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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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