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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:33:35 GMT 10
A single breaker may recede; but the tide is coming in
The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out
More sinners are cursed at not because we despise their sins but because we envy their success at sinning
I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read
A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favored and cherished
We must judge of a form of government by it's general tendency, not by happy accidents
Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mindThomas Babington Macaulay, English essayist and historian (Died this day 1859) I shall retire early; I am very tired(Last words)
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:35:40 GMT 10
Every body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, except insofar as it doesn't
If your theory is found to be against the second law of theromodynamics, I give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation
It is also a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in the observational results that are put forward until they are confirmed by theory
We often think that when we have completed our study of one we know all about two, because "two" is "one and one." We forget that we still have to make a study of "and"
It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset
It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them
Who will observe the observers?Sir Arthur EddingtonEnglish astrophysicist, cosmologist and mathematician (Born this day 1882) Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate. One thing at least is certain, light has weight. One thing is certain and the rest debate. Light rays, when near the Sun, do not go straight
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:37:00 GMT 10
One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth- century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian
I find the selectivity of erotic love —the choice of this man or this woman — much more intelligible if liking the person is the origin of sexual interest, rather than the other way
I wonder if most people ever ask themselves why love is connected with reproduction. And if they do ask them- selves about this, I wonder what answer they give
One of the aims of sexual union is procreation — the creation by reproduction of an image of itself, of the union
Love wishes to perpetuate itself. Love wishes for immortality
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men
The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mindMortimer Adler, US philosopher, educator and author (Born this day 1902) Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:38:39 GMT 10
Persistent prophecy is a familiar way of assuring the event
It is because nations tend towards stupidity and baseness that mankind moves so slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all
It is the mind which creates the world around us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched
For the man sound of body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every day has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously
Money is time. With money I buy for cheerful use the hours which otherwise would not in any sense be mine; nay, which would make me their miserable bondsman
That is one of the bitter curses of poverty; it leaves no right to be generous
Flippancy, the most hopeless form of intellectual viceGeorge Gissing, English realist novelist (Died this day 1903) Have the courage of your desire
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:43:03 GMT 10
I think that it is a relatively good approximation to truth — which is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations — that mathematical ideas originate in empirics
The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work
A large part of mathematics which becomes useful developed with absolutely no desire to be useful, and in a situation where nobody could possibly know in what area it would become useful; and there were no general indications that it ever would be so
The calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to over- estimate its importance. I think it defines more unequivocally than anything else the inception of modern mathematics; and the system of mathematical analysis, which is its logical development, still constitutes the greatest technical advance in exact thinking
If one has really technically penetrated a subject, things that previously seemed in complete contrast, might be purely mathematical transformations of each other
Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin
Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to themJohn von NeumannHungarian-German-American mathematician and computer scientist (Game Theory) (Born this day 1903) There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:45:46 GMT 10
FIRST OF ALL, we think the world must be changed
Art need no longer be an account of past sensations. It can become the direct organization of more highly evolved sensations. It is a question of producing ourselves, not things that enslave us
In a society where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation
Young people everywhere have been allowed to choose between love and a garbage disposal unit. Everywhere they have chosen the garbage disposal unit
Tourism, human circulation considered as consumption... is fundamentally nothing more than the leisure of going to see what has become banal
With the destruction of history, contemporary events themselves retreat into a remote and fabulous realm of unverifiable stories, uncheckable statistics, unlikely explanations and untenable reasoning
The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to existGuy DebordFrench situationist philosopher (Born this day 1931) Everyone accepts that there are inevitably little areas of secrecy reserved for specialists; as regards things in general, many believe they are in on the secret
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:47:50 GMT 10
As a rule, one should never place form over content
I am very interested in what has been called bad taste. I believe the fear of displaying a soi-disant bad taste stops us from venturing into special cultural zones
What's better, a poetic intuition or an intellectual work? I think they complement each other
I allow my intuition to lead my path
What better model of a synthesis than a nocturnal dream? Dreams simplify, don't they?
It's essential not to have an ideology, not to be a member of a political party. While the writer can have certain political views, he has to be careful not to have his hands tied
I don't think humor is forced upon my universe; it's a part of itManuel PuigArgentine author (Kiss of the Spider Woman) (Born this day 1932) I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:49:05 GMT 10
Too many moralists begin with a dislike of reality
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided
We talk of our mastery of nature, which sounds very grand; but the fact is we respectfully adapt ourselves, first, to her ways
Ants are good citizens, they place group interests first
The ant is knowing and wise, but he doesn't know enough to take a vacation
There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing
If you don't go to other men's funerals they won't go to yoursClarence Day, US author (Life with Father) (Died this day 1935) Reason is the servant of instinct
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 28, 2011 7:51:17 GMT 10
Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason
The most futile thing in this world is any attempt, perhaps, at exact definition of character. All individuals are a bundle of contradictions — none more so than the most capable
If I were personally to define religion I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstance
Assure a man that he has a soul and then frighten him with old wives' tales as to what is to become of him afterward, and you have hooked a fish, a mental slave
The conventional mind is at best a petty piece of machinery. It is oyster-like in its functioning, or, perhaps better, clam-like. It has its little siphon of thought- processes forced up or down into the mighty ocean of fact and circumstance; but it uses so little, pumps so faintly, that the immediate contiguity of the vast mass is not disturbed. Nothing of the subtlety of life is perceived. Not least inkling of its storms or terrors is ever discovered except through accident
Let no one underestimate the need of pity. We live in a stony universe whose hard, brilliant forces rage fiercely
I believe in the compelling power of love. I do not understand it. I believe it to be the most fragrant blossom of all this thorny existenceTheodore Dreiser, US novelist and journalist (Died this day 1945) Shakespeare, I come!(Dreiser’s intended last words - per H. L. Mencken "When Dreiser wrote that he had already framed his last words — 'Shakespeare, I come!' — and asked Mencken what his would be, Mencken replied acidly, ' I regret that I have but one rectum to leave to my country.'")
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Post by Smithee on Dec 28, 2011 13:48:33 GMT 10
The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth Pierre BayleFrench theologian (Died this day 1706) Apply reason.
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