in the absence of morals?" Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Lawyers
Lawyer defined: "One skilled in the circumvention of the law." Ambrose Bierce. Portable Curmudgeon.
Lawyers 93 In Utopia every man pleads his own case. "…they [the Utopians] exclude absolutely all lawyers since these plead cases with cunning and slyly dispute the laws…think it is useful that each man should plead his own case…in Utopia every man has a good knowledge of law." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Quotes: Laughter.
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.
Laughter
Laughter 1054 Laughter at the wrong time can have a terrible effect. "Laughter, when out of place, mistimed, or bursting forth from a disordered state of feeling, may be the most terrible modulation of the human voice." Hawthorne: “Ethan Brand: A Chapter from an Abortive Romance”
Laughter 276 "Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is surely the most wasted." Chamfort. 1805. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Laughter 278 Use laughter to deflate seriousness and seriousness to deflate laughter. "One must destroy one’s adversaries’ seriousness with laughter, and their laughter with seriousness." Gorgias Leontini. 5th century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Laughter 278 "‘Tis the loud laugh bespeaks the vacant mind." James Joyce. 1922. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Laughter 69 "Laughter is not always a sign of a mind at ease." St. Evermond. French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Laughter 245 Babies beget laughter and laughter takes your mind off your troubles. "For he [the baby] beguiled the heavy-hearted folk into laughing, and what can avail against folk who laugh—who dare to laugh in the face of a winter like this one?…that winter it was he who saved people from insanity and the grave." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Laughter 276 Laughter can help to soften depression. "This made everyone laugh: Hans Olsa’s shaft had suddenly torn a rift in their mood of depression." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Laughter
Laughter 1054 Laughter at the wrong time can have a terrible effect. "Laughter, when out of place, mistimed, or bursting forth from a disordered state of feeling, may be the most terrible modulation of the human voice." Hawthorne: “Ethan Brand: A Chapter from an Abortive Romance”
Laughter 276 "Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is surely the most wasted." Chamfort. 1805. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Laughter 278 Use laughter to deflate seriousness and seriousness to deflate laughter. "One must destroy one’s adversaries’ seriousness with laughter, and their laughter with seriousness." Gorgias Leontini. 5th century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Laughter 278 "‘Tis the loud laugh bespeaks the vacant mind." James Joyce. 1922. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Laughter 69 "Laughter is not always a sign of a mind at ease." St. Evermond. French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Laughter 245 Babies beget laughter and laughter takes your mind off your troubles. "For he [the baby] beguiled the heavy-hearted folk into laughing, and what can avail against folk who laugh—who dare to laugh in the face of a winter like this one?…that winter it was he who saved people from insanity and the grave." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Laughter 276 Laughter can help to soften depression. "This made everyone laugh: Hans Olsa’s shaft had suddenly torn a rift in their mood of depression." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Quotes: Labor. Language.
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.
Labor
Labor 108 One of "Bitter Bierce's" definitions. "Labor: One of the processes by which A acquires property for B." Ambrose Bierce. 1906. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Language
Language 237 Every one we meet is using language to define his role in life and a good deal of anger goes along with that task. "Every person we meet in the course of our daily life, no matter how unlettered he may be, is groping with sentences toward a sense of his life and his position in it; and he has what almost always goes with an impulse to ideology, a good deal of animus and anger." Lionel Trilling 1950. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Language v "There is an old Spanish proverb which holds that English is the language of business, Italian the language of singers, French the language of diplomats, German the language of soldiers and horses, and Spanish…the language of lovers." Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language v "…English has taken over the functions of a world language." Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language v "…English…essentially simple grammatically and without word gender…." Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language 353 "The language of truth is simple." Seneca. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language 24 The louder one speaks, the less sense. "...and sometimes the greater sound has the less sense." Samuel Butler. “A Degenerate Noble: Or One That Is Proud of His Birth.” 1668. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 27 Speaking well on behalf of the vice of avarice. "...no vice has been so pelted with good sentences...." Abraham Coulee, “Of Avarice.” 1665. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 544 Some characteristics of modern English. "I think of the thick layers of abstract jargon we carry on top of our heads, of the incessant urge to rename everything in roundabout phrases (personal armor system – the new army helmet), of the piling up of modifiers before the noun (easy-to-store safety folding ironing board), of the evil passion for agglutinating half-baked ideas into single terms (surprizathon = advertising goods by lottery).…" Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 544 English is made up primarily of Latin and French vocabulary. "…flexible and clear Anglo-Latin-French, which we call American English." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 545 [This statement calls for examples.] "Make no mistake: syntax can change the course of history." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 545 English has two vocabularies, formal and vernacular. "English has a great advantage over German, on the one hand, French and the rest of the Romance languages, on the other, in that it possesses two vocabularies, nearly parallel, which carry the respective suggestions of abstract and concrete, formal and vernacular….concede or give in; assume or take up; deliver or hand over; insert or put in; retreat or fall back…." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 546 The French language--most logical of languages? Filled with illogicalities. "…the French language has a reputation—wholly undeserved—for being most logical…but French grammar and usage and spelling are full of illogicalities—like those of other languages." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 546 English's "mongrel" qualities expand possibilities for expression while other languages are limited. "If any body is inclined to belittle English for its mongrel character and its ‘illogicalities,’ let him remember the limitations of its rivals." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 626 "…the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it." James Baldwin. “Stranger in the Village.” 1953. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 230 The problem with lack of education. Ántonia: "It must make you very happy, Jim, to have fine thoughts like that in your mind all the time, and to have words to put them in." Cather, My Ántonia
Language ix One of the major problems for people who are learning English. "…for the idioms of a dialect are well-nigh untranslatable." Rölvaag, “Foreword.” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Language 373 An example of piety and cliche in a situation calling for plain speaking. “What is a man to do?” Per Hansa grasped the minister by the arm, clutching hard in his terrible agitation… “He shall humble himself before the Lord his God, and shall take up his cross to bear it with patience!” said the minister impressively… “Ha-ha!” Per Hansa suddenly burst out in a bitter laugh… “Too scanty a fare for me to live on…better put that kind of talk aside…I ask as an ignorant man, and I must have an answer that I can understand: Did I do right or did I do wrong when I brought her out here…what should I have done instead, when I saw nothing else ahead of me in the world?” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Language 395 Voluble. " …his words came faster, pouring forth without a trace of effort." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Language 96 Dialect. "They think you’re showing off when you say ‘American’ instead of ‘Ammurrican.’ " Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.
Language 324 Mark Shorer, Afterword: "Edith Wharton...did observe [to Sinclair Lewis] that he seemed to depend on an excess of slang...." Lewis, Babbitt.
Language 456 "They heard name-saying birds such as whippoorwills and phoebes." DeLillo, Underworld.
Language 541 "How everyday things lie hidden…because we don’t know what they’re called." DeLillo, Underworld.
Language 713 Emotions that cannot be named. "She had a gesture that seemed to mark a state of hopelessness too deep to be approached with words." DeLillo, Underworld.
Language 8 The wartime censor. "To break the monotony he invented games: Death to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every adverb and every adjective…next day he made war on articles." Heller, Catch-22.
Language 9 "There’s no patriotism…and no matriotism, either." Heller, Catch-22.
Language 31 Catch-phrase. “Oh, well,” McWatt would sing, “what the hell.” Heller, Catch-22.
Language 69 Repartee. Red: "What the fug is that swill?" Cook: "It’s owl shit; what’d you think it was?" Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Language 98 "However, there had been lately a disquieting uncomfortable insight which he had never brought to the point of words." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Language 71 Utopia. "For it [their language] has a rich vocabulary, a pleasant sound, and is an unsurpassed vehicle for expressing feelings." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.
Language 109 What Shakespeare would not understand in modern English. "Were Shakespeare suddenly to materialize in London or New York today, he would be able to understand, on the average, only five our of every nine words in our vocabulary…"Bard would be semi-literate. Toffler, Future Shock.
Language and war 606 "You can’t fight a war without acronyms." DeLillo, Underworld.
Labor
Labor 108 One of "Bitter Bierce's" definitions. "Labor: One of the processes by which A acquires property for B." Ambrose Bierce. 1906. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Language
Language 237 Every one we meet is using language to define his role in life and a good deal of anger goes along with that task. "Every person we meet in the course of our daily life, no matter how unlettered he may be, is groping with sentences toward a sense of his life and his position in it; and he has what almost always goes with an impulse to ideology, a good deal of animus and anger." Lionel Trilling 1950. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Language v "There is an old Spanish proverb which holds that English is the language of business, Italian the language of singers, French the language of diplomats, German the language of soldiers and horses, and Spanish…the language of lovers." Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language v "…English has taken over the functions of a world language." Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language v "…English…essentially simple grammatically and without word gender…." Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language 353 "The language of truth is simple." Seneca. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Language 24 The louder one speaks, the less sense. "...and sometimes the greater sound has the less sense." Samuel Butler. “A Degenerate Noble: Or One That Is Proud of His Birth.” 1668. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 27 Speaking well on behalf of the vice of avarice. "...no vice has been so pelted with good sentences...." Abraham Coulee, “Of Avarice.” 1665. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 544 Some characteristics of modern English. "I think of the thick layers of abstract jargon we carry on top of our heads, of the incessant urge to rename everything in roundabout phrases (personal armor system – the new army helmet), of the piling up of modifiers before the noun (easy-to-store safety folding ironing board), of the evil passion for agglutinating half-baked ideas into single terms (surprizathon = advertising goods by lottery).…" Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 544 English is made up primarily of Latin and French vocabulary. "…flexible and clear Anglo-Latin-French, which we call American English." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 545 [This statement calls for examples.] "Make no mistake: syntax can change the course of history." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 545 English has two vocabularies, formal and vernacular. "English has a great advantage over German, on the one hand, French and the rest of the Romance languages, on the other, in that it possesses two vocabularies, nearly parallel, which carry the respective suggestions of abstract and concrete, formal and vernacular….concede or give in; assume or take up; deliver or hand over; insert or put in; retreat or fall back…." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 546 The French language--most logical of languages? Filled with illogicalities. "…the French language has a reputation—wholly undeserved—for being most logical…but French grammar and usage and spelling are full of illogicalities—like those of other languages." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 546 English's "mongrel" qualities expand possibilities for expression while other languages are limited. "If any body is inclined to belittle English for its mongrel character and its ‘illogicalities,’ let him remember the limitations of its rivals." Jacques Barzun. “What If--? English Versus German and French.” 1984. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 626 "…the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it." James Baldwin. “Stranger in the Village.” 1953. Gross, ed. Essays.
Language 230 The problem with lack of education. Ántonia: "It must make you very happy, Jim, to have fine thoughts like that in your mind all the time, and to have words to put them in." Cather, My Ántonia
Language ix One of the major problems for people who are learning English. "…for the idioms of a dialect are well-nigh untranslatable." Rölvaag, “Foreword.” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Language 373 An example of piety and cliche in a situation calling for plain speaking. “What is a man to do?” Per Hansa grasped the minister by the arm, clutching hard in his terrible agitation… “He shall humble himself before the Lord his God, and shall take up his cross to bear it with patience!” said the minister impressively… “Ha-ha!” Per Hansa suddenly burst out in a bitter laugh… “Too scanty a fare for me to live on…better put that kind of talk aside…I ask as an ignorant man, and I must have an answer that I can understand: Did I do right or did I do wrong when I brought her out here…what should I have done instead, when I saw nothing else ahead of me in the world?” Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Language 395 Voluble. " …his words came faster, pouring forth without a trace of effort." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Language 96 Dialect. "They think you’re showing off when you say ‘American’ instead of ‘Ammurrican.’ " Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.
Language 324 Mark Shorer, Afterword: "Edith Wharton...did observe [to Sinclair Lewis] that he seemed to depend on an excess of slang...." Lewis, Babbitt.
Language 456 "They heard name-saying birds such as whippoorwills and phoebes." DeLillo, Underworld.
Language 541 "How everyday things lie hidden…because we don’t know what they’re called." DeLillo, Underworld.
Language 713 Emotions that cannot be named. "She had a gesture that seemed to mark a state of hopelessness too deep to be approached with words." DeLillo, Underworld.
Language 8 The wartime censor. "To break the monotony he invented games: Death to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every adverb and every adjective…next day he made war on articles." Heller, Catch-22.
Language 9 "There’s no patriotism…and no matriotism, either." Heller, Catch-22.
Language 31 Catch-phrase. “Oh, well,” McWatt would sing, “what the hell.” Heller, Catch-22.
Language 69 Repartee. Red: "What the fug is that swill?" Cook: "It’s owl shit; what’d you think it was?" Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Language 98 "However, there had been lately a disquieting uncomfortable insight which he had never brought to the point of words." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Language 71 Utopia. "For it [their language] has a rich vocabulary, a pleasant sound, and is an unsurpassed vehicle for expressing feelings." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.
Language 109 What Shakespeare would not understand in modern English. "Were Shakespeare suddenly to materialize in London or New York today, he would be able to understand, on the average, only five our of every nine words in our vocabulary…"Bard would be semi-literate. Toffler, Future Shock.
Language and war 606 "You can’t fight a war without acronyms." DeLillo, Underworld.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Quotes: Killing. Knowledge.
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.
Killing
Killing 183 "Kill a man and you are a murderer; kill a million men, and you are a conqueror; kill everyone, and you are a god." Jean Rostand. 1955. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge
Knowledge 48 Focus on finding one thing and you will find many. "One must look for one thing only, to find many." Cesare Pavese. 1935-50. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 232 Thought must analyze itself before it can know itself. "Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself." Aldous Huxley. 1929. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 All knowledge has value. "All knowledge is of itself of some value." Sam. Johnson in Boswell. 1775. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 "If we knew everything, we could not endure existence for a single hour." [RayS. But that's what is supposed to happen in Heaven.] Anatole France. 1894. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 We can't truly appreciate our knowledge unless we can laugh at it. "…we are merely crammed waste-paper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing." D. H. Lawrence. 1929. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 One never really knows anything. "…to presume that one really knows is fatal indeed." Chuang-Tzu. 4th century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 Skeptics who claimed to know nothing really thought they had superior knowledge. "The skeptics that affirmed they knew nothing, even in that opinion confuted themselves, and thought they knew more than all the world beside." Sir Thomas Browne. 1643. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 264 "He that knows little often repeats it." Thomas Fuller 2. 1732. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 265 Knowledge is nothing without context. "Knowledge is little; to know the right context is much…." Hugo Von Hofmannsthal. 1922. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 265 The more educated a person, the more boring he is. "The more scholastically educated a man is generally, the more he is an emotional bore." D. H. Lawrence. 1927. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 269 A person with a thirst for knowledge will have a miserable old age. "A young man who desires to know all that in all ages in all lands has been thought by the best minds, and wishes to make a synthesis of those thoughts for the future benefit of mankind, is laying up for himself a very miserable old age." Max Beerbohm. 1942. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 46 Begin with the whole before the parts. "Well knowest…who knowest the whole of it." Dante. Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 76 The ignorant have no doubts. "Who knows nothing doubts nothing; the ignoramus has no doubts." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 97 "They condemn what they do not understand." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 224 "It is better to know than to have; knowledge is better than wealth." Spanish. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 231 The more you know, the more you question. "With knowledge grows doubt." Goethe. German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 236 "Many words, little knowledge." Portuguese. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 266 "Patience surpasses knowledge." French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 284 Knowledge begins with the right question. "Half of knowledge consists in being able to put the right question." Bacon. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 353 Most knowledge is superseded. "...the rapidity of progress which has made it difficult to do work which will not soon be superseded." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Knowledge 739 Knowledge equals order. "Every great advance in knowledge has expanded the sphere of order and correspondingly restricted the sphere of apparent disorder in the world, till now we are ready to anticipate that even in regions where chance and confusion appear still to reign, a fuller knowledge would everywhere reduce the seeming chaos to cosmos." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.
Knowledge 740 With knowledge, the goal recedes. "The advance of knowledge is an infinite progression towards a goal that forever recedes." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.
Knowledge 11 Cocksure judgments should be submitted to experiment. "Imagine a world of men who would submit all of their cocksure judgments to the ordeal of the common-sense experiments of a Leeuwenhoek." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.
Knowledge He found what he never set out to find. "He [Leeuwenhoek] was a groper and a stumbler as all men are gropers, devoid of prescience, and stumblers, finding what they never set out to find." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.
Knowledge 239 The solution came while he was working on other things. "The solution [to Texas fever] fairly clubbed Theobald Smith; it yelled at him; it forced itself on him while he was busy doing other things." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.
Knowledge 251 "She welcomed every breath of knowledge that came her way." DeLillo, Underworld.
Knowledge 665 There was so much to know that he died without knowing what he knew. "There was so much to know that he would die not knowing." DeLillo, Underworld.
Knowledge 190 Accumulating facts is not knowledge. "Accumulation of knowledge isn’t knowledge." Manguel, A History of Reading.
Knowledge 297 Accumulating books is not knowledge. "…compares himself to Ptolemy II of Alexandria, who accumulated books but not knowledge." Manguel, A History of Reading.
Knowledge 32 "Knowledge is change." Toffler, Future Shock.
Knowledge 158 More knowledge creates increasing specialization." Granting that definitions of 'knowledge' are vague…there still can be no question that the rising tide of new knowledge forces us into ever-narrower specialization and drives us to revise our inner images of reality at ever-faster rates." Toffler, Future Shock.
Knowledge 161 The more knowledge, the less permanent is the knowledge. "…knowledge has become more plentiful and less permanent…." Toffler, Future Shock.
Knowledge 162 Knowledge is used and then disposed of. "We are creating and using up ideas and images at a faster and faster pace; knowledge, like people, places, things and organizational forms, is becoming disposable." Toffler, Future Shock.
Killing
Killing 183 "Kill a man and you are a murderer; kill a million men, and you are a conqueror; kill everyone, and you are a god." Jean Rostand. 1955. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge
Knowledge 48 Focus on finding one thing and you will find many. "One must look for one thing only, to find many." Cesare Pavese. 1935-50. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 232 Thought must analyze itself before it can know itself. "Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself." Aldous Huxley. 1929. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 All knowledge has value. "All knowledge is of itself of some value." Sam. Johnson in Boswell. 1775. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 "If we knew everything, we could not endure existence for a single hour." [RayS. But that's what is supposed to happen in Heaven.] Anatole France. 1894. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 We can't truly appreciate our knowledge unless we can laugh at it. "…we are merely crammed waste-paper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing." D. H. Lawrence. 1929. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 One never really knows anything. "…to presume that one really knows is fatal indeed." Chuang-Tzu. 4th century BC. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 263 Skeptics who claimed to know nothing really thought they had superior knowledge. "The skeptics that affirmed they knew nothing, even in that opinion confuted themselves, and thought they knew more than all the world beside." Sir Thomas Browne. 1643. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 264 "He that knows little often repeats it." Thomas Fuller 2. 1732. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 265 Knowledge is nothing without context. "Knowledge is little; to know the right context is much…." Hugo Von Hofmannsthal. 1922. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 265 The more educated a person, the more boring he is. "The more scholastically educated a man is generally, the more he is an emotional bore." D. H. Lawrence. 1927. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 269 A person with a thirst for knowledge will have a miserable old age. "A young man who desires to know all that in all ages in all lands has been thought by the best minds, and wishes to make a synthesis of those thoughts for the future benefit of mankind, is laying up for himself a very miserable old age." Max Beerbohm. 1942. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Knowledge 46 Begin with the whole before the parts. "Well knowest…who knowest the whole of it." Dante. Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 76 The ignorant have no doubts. "Who knows nothing doubts nothing; the ignoramus has no doubts." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 97 "They condemn what they do not understand." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 224 "It is better to know than to have; knowledge is better than wealth." Spanish. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 231 The more you know, the more you question. "With knowledge grows doubt." Goethe. German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 236 "Many words, little knowledge." Portuguese. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 266 "Patience surpasses knowledge." French. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 284 Knowledge begins with the right question. "Half of knowledge consists in being able to put the right question." Bacon. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Knowledge 353 Most knowledge is superseded. "...the rapidity of progress which has made it difficult to do work which will not soon be superseded." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Knowledge 739 Knowledge equals order. "Every great advance in knowledge has expanded the sphere of order and correspondingly restricted the sphere of apparent disorder in the world, till now we are ready to anticipate that even in regions where chance and confusion appear still to reign, a fuller knowledge would everywhere reduce the seeming chaos to cosmos." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.
Knowledge 740 With knowledge, the goal recedes. "The advance of knowledge is an infinite progression towards a goal that forever recedes." Frazer, The New Golden Bough.
Knowledge 11 Cocksure judgments should be submitted to experiment. "Imagine a world of men who would submit all of their cocksure judgments to the ordeal of the common-sense experiments of a Leeuwenhoek." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.
Knowledge He found what he never set out to find. "He [Leeuwenhoek] was a groper and a stumbler as all men are gropers, devoid of prescience, and stumblers, finding what they never set out to find." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.
Knowledge 239 The solution came while he was working on other things. "The solution [to Texas fever] fairly clubbed Theobald Smith; it yelled at him; it forced itself on him while he was busy doing other things." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.
Knowledge 251 "She welcomed every breath of knowledge that came her way." DeLillo, Underworld.
Knowledge 665 There was so much to know that he died without knowing what he knew. "There was so much to know that he would die not knowing." DeLillo, Underworld.
Knowledge 190 Accumulating facts is not knowledge. "Accumulation of knowledge isn’t knowledge." Manguel, A History of Reading.
Knowledge 297 Accumulating books is not knowledge. "…compares himself to Ptolemy II of Alexandria, who accumulated books but not knowledge." Manguel, A History of Reading.
Knowledge 32 "Knowledge is change." Toffler, Future Shock.
Knowledge 158 More knowledge creates increasing specialization." Granting that definitions of 'knowledge' are vague…there still can be no question that the rising tide of new knowledge forces us into ever-narrower specialization and drives us to revise our inner images of reality at ever-faster rates." Toffler, Future Shock.
Knowledge 161 The more knowledge, the less permanent is the knowledge. "…knowledge has become more plentiful and less permanent…." Toffler, Future Shock.
Knowledge 162 Knowledge is used and then disposed of. "We are creating and using up ideas and images at a faster and faster pace; knowledge, like people, places, things and organizational forms, is becoming disposable." Toffler, Future Shock.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Quotes: Jury. Justice.
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.
Jury
Jury 158 "A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer." Robert Frost. Portable Curmudgeon.
Jury 158 "Witches hang that juries may dine." Alexander Pope. Portable Curmudgeon.
Justice
Justice 751 In the end, we are all as guilty as the one we convict. " …a new trial has been granted, in a higher court, which may set judge, jury, and prisoner at its bar all in a row, and perhaps find one no less guilty than another." Hawthorne: “The New Adam and Eve”
Justice 110 The Justice system sanctions established injustice. "Justice is the sanction of established injustice." Anatole France. 1901. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Justice 111 We hire lawyers in order to defend against other lawyers. "A client is fain to hire a lawyer to keep from the injury of other lawyers…." Samuel Butler (1), 1660-80. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Justice 19 When robbers are hanged as are murderers, the robber feels he might just as well kill his victim. "For when a robber sees that no less a danger awaits a man condemned for theft than one convicted of homicide as well, by this single thought he is driven to murder the man he would otherwise merely have robbed." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.
Jury
Jury 158 "A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer." Robert Frost. Portable Curmudgeon.
Jury 158 "Witches hang that juries may dine." Alexander Pope. Portable Curmudgeon.
Justice
Justice 751 In the end, we are all as guilty as the one we convict. " …a new trial has been granted, in a higher court, which may set judge, jury, and prisoner at its bar all in a row, and perhaps find one no less guilty than another." Hawthorne: “The New Adam and Eve”
Justice 110 The Justice system sanctions established injustice. "Justice is the sanction of established injustice." Anatole France. 1901. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Justice 111 We hire lawyers in order to defend against other lawyers. "A client is fain to hire a lawyer to keep from the injury of other lawyers…." Samuel Butler (1), 1660-80. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Justice 19 When robbers are hanged as are murderers, the robber feels he might just as well kill his victim. "For when a robber sees that no less a danger awaits a man condemned for theft than one convicted of homicide as well, by this single thought he is driven to murder the man he would otherwise merely have robbed." Sir Thomas More, Utopia.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Quotes: July. June.
The number after the topic is the page on which the quote was found.
July
July 180 "July afternoons can roar and rumble with thunderstorms that slash the sky, shake the hills, and drench the valleys." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 180 "July nights can be as cool as May, as sultry as late August, and they are lit with more fireflies than stars." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 184 July flowers: "…hot-sun yellows." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 191 "If time ever stands still…it is on a mid-July day along a rural road with a leisurely stream on one side and fields and a wooded hillside on the other…early afternoon and the air is warm and quiet, even among the top leaves of the roadside trees…sky is clean and clear except for a few huge white cumulus clouds that make cool shade patterns as they slowly drift across the sun." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 193 July: "The rhythms endure, and the days pass…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 194 July: "Looking, listening, sensing, we know that this is summer’s song; but we also know that no summer’s song lasts forever." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 195 July: "Garden tomatoes fatten, still grass green, toward August ripeness." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 195 July: "The insects drone, afternoon and night…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 196 July: "The bright butterfly’s wings hover among the roadside weeds." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 201 "…the crickets possess late July, chirping and trilling the warm hours away as though summer endured forever." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June
June 147 "June, and deliberate growth, the long, slow days that reach toward ripeness and maturity." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 150 "The world is new and young in the June dawn, fresh and sweet and almost innocent." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 150 June: "The mists of night still lie in the valleys like the very mists of creation." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 June: "…air fragrant with the smell of cut grass…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 "June invites tranquility…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 "June is a month to live with, to relax, to appreciate life." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 "[June] is the long, sweet days we bought and paid for with long, cold nights and short, bitter days at the dark turn of the year." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 154 June: "…age-old perfume of new hay curing in the sun…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 155 "[June] is dew and buttercups, high noon and clover, lingering dusk and fence-row daisies." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 156 "But…a June day begins with a sense of peace and leisure." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 156 "…that sense of unending time, of long-day June." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 165 "There is no other smell in the world quite like fresh-cut hay seasoning in the June sun." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 165 "Knee-deep in June, which means roses both in the garden and along the fence rows." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 167 "[In June] …we would linger and have the sun, and time itself, stand still." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 167 June: "Bee-drone days and firefly nights will pass." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 168 June: "Fireflies sparkle the evening." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 171 June: Then darkness comes and the warm summer night is filled with winking lights of mystery. Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 171 June. "…fireflies make a special magic of the warm summer night…like a host of winking stars come down to spangle the night and create that incredible ballet of soft light." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 171 June: "These are firefly nights…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July
July 180 "July afternoons can roar and rumble with thunderstorms that slash the sky, shake the hills, and drench the valleys." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 180 "July nights can be as cool as May, as sultry as late August, and they are lit with more fireflies than stars." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 184 July flowers: "…hot-sun yellows." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 191 "If time ever stands still…it is on a mid-July day along a rural road with a leisurely stream on one side and fields and a wooded hillside on the other…early afternoon and the air is warm and quiet, even among the top leaves of the roadside trees…sky is clean and clear except for a few huge white cumulus clouds that make cool shade patterns as they slowly drift across the sun." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 193 July: "The rhythms endure, and the days pass…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 194 July: "Looking, listening, sensing, we know that this is summer’s song; but we also know that no summer’s song lasts forever." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 195 July: "Garden tomatoes fatten, still grass green, toward August ripeness." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 195 July: "The insects drone, afternoon and night…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 196 July: "The bright butterfly’s wings hover among the roadside weeds." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
July 201 "…the crickets possess late July, chirping and trilling the warm hours away as though summer endured forever." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June
June 147 "June, and deliberate growth, the long, slow days that reach toward ripeness and maturity." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 150 "The world is new and young in the June dawn, fresh and sweet and almost innocent." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 150 June: "The mists of night still lie in the valleys like the very mists of creation." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 June: "…air fragrant with the smell of cut grass…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 "June invites tranquility…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 "June is a month to live with, to relax, to appreciate life." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 153 "[June] is the long, sweet days we bought and paid for with long, cold nights and short, bitter days at the dark turn of the year." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 154 June: "…age-old perfume of new hay curing in the sun…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 155 "[June] is dew and buttercups, high noon and clover, lingering dusk and fence-row daisies." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 156 "But…a June day begins with a sense of peace and leisure." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 156 "…that sense of unending time, of long-day June." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 165 "There is no other smell in the world quite like fresh-cut hay seasoning in the June sun." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 165 "Knee-deep in June, which means roses both in the garden and along the fence rows." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 167 "[In June] …we would linger and have the sun, and time itself, stand still." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 167 June: "Bee-drone days and firefly nights will pass." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 168 June: "Fireflies sparkle the evening." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 171 June: Then darkness comes and the warm summer night is filled with winking lights of mystery. Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 171 June. "…fireflies make a special magic of the warm summer night…like a host of winking stars come down to spangle the night and create that incredible ballet of soft light." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
June 171 June: "These are firefly nights…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Friday, September 19, 2008
Quotes: Joy and Sorrow. Judgment. Judgment Day.
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.
Joy, Sorrow
Joy, sorrow 368 "Between joy and sorrow the bridge is narrow." German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Judgment
Judgment 324 "Let us be judged by our actions." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Judgment 349 "Reflection had given calmness to her judgment."
Judgment Day
Judgment Day 743 How would people react it they knew that this day was the last? Parents entreated that the earth’s span of endurance might be prolonged by some seventy years, so that their newborn infant should not be defrauded of his lifetime; a youthful poet murmured because there would be no posterity to recognize the inspiration of his song; the reformers, one and all, demanded a few thousand years to test their theories, after which the universe might go to wreck; a mechanician, who was busied with an improvement of the steam engine, asked merely time to perfect his model; a little boy made dolorous inquiry whether the last day would come before Christmas, and thus deprive him of his anticipated dainties. Hawthorne: “The Hall of Fantasy.”
Joy, Sorrow
Joy, sorrow 368 "Between joy and sorrow the bridge is narrow." German. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Judgment
Judgment 324 "Let us be judged by our actions." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Judgment 349 "Reflection had given calmness to her judgment."
Judgment Day
Judgment Day 743 How would people react it they knew that this day was the last? Parents entreated that the earth’s span of endurance might be prolonged by some seventy years, so that their newborn infant should not be defrauded of his lifetime; a youthful poet murmured because there would be no posterity to recognize the inspiration of his song; the reformers, one and all, demanded a few thousand years to test their theories, after which the universe might go to wreck; a mechanician, who was busied with an improvement of the steam engine, asked merely time to perfect his model; a little boy made dolorous inquiry whether the last day would come before Christmas, and thus deprive him of his anticipated dainties. Hawthorne: “The Hall of Fantasy.”
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Quotes: Journalism
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.
Journalism
Journalism 21 Rule of journalistic interviews. "I understood the meeting to be off the record, but Arthur had evidently said it was “on background”—meaning that the reporters could publish what they heard as long as they did not attribute it directly to me." McNamara’s In Retrospect
Journalism 158 "Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space." Rebecca West. Portable Curmudgeon.
Journalism 237 Rock journalism defined. "Most rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read." Frank Zappa.
Journalism 319 One view of journalism. "...our newspapers and newspaper writers...give us the bald, sordid, disgusting facts of life...chronicle, with degrading avidity, the sins of the second-rate...and with the conscientiousness of the illiterate give us accurate and prosaic details of the doings of people of absolutely no interest whatsoever." Oscar Wilde, “ ‘The True Critic’.” 1891. Gross, ed. Essays.
Journalism 510 How many ways can you attribute without revealing the actual sources? " …usual to evoke as authority some anonymous source…have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a ‘semi-official statement’; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as ‘a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable’ …only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own…that he defines it as the opinion of ‘well-informed circles.’ " Evelyn Waugh. “Well-Informed Circles…And How to Move In them.” 1939. Gross, ed. Essays.
Journalism 511 Citing "nobodys" as experts. "When [citing] celebrities fail[s] [to be convincing], it is always possible to introduce quite unknown names with such an air of authority that no one dares challenge you." Evelyn Waugh. “Well-Informed Circles…And How to Move In them.” 1939. Gross, ed. Essays.
Journalism
Journalism 21 Rule of journalistic interviews. "I understood the meeting to be off the record, but Arthur had evidently said it was “on background”—meaning that the reporters could publish what they heard as long as they did not attribute it directly to me." McNamara’s In Retrospect
Journalism 158 "Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space." Rebecca West. Portable Curmudgeon.
Journalism 237 Rock journalism defined. "Most rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read." Frank Zappa.
Journalism 319 One view of journalism. "...our newspapers and newspaper writers...give us the bald, sordid, disgusting facts of life...chronicle, with degrading avidity, the sins of the second-rate...and with the conscientiousness of the illiterate give us accurate and prosaic details of the doings of people of absolutely no interest whatsoever." Oscar Wilde, “ ‘The True Critic’.” 1891. Gross, ed. Essays.
Journalism 510 How many ways can you attribute without revealing the actual sources? " …usual to evoke as authority some anonymous source…have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a ‘semi-official statement’; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as ‘a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable’ …only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own…that he defines it as the opinion of ‘well-informed circles.’ " Evelyn Waugh. “Well-Informed Circles…And How to Move In them.” 1939. Gross, ed. Essays.
Journalism 511 Citing "nobodys" as experts. "When [citing] celebrities fail[s] [to be convincing], it is always possible to introduce quite unknown names with such an air of authority that no one dares challenge you." Evelyn Waugh. “Well-Informed Circles…And How to Move In them.” 1939. Gross, ed. Essays.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Quotes: Jargon. Jewishness. JFK. Joke.
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.
Jargon
Jargon 97 Detests jargon, but could find no words to express her criticism except cliches--or another form of jargon. Marianne: "I detest jargon of every kind, and sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself because I could find no language to describe them in but what was worn and hackneyed out of all sense and meaning." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Jewishness
Jewishness 376 "It’s a difficult question, the meaning of a Jew." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Jewishness 376 "…but personally I think a Jew is a Jew, because he suffers." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Jewishness 376 "We [the Jews] have suffered so much that we know how to endure." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
JFK
JFK 94 JFK saw the present as a part of history. "John F. Kennedy saw the world as history; he took the long view." McNamara’s In Retrospect
JFK 94 JFK inspired both young and old to aim high. "He [JFK] moved the young and the old at home and abroad, touching the very best in them, a rare and priceless gift in political leaders; in an imperfect world, he raised our eyes to the stars." McNamara’s In Retrospect
Joke
Joke 161 "Practical jokes are the jokes of boors." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms.
Jokes 246 If you tell a joke to spite others, there is no fun in it. "There is no fun (or joking) where there is spite." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms.
Jargon
Jargon 97 Detests jargon, but could find no words to express her criticism except cliches--or another form of jargon. Marianne: "I detest jargon of every kind, and sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself because I could find no language to describe them in but what was worn and hackneyed out of all sense and meaning." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Jewishness
Jewishness 376 "It’s a difficult question, the meaning of a Jew." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Jewishness 376 "…but personally I think a Jew is a Jew, because he suffers." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
Jewishness 376 "We [the Jews] have suffered so much that we know how to endure." Mailer, The Naked and the Dead.
JFK
JFK 94 JFK saw the present as a part of history. "John F. Kennedy saw the world as history; he took the long view." McNamara’s In Retrospect
JFK 94 JFK inspired both young and old to aim high. "He [JFK] moved the young and the old at home and abroad, touching the very best in them, a rare and priceless gift in political leaders; in an imperfect world, he raised our eyes to the stars." McNamara’s In Retrospect
Joke
Joke 161 "Practical jokes are the jokes of boors." Italian. Dictionary of Foreign Terms.
Jokes 246 If you tell a joke to spite others, there is no fun in it. "There is no fun (or joking) where there is spite." Horace. Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Quotes: January
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.
January
January 4 "January can be cold, raw, bitter, icy, edged with a wind that chills the marrow and congeals the blood. Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 4 "January is winter, its very essence." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 4 "[January] Sunset…long light glows on the crusted meadow." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "Mid-evening and the moonlight casts ink-black shadows on the snow." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "…a cold, bitter, ice-edged January night that engraves itself on the senses." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "The depth of winter is upon us…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "[January]. …the sun seemingly as reluctant as the rest of us to get up." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 6 " …until the killer-wind has died we live beleaguered." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 7 "The whine of snow underfoot on a brittle-cold day…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 7 "The really shivery whine of snow is seldom heard anymore…at its best under the runners of a sleigh on a winter night." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 7 "…the voice of ice…cold thunder…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 8 "…on a frigid night with a late moon and glittering stars…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 9 "…winter’s moon is queen of the sky…banishes all but the brightest stars…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 9 "The January moon…is a distinct and icy moon that glitters the hills and glints the frozen valleys." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.
January 10 "…green [of pines and hemlocks] that now becomes the symbol of life, in this winter world." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 14 [January]. "Long nights of cold and brittle starlight." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 25 "January’s full moon marks a time of bitter temperature and biting wind." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 25 "…when the [January] moon rides full, the cold deepens." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 25 "[January’s] is probably the coldest moon of the whole year." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 27 "The January wind has a hundred voices." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 27 "In the cold of a lonely [January] night, it [the wind] can rattle the sash and stay there muttering of ice and snow banks and deep-frozen ponds." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 27 "Sometimes the January wind seems to come from the farthest star in the outer darkness, so remote and so impersonal is its voice." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 28 January. "There is a simplicity about the resting world of winter…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 30 January. "The woodshed door creaks on its chilled hinges." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 30 January. "Sounds echo in the cold, heavy [night] air, a barking dog, a slamming door, a barred owl calling from the dark grove of hemlocks on the far hillside." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January
January 4 "January can be cold, raw, bitter, icy, edged with a wind that chills the marrow and congeals the blood. Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 4 "January is winter, its very essence." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 4 "[January] Sunset…long light glows on the crusted meadow." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "Mid-evening and the moonlight casts ink-black shadows on the snow." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "…a cold, bitter, ice-edged January night that engraves itself on the senses." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "The depth of winter is upon us…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 5 "[January]. …the sun seemingly as reluctant as the rest of us to get up." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 6 " …until the killer-wind has died we live beleaguered." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 7 "The whine of snow underfoot on a brittle-cold day…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 7 "The really shivery whine of snow is seldom heard anymore…at its best under the runners of a sleigh on a winter night." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 7 "…the voice of ice…cold thunder…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 8 "…on a frigid night with a late moon and glittering stars…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 9 "…winter’s moon is queen of the sky…banishes all but the brightest stars…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 9 "The January moon…is a distinct and icy moon that glitters the hills and glints the frozen valleys." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.
January 10 "…green [of pines and hemlocks] that now becomes the symbol of life, in this winter world." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 14 [January]. "Long nights of cold and brittle starlight." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 25 "January’s full moon marks a time of bitter temperature and biting wind." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 25 "…when the [January] moon rides full, the cold deepens." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 25 "[January’s] is probably the coldest moon of the whole year." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 27 "The January wind has a hundred voices." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 27 "In the cold of a lonely [January] night, it [the wind] can rattle the sash and stay there muttering of ice and snow banks and deep-frozen ponds." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 27 "Sometimes the January wind seems to come from the farthest star in the outer darkness, so remote and so impersonal is its voice." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 28 January. "There is a simplicity about the resting world of winter…." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 30 January. "The woodshed door creaks on its chilled hinges." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
January 30 January. "Sounds echo in the cold, heavy [night] air, a barking dog, a slamming door, a barred owl calling from the dark grove of hemlocks on the far hillside." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Monday, September 15, 2008
Quotes: Irony. Irrational.
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.
Irony
Irony 153 He was accused of the same abuses he had fought against. "The very abuses against which he [Lord Clive] had waged an honest, resolute, and successful war were laid to his account." Lord Macaulay. From Lord Clive. 1840. Gross, ed. Essays.
Irony 340 At the very moment when a person is judged not to be a prophet, he leaves this life and is praised for the light he has shed on existence. "In the very moment that the world is deciding that a man was no prophet and had nothing to say, in that very moment perhaps is his work perfected, and he himself is gathered to his fathers, after having been a lamp to his own generation, and an inspiration to those who come after." John Jay Chapman. “William James.” 1915. Gross, ed. Essays.
Irony 246 They sought their company, but little valued it. "Their hours were therefore made over to Lady Middleton and the two Miss Steeles, by whom their company was in fact as little valued, as it was professedly sought." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Irony 302 Her friendship was in fact a persecution. " …she was pleased to be free herself from the persecution of Lucy’s friendship." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Irony 70 I can't hate any realtor, even that @#$%^&* Cecil Rountree. "…and so I certainly can't suppose and I can't imagine my hating any realtor, not even that dirty, fourflushing society sneak, Cecil Rountree!" Lewis, Babbitt.
Irony 12 He searched for it, but only found it when he wasn't looking for it. "He considered it a trick of his whimsical fate to have searched for the sea without finding it, at the cost of countless sacrifices and suffering, and to have found it all of a sudden without looking for it….." Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Irony 96 "After sitting a little while, Miss Crawford was up again: “I must move,” said she; 'resting fatigues me.' ” Austen, Mansfield Park.
Irrational
Irrational 236 "The irrational is not necessarily unreasonable." Sir Lewis Namier. 1955. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Irony
Irony 153 He was accused of the same abuses he had fought against. "The very abuses against which he [Lord Clive] had waged an honest, resolute, and successful war were laid to his account." Lord Macaulay. From Lord Clive. 1840. Gross, ed. Essays.
Irony 340 At the very moment when a person is judged not to be a prophet, he leaves this life and is praised for the light he has shed on existence. "In the very moment that the world is deciding that a man was no prophet and had nothing to say, in that very moment perhaps is his work perfected, and he himself is gathered to his fathers, after having been a lamp to his own generation, and an inspiration to those who come after." John Jay Chapman. “William James.” 1915. Gross, ed. Essays.
Irony 246 They sought their company, but little valued it. "Their hours were therefore made over to Lady Middleton and the two Miss Steeles, by whom their company was in fact as little valued, as it was professedly sought." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Irony 302 Her friendship was in fact a persecution. " …she was pleased to be free herself from the persecution of Lucy’s friendship." Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Irony 70 I can't hate any realtor, even that @#$%^&* Cecil Rountree. "…and so I certainly can't suppose and I can't imagine my hating any realtor, not even that dirty, fourflushing society sneak, Cecil Rountree!" Lewis, Babbitt.
Irony 12 He searched for it, but only found it when he wasn't looking for it. "He considered it a trick of his whimsical fate to have searched for the sea without finding it, at the cost of countless sacrifices and suffering, and to have found it all of a sudden without looking for it….." Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Irony 96 "After sitting a little while, Miss Crawford was up again: “I must move,” said she; 'resting fatigues me.' ” Austen, Mansfield Park.
Irrational
Irrational 236 "The irrational is not necessarily unreasonable." Sir Lewis Namier. 1955. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Quotes: Interaction. Interpretation. Intuition. Invention.
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.
Interaction
1. Interaction 42 Interaction between two people who know what they want from each other, but don't say it. "Bryce of course divined that Dunstan wanted to sell the horse, and Dunstan knew that he divined it (horse-dealing is only one of many human transactions carried on in this ingenious manner)." George Eliot, Silas Marner.
Interpretation
1. Interpretation 48 "Everything is worthy of notice, for everything can be interpreted." Hermann Hesse. 1943. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intuition
1. Intuition 476 Intuition finds answers to questions without sufficient data for rational solution. "Intuition…is the mind working in a trance at problems which offer only meager data for their rational solution." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.
Invention
1. Invention 112 Invention creates new necessities. "Invention is the mother of necessity." Thorstein Veblen. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Interaction
1. Interaction 42 Interaction between two people who know what they want from each other, but don't say it. "Bryce of course divined that Dunstan wanted to sell the horse, and Dunstan knew that he divined it (horse-dealing is only one of many human transactions carried on in this ingenious manner)." George Eliot, Silas Marner.
Interpretation
1. Interpretation 48 "Everything is worthy of notice, for everything can be interpreted." Hermann Hesse. 1943. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intuition
1. Intuition 476 Intuition finds answers to questions without sufficient data for rational solution. "Intuition…is the mind working in a trance at problems which offer only meager data for their rational solution." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.
Invention
1. Invention 112 Invention creates new necessities. "Invention is the mother of necessity." Thorstein Veblen. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Quotes: Intellect. Intellectuals. Intelligence. Intemperance.
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.
Intellect
Intellect 239 Is the "intellect" for Freud one's conscience? "The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest till it has gained a hearing." Freud. 1927. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intellectuals
Intellectuals 117 Modern society needs to keep the intellectual out of power. "One of the chief problems a modern society has to face is how to provide an outlet for the intellectual’s restless energies and yet deny him power; how to make and keep him a paper tiger." Eric Hoffer. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intellectuals 257 Do intellectuals adopt fads in ideas? "We mustn’t forget how quickly the visions of genius become the canned goods of intellectuals." Saul Bellow. 1964. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence
Intelligence 247 Intelligent people recognize the differences in individuals. The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds; ordinary people find no difference between men. Pascal. 1670. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence 247 Having many ideas does not make people intelligent; they must act on those ideas. "A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers." Chamfort. 1805. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence 248 "An intelligent person often talks with his eyes…." Mr. Tut-Tut. Chinese. 17th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence 250 Intelligent people see that everything has significance. "He who has eyes sees something in everything." Lichtenberg. 1764-99. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intemperance
Intemperance 191 Don't be intemperate in the cause of temperance. "Intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance, while temperate temperance helps it in its fight against intemperate intemperance." Twain. Later 19th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intellect
Intellect 239 Is the "intellect" for Freud one's conscience? "The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest till it has gained a hearing." Freud. 1927. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intellectuals
Intellectuals 117 Modern society needs to keep the intellectual out of power. "One of the chief problems a modern society has to face is how to provide an outlet for the intellectual’s restless energies and yet deny him power; how to make and keep him a paper tiger." Eric Hoffer. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intellectuals 257 Do intellectuals adopt fads in ideas? "We mustn’t forget how quickly the visions of genius become the canned goods of intellectuals." Saul Bellow. 1964. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence
Intelligence 247 Intelligent people recognize the differences in individuals. The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds; ordinary people find no difference between men. Pascal. 1670. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence 247 Having many ideas does not make people intelligent; they must act on those ideas. "A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers." Chamfort. 1805. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence 248 "An intelligent person often talks with his eyes…." Mr. Tut-Tut. Chinese. 17th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intelligence 250 Intelligent people see that everything has significance. "He who has eyes sees something in everything." Lichtenberg. 1764-99. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Intemperance
Intemperance 191 Don't be intemperate in the cause of temperance. "Intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance, while temperate temperance helps it in its fight against intemperate intemperance." Twain. Later 19th century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Quotes: Institutions. Insult.
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.
Institutions
Institutions 413 The enemy is not individuals but institutions. "Not individuals but institutions are the enemies, and they most afflict the disciples who the most generously serve them…insinuate their tyranny under a hundred guises, and polite names…and the only defense against them, Carol beheld, is unembittered laughter." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.
Institutions 27 Office politics. "The U.S.O. troupes were sent by General P.P. Peckem, who had moved his headquarters up to Rome and had nothing better to do while he schemed against General Dreeedle." Heller, Catch-22.
Institutions 36 The enemy of institutions is the freedom to question them. "Group headquarters was alarmed for there was no telling what people might find out once they felt free to ask whatever questions they wanted to." Heller, Catch-22.
Institutions 95 A career of signing documents. "In the long run, Major Major was grateful for the official documents that came to his desk, for sitting in his office signing them all day long was a lot better than sitting in his office all day long not signing them…." Heller, Catch-22.
Institutions, home 98 We are smothered by jostling egos. "…where self-respect is smothered by crowded, jostling egos." August Strindberg. Portable Curmudgeon.
Insult
Insult 37 To youth, the aged are worthless. "Marianne on thirty-five-year-old Col. Brandon: 'Colonel Brandon is certainly younger than Mrs. Jennings, but he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind…did you not hear him complain of the rheumatism? and is not that the commonest infirmity of declining life?' " Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Insult 38 Wearing flannel waistcoats means you are old. “But he [Col. Brandon] talked of flannel waistcoats,” said Marianne; “and with me a flannel waistcoat is invariably connected with aches, cramps, rheumatisms, and every species of ailment that can afflict the old and the feeble.” Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Insult 50 Portrait of a nonentity. “Brandon is just the kind of man,” said Willoughby… “whom everybody speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to.” Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Insult 204 People who have nothing to do think nothing of intruding on the privacy and activities of others. "Marianne on Col. Brandon: 'A man who has nothing to do with his own time has no conscience in his intrusion on that of others.' " Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Institutions
Institutions 413 The enemy is not individuals but institutions. "Not individuals but institutions are the enemies, and they most afflict the disciples who the most generously serve them…insinuate their tyranny under a hundred guises, and polite names…and the only defense against them, Carol beheld, is unembittered laughter." Sinclair Lewis, Main Street.
Institutions 27 Office politics. "The U.S.O. troupes were sent by General P.P. Peckem, who had moved his headquarters up to Rome and had nothing better to do while he schemed against General Dreeedle." Heller, Catch-22.
Institutions 36 The enemy of institutions is the freedom to question them. "Group headquarters was alarmed for there was no telling what people might find out once they felt free to ask whatever questions they wanted to." Heller, Catch-22.
Institutions 95 A career of signing documents. "In the long run, Major Major was grateful for the official documents that came to his desk, for sitting in his office signing them all day long was a lot better than sitting in his office all day long not signing them…." Heller, Catch-22.
Institutions, home 98 We are smothered by jostling egos. "…where self-respect is smothered by crowded, jostling egos." August Strindberg. Portable Curmudgeon.
Insult
Insult 37 To youth, the aged are worthless. "Marianne on thirty-five-year-old Col. Brandon: 'Colonel Brandon is certainly younger than Mrs. Jennings, but he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind…did you not hear him complain of the rheumatism? and is not that the commonest infirmity of declining life?' " Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Insult 38 Wearing flannel waistcoats means you are old. “But he [Col. Brandon] talked of flannel waistcoats,” said Marianne; “and with me a flannel waistcoat is invariably connected with aches, cramps, rheumatisms, and every species of ailment that can afflict the old and the feeble.” Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Insult 50 Portrait of a nonentity. “Brandon is just the kind of man,” said Willoughby… “whom everybody speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to.” Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Insult 204 People who have nothing to do think nothing of intruding on the privacy and activities of others. "Marianne on Col. Brandon: 'A man who has nothing to do with his own time has no conscience in his intrusion on that of others.' " Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Quotes: Insects.
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.
Insects
Insects 831 "Insects are among the earliest births of spring…a mosquito has already been heard to sound the small horror of his bugle horn; wasps infest the sunny windows of the house; a bee entered one of the chambers, with a prophecy of flowers." Hawthorne: “Buds and Bird-Voices”
Insects 126 Did insects inhabit Paradise? "An Italian author--Giulio Cordara, a Jesuit--has written a poem upon insects in which he begins by insisting that those troublesome and abominable little animals were created for our annoyance, and that they were certainly not inhabitants of Paradise." Leigh Hunt. ‘Getting Up on Cold Mornings.” 1820. Gross, ed. Essays.
Insects 113 The energy of ants. "Some people are like ants: give them a warm day and a piece of ground and they start digging." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 184 The overlooked activities of ants. "The ants dig, harvest, stow, enslave, march, make war, and tend their hatchlings beside the paths where we walk unseeing." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 184 "There are almost 90,000 species of insects in North America and 25,000 of them are beetles." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 185 Man fights them [insects] for his mastery of the earth, and they outbreed all his efforts. Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 192. Dragonflies. "Something about them [dragonflies] speaks of remote times when there were dragons, even flying dragons, of millennia past…hover and wheel in swift flight…among our most helpful insects, feeding almost entirely on gnats, flies, and mosquitoes." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 196 July. "Fly-buzz, bee-hum, mosquito whine, all are the sound of thrumming wings." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 196 July. "Some [insect wings] are incredibly swift wings…the bee and the housefly beat their wings 200 times or more per second…mosquito’s wings make 600 strokes per second…there are leisurely wings, too…big butterflies beat their wings only 10 or 20 times per second, and the dragon flies about twice that number." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 217 "As for most insects, summer is a lifetime to a katydid—birth and growth and maturity, which ends in old age and death." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 217 "Insect time ticks madly now [August], setting the tempo for buzz and scratch and hum that mark not a season but a lifetime." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 226 "They [insects] never learn—they live by instinct." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.
Insects 256 Fall. "But to the cold-blooded ones, such as insects, who are at the mercy of the sun rather than their own inner fires for life and energy, time begins to run out when nights turn frosty." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 256 Fall. "Briefly, when the sun has asserted itself by early afternoon, life is almost normal…flies buzz, ants hurry, and late gnats dance like lively motes in the mild air…evening nears and the buzz, the haste, and the dancing are at an end." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 260 "The cricket is a small, black, ambulatory noise surrounded by a sentimental aura…lives in the open fields, but its favorite habitat is behind a couch or under a bookcase in a room where somebody is trying to read." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 260 "[The cricket] has six legs, which make it an insect; two antennae, which make it a creature of sensitive feelings; two wings that can be scraped together which make it a nuisance." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 323 " ...paper, the primitive kind of paper hornets were making long before man tamed fire, let alone learned to write or print or bind a book." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects
Insects 831 "Insects are among the earliest births of spring…a mosquito has already been heard to sound the small horror of his bugle horn; wasps infest the sunny windows of the house; a bee entered one of the chambers, with a prophecy of flowers." Hawthorne: “Buds and Bird-Voices”
Insects 126 Did insects inhabit Paradise? "An Italian author--Giulio Cordara, a Jesuit--has written a poem upon insects in which he begins by insisting that those troublesome and abominable little animals were created for our annoyance, and that they were certainly not inhabitants of Paradise." Leigh Hunt. ‘Getting Up on Cold Mornings.” 1820. Gross, ed. Essays.
Insects 113 The energy of ants. "Some people are like ants: give them a warm day and a piece of ground and they start digging." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 184 The overlooked activities of ants. "The ants dig, harvest, stow, enslave, march, make war, and tend their hatchlings beside the paths where we walk unseeing." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 184 "There are almost 90,000 species of insects in North America and 25,000 of them are beetles." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 185 Man fights them [insects] for his mastery of the earth, and they outbreed all his efforts. Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 192. Dragonflies. "Something about them [dragonflies] speaks of remote times when there were dragons, even flying dragons, of millennia past…hover and wheel in swift flight…among our most helpful insects, feeding almost entirely on gnats, flies, and mosquitoes." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 196 July. "Fly-buzz, bee-hum, mosquito whine, all are the sound of thrumming wings." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 196 July. "Some [insect wings] are incredibly swift wings…the bee and the housefly beat their wings 200 times or more per second…mosquito’s wings make 600 strokes per second…there are leisurely wings, too…big butterflies beat their wings only 10 or 20 times per second, and the dragon flies about twice that number." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 217 "As for most insects, summer is a lifetime to a katydid—birth and growth and maturity, which ends in old age and death." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 217 "Insect time ticks madly now [August], setting the tempo for buzz and scratch and hum that mark not a season but a lifetime." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 226 "They [insects] never learn—they live by instinct." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year.
Insects 256 Fall. "But to the cold-blooded ones, such as insects, who are at the mercy of the sun rather than their own inner fires for life and energy, time begins to run out when nights turn frosty." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 256 Fall. "Briefly, when the sun has asserted itself by early afternoon, life is almost normal…flies buzz, ants hurry, and late gnats dance like lively motes in the mild air…evening nears and the buzz, the haste, and the dancing are at an end." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 260 "The cricket is a small, black, ambulatory noise surrounded by a sentimental aura…lives in the open fields, but its favorite habitat is behind a couch or under a bookcase in a room where somebody is trying to read." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 260 "[The cricket] has six legs, which make it an insect; two antennae, which make it a creature of sensitive feelings; two wings that can be scraped together which make it a nuisance." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Insects 323 " ...paper, the primitive kind of paper hornets were making long before man tamed fire, let alone learned to write or print or bind a book." Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Quotes: Industry. Information. Ingenuity. Insanity.
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.
Industry
Industry 802 "…the manufactory where the demon of machinery annihilates the human soul, and the cotton-field where God’s image becomes a beast of burden." Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”
Information
Information 351 Psychologist George A. Miller: "…there are 'severe limitations on the amount of information that we are able to receive, process, and remember.' ” Toffler, Future Shock.
Ingenuity
Ingenuity 245 La Rochefoucauld: "To conceal ingenuity is ingenuity indeed." Reflections or Moral Thoughts and Maxims, 1665
Insanity
Insanity 195 Symptoms of insanity? "For other reasons…visitors came but seldom to Per Hansa’s now; there was something queer about the woman in that place; she said so little; at times people felt that they were unwelcome there…was apt to break out suddenly with some remark that they could only wonder at; they hardly knew whether to be surprised or offended." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 203 Symptoms of insanity? "That night he had been seriously frightened; when he had come back to lie down she had started crying so despairingly; he hadn’t been able to make any sense of the few words he got out of her." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 203 Symptoms of insanity? "She, who had always been so neat and could make whatever clothes she put on look becoming, was now going about shabby and unkempt; she didn’t even bother to wash herself." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 204 Symptom of insanity? "There Beret sat in the room with them, within four paces—yet she was far, far away." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 204 Insanity: an "enchanted ring." "He spoke to her now, to her alone, but could not make her come out of the enchanted ring that lay about her." Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 204 Symptom of insanity? "Another queer thing, she was always losing the commonest objects—completely losing them, though they were right at hand. Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 206 Helplessness. "Per Hansa sat in his hut, ate, drank, puffed at his pipe, and followed his wife with his eyes in vague alarm; for the life of him he didn’t know what to do." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 206 Response to insanity. "He would be seized by a sudden, almost irresistible desire to take Beret, his own blessed Beret, hold her on his knee like a naughty child—just make her sit there—and reason with her…talk some sense into her." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 212 Response to insanity. "But let me tell you one thing, Sörrina: I’m not half so worried about my wife as I am about myself…I nearly laid hands on her…." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 216 Experience of insanity. "There was one who heeded not the light of the day, whether it might be gray or golden: Beret stared at the earthen floor of the hut and saw only night round about her…she tried hard, but she could not let in the sun." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 227 Experience of insanity. "…he looked at her and thought that he had never seen such terror on any face." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 323 Response to insanity. "He tried to reason himself out of his serious misgivings over Beret…she didn’t act as a normal person should; yet it was nothing that wouldn’t naturally right itself with time." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 338 Response to a loved one who is insane. "All his strength seemed to leave him as he looked into her tear-swollen face; yet it wasn’t her tears that drained his heart dry—the face was that of a stranger, behind which her own face seemed to be hidden." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Industry
Industry 802 "…the manufactory where the demon of machinery annihilates the human soul, and the cotton-field where God’s image becomes a beast of burden." Hawthorne: “The Procession of Life”
Information
Information 351 Psychologist George A. Miller: "…there are 'severe limitations on the amount of information that we are able to receive, process, and remember.' ” Toffler, Future Shock.
Ingenuity
Ingenuity 245 La Rochefoucauld: "To conceal ingenuity is ingenuity indeed." Reflections or Moral Thoughts and Maxims, 1665
Insanity
Insanity 195 Symptoms of insanity? "For other reasons…visitors came but seldom to Per Hansa’s now; there was something queer about the woman in that place; she said so little; at times people felt that they were unwelcome there…was apt to break out suddenly with some remark that they could only wonder at; they hardly knew whether to be surprised or offended." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 203 Symptoms of insanity? "That night he had been seriously frightened; when he had come back to lie down she had started crying so despairingly; he hadn’t been able to make any sense of the few words he got out of her." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 203 Symptoms of insanity? "She, who had always been so neat and could make whatever clothes she put on look becoming, was now going about shabby and unkempt; she didn’t even bother to wash herself." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 204 Symptom of insanity? "There Beret sat in the room with them, within four paces—yet she was far, far away." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 204 Insanity: an "enchanted ring." "He spoke to her now, to her alone, but could not make her come out of the enchanted ring that lay about her." Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 204 Symptom of insanity? "Another queer thing, she was always losing the commonest objects—completely losing them, though they were right at hand. Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 206 Helplessness. "Per Hansa sat in his hut, ate, drank, puffed at his pipe, and followed his wife with his eyes in vague alarm; for the life of him he didn’t know what to do." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 206 Response to insanity. "He would be seized by a sudden, almost irresistible desire to take Beret, his own blessed Beret, hold her on his knee like a naughty child—just make her sit there—and reason with her…talk some sense into her." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 212 Response to insanity. "But let me tell you one thing, Sörrina: I’m not half so worried about my wife as I am about myself…I nearly laid hands on her…." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 216 Experience of insanity. "There was one who heeded not the light of the day, whether it might be gray or golden: Beret stared at the earthen floor of the hut and saw only night round about her…she tried hard, but she could not let in the sun." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 227 Experience of insanity. "…he looked at her and thought that he had never seen such terror on any face." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 323 Response to insanity. "He tried to reason himself out of his serious misgivings over Beret…she didn’t act as a normal person should; yet it was nothing that wouldn’t naturally right itself with time." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Insanity 338 Response to a loved one who is insane. "All his strength seemed to leave him as he looked into her tear-swollen face; yet it wasn’t her tears that drained his heart dry—the face was that of a stranger, behind which her own face seemed to be hidden." Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Quotes: Individual. Individuality.
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.
Individual, Individuality
Individual 50 Life means individuality. "Any attempt at a definition of life must start out with the concept of ‘individual,’ otherwise it would not be life." Sir Charles Sherrington. 1940. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual 59 You will learn how much people think about you by how much you think about them. "He that considers how little he dwells upon the condition of others will learn how little the attention of others is attracted by himself." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual 61 We are all alike in that we are all criticized. "We all think we are exceptional, and are surprised to find ourselves criticized just like anyone else." Comtesse Diane. 1908. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual 70 Pretending to be what you are not is a waste of time. "Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individuality 139 We don't strive for internal perfection but for external appearances. "Not for internal perfection, but for external combinations and arrangements, for institutions, constitutions,--for mechanism of one sort or other, do they hope and struggle." Thomas Carlyle. From Signs of the Times. 1829. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 148 We are skilled in managing external appearances, but are inferior to most ages in true soul and character. "By our skill in mechanism, it has come to pass, that in the management of external things we excel all other ages; while in whatever respects the pure moral nature, in true dignity of soul and character, we are perhaps inferior to most civilized ages." Thomas Carlyle. From Signs of the Times. 1829. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 450 Are we turning into inanimate objects of conformity? "And perhaps the inanimate is beginning the slow process of subduing us again…all the emphasis is placed, not upon that power to resist and rebel which we were once supposed to have, but upon the ‘influences’ which ‘formed us’…in their view, we crystallize in obedience to some dictate from without instead of moving in conformity with something within." Joseph Wood Krutch. “The Colloid and the Crystal.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 451 Our unpredictability defines our humanity. " …insist that the most important thing about a man is not that part of him which is ‘the product of forces’ but that part, however small it may be, which enables him to become something other than what the most accomplished sociologist, working in conjunction with the most accomplished psychologist, could predict that he would be." Joseph Wood Krutch. “The Colloid and the Crystal.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 473 Once our heads are counted, we become part of government schemes to manipulate. "[Poets] know that once heads are counted, each owner of a head loses his personal identity and becomes a number in some government scheme: if not as a slave or serf, at least as a party to the device of majority voting, which smothers personal views." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 473 Once we are counted we become part of cannon fodder. "An ominous count of manpower always precedes its translation into sword or cannon-fodder." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 639 Once we surrender our private wills we become vulnerable to the first messiah who comes along. "For in our insistence on the surrender of private will (“inner-directedness”) to a conception of the human race as some teeming bacteria in the stream of time, unaffected by individual deeds, we have been made vulnerable…to the first Messiah who offers the young and bored some splendid prospect…." Gore Vidal. “Robert Graves and the Twelve Caesars.” 1959. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 319 Don't be afraid to do what you want. Babbitt to his son Ted who has just eloped with Eunice Littlefield: "...I’ve never done a single thing I’ve wanted to in my whole life...don’t know’s I’ve accomplished anything except just get along...figure out I’ve made about a quarter of an inch out of a possible hundred rods...maybe you’ll carry things on further...don’t know...do get a kind of sneaking pleasure out of the fact that you knew what you wanted to do and did it...those folks in there will try to bully you, and tame you down...tell ‘em to go to the devil! I’ll back you; take your factory job...don’t be scared of the family...nor all of Zenith, nor of yourself, the way I’ve been; go ahead, old man...the world is yours!" Lewis, Babbitt.
Individuality 327 Babbitt does not know what true individuality is. Mark Shorer, Afterword: "...but how to cultivate a true individuality George F. Babbitt assuredly does not know, since he has no sense of what it is." Lewis, Babbitt.
Individuality 270 Material goods are symbolic expression of human personality. "This view gravely underestimates the importance of material goods as symbolic expressions of human personality differences." Toffler, Future Shock.
Individuals 52 Most people imitate other people. "[Most people’s] thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." Oscar Wilde. 1905. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual, Individuality
Individual 50 Life means individuality. "Any attempt at a definition of life must start out with the concept of ‘individual,’ otherwise it would not be life." Sir Charles Sherrington. 1940. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual 59 You will learn how much people think about you by how much you think about them. "He that considers how little he dwells upon the condition of others will learn how little the attention of others is attracted by himself." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual 61 We are all alike in that we are all criticized. "We all think we are exceptional, and are surprised to find ourselves criticized just like anyone else." Comtesse Diane. 1908. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individual 70 Pretending to be what you are not is a waste of time. "Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess." Sam. Johnson. 1750-2. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Individuality 139 We don't strive for internal perfection but for external appearances. "Not for internal perfection, but for external combinations and arrangements, for institutions, constitutions,--for mechanism of one sort or other, do they hope and struggle." Thomas Carlyle. From Signs of the Times. 1829. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 148 We are skilled in managing external appearances, but are inferior to most ages in true soul and character. "By our skill in mechanism, it has come to pass, that in the management of external things we excel all other ages; while in whatever respects the pure moral nature, in true dignity of soul and character, we are perhaps inferior to most civilized ages." Thomas Carlyle. From Signs of the Times. 1829. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 450 Are we turning into inanimate objects of conformity? "And perhaps the inanimate is beginning the slow process of subduing us again…all the emphasis is placed, not upon that power to resist and rebel which we were once supposed to have, but upon the ‘influences’ which ‘formed us’…in their view, we crystallize in obedience to some dictate from without instead of moving in conformity with something within." Joseph Wood Krutch. “The Colloid and the Crystal.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 451 Our unpredictability defines our humanity. " …insist that the most important thing about a man is not that part of him which is ‘the product of forces’ but that part, however small it may be, which enables him to become something other than what the most accomplished sociologist, working in conjunction with the most accomplished psychologist, could predict that he would be." Joseph Wood Krutch. “The Colloid and the Crystal.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 473 Once our heads are counted, we become part of government schemes to manipulate. "[Poets] know that once heads are counted, each owner of a head loses his personal identity and becomes a number in some government scheme: if not as a slave or serf, at least as a party to the device of majority voting, which smothers personal views." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 473 Once we are counted we become part of cannon fodder. "An ominous count of manpower always precedes its translation into sword or cannon-fodder." Robert Graves. “The Case for Xanthippe [Plato’s shrewish wife].” 1960. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 639 Once we surrender our private wills we become vulnerable to the first messiah who comes along. "For in our insistence on the surrender of private will (“inner-directedness”) to a conception of the human race as some teeming bacteria in the stream of time, unaffected by individual deeds, we have been made vulnerable…to the first Messiah who offers the young and bored some splendid prospect…." Gore Vidal. “Robert Graves and the Twelve Caesars.” 1959. Gross, ed. Essays.
Individuality 319 Don't be afraid to do what you want. Babbitt to his son Ted who has just eloped with Eunice Littlefield: "...I’ve never done a single thing I’ve wanted to in my whole life...don’t know’s I’ve accomplished anything except just get along...figure out I’ve made about a quarter of an inch out of a possible hundred rods...maybe you’ll carry things on further...don’t know...do get a kind of sneaking pleasure out of the fact that you knew what you wanted to do and did it...those folks in there will try to bully you, and tame you down...tell ‘em to go to the devil! I’ll back you; take your factory job...don’t be scared of the family...nor all of Zenith, nor of yourself, the way I’ve been; go ahead, old man...the world is yours!" Lewis, Babbitt.
Individuality 327 Babbitt does not know what true individuality is. Mark Shorer, Afterword: "...but how to cultivate a true individuality George F. Babbitt assuredly does not know, since he has no sense of what it is." Lewis, Babbitt.
Individuality 270 Material goods are symbolic expression of human personality. "This view gravely underestimates the importance of material goods as symbolic expressions of human personality differences." Toffler, Future Shock.
Individuals 52 Most people imitate other people. "[Most people’s] thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." Oscar Wilde. 1905. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Quotes: Ignorance. Illusion. Imagination. Imitation.
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.
Ignorance
Ignorance 265 Two types of ignorance: before knowledge and after. "There is an ABC ignorance which precedes knowledge and a doctoral ignorance that comes after it." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Illusion
Illusion 225 Example of how to manufacture an illusion. "Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there." E. H. Gombrich. 1960. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Illusion 226 Most people live in a world of illusion. " …a world of illusion, almost more potent, in which most men live." Goethe. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Illusion 354 People change from one illusion to another. "Men lived with one kind of illusion and when they lost it they fell into another." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Imagination
Imagination 746 The imagination sets us free from our perceptions of truth and reality. "It is only through the medium of the imagination that we can loosen those iron fetters, which we call truth and reality, and make ourselves even partially sensible what prisoners we are." Hawthorne: “The New Adam and Eve”
Imagination 237 Imagination does not make strange things commonplace, but makes commonplace things strange. "The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange." Chesterton. 1901. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Imagination 237 What was once imagined is now reality. "What is now proved was once only imagined." Blake. 1790-3. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Imagination 555 Imagination fuses disparate beliefs, insights and mental habits. "…the imagination…fuses hitherto isolated beliefs, insights, mental habits, into strongly unified systems." Sir Isaiah Berlin. “Churchill and Roosevelt.” 1949. Gross, ed. Essays.
Imagination 188 Imagination is free to work when there is no concern about occasional error. " …let us not fear occasional error—the imagination is only free when fear of error is temporarily laid aside." Toffler, Future Shock.
Imitation
Imitation 145 The best revenge is not to imitate. "To refrain from imitation is the best revenge." Marcus Aurelius. 2nd century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Ignorance
Ignorance 265 Two types of ignorance: before knowledge and after. "There is an ABC ignorance which precedes knowledge and a doctoral ignorance that comes after it." Montaigne. 1580-8. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Illusion
Illusion 225 Example of how to manufacture an illusion. "Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there." E. H. Gombrich. 1960. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Illusion 226 Most people live in a world of illusion. " …a world of illusion, almost more potent, in which most men live." Goethe. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Illusion 354 People change from one illusion to another. "Men lived with one kind of illusion and when they lost it they fell into another." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.
Imagination
Imagination 746 The imagination sets us free from our perceptions of truth and reality. "It is only through the medium of the imagination that we can loosen those iron fetters, which we call truth and reality, and make ourselves even partially sensible what prisoners we are." Hawthorne: “The New Adam and Eve”
Imagination 237 Imagination does not make strange things commonplace, but makes commonplace things strange. "The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange." Chesterton. 1901. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Imagination 237 What was once imagined is now reality. "What is now proved was once only imagined." Blake. 1790-3. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Imagination 555 Imagination fuses disparate beliefs, insights and mental habits. "…the imagination…fuses hitherto isolated beliefs, insights, mental habits, into strongly unified systems." Sir Isaiah Berlin. “Churchill and Roosevelt.” 1949. Gross, ed. Essays.
Imagination 188 Imagination is free to work when there is no concern about occasional error. " …let us not fear occasional error—the imagination is only free when fear of error is temporarily laid aside." Toffler, Future Shock.
Imitation
Imitation 145 The best revenge is not to imitate. "To refrain from imitation is the best revenge." Marcus Aurelius. 2nd century. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)