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Post by Tamrin on Mar 5, 2014 5:39:32 GMT 10
When a great change is effected in human affairs it brings on by degrees a corresponding change in human conceptions. After the discovery of the Indies and of America, after the invention of printing and the multiplication of books, after the restoration of classic antiquity and the Reformation of Luther, any conception of the world then formed could no longer remain monastic and mystic
A nation like this cannot fail to be prosperous: when man is both just and energetic the rest comes to him as surplus
We study ourselves three weeks, we love each other three months, we squabble three years, we tolerate each other thirty years, and then the children start all over again
The variety of intonations which it acquires evinces in the child great delicacy of impression and of expression ; hence the faculty of forming general ideas. All we do is to aid it in grasping these ideas by suggesting our words
In Germany and in England it is not regarded as disreputable for a well-educated man to rise from the table partially intoxicated; now and then he becomes completely drunk. With us, on the contrary, it is a reproach, in Italy a disgrace, and in Spain, during the last century, the name of drunkard was an insult which a duel could not wholly wipe out, provoking, as it often did, the dagger
The inside of an Englishman's head can be very fairly compared to a Murray's Guide: a great many facts, but few ideas; a great deal of exact and useful information, statistics, figures, reliable and detailed maps, short and dry historical notes, useful and moral tips by way of preface, no all-inclusive vision, and no relish of good writing. It is a collection of good, reliable documents, a convenient body of memoranda to get a man through his journey without help. A Frenchman requires an agreeable shapeliness in every piece of writing and every article about him. The Englishman can be satisfied with utility. A Frenchman enjoys ideas as such and for their own sake; an Englishman regards them as instruments of foresight or mnemonics
The more I study the things of the mind the more mathematical I find them. In them as in mathematics it is a question of quantities; they must be treated with precision. I have never had more satisfaction than in proving this in the realms of art, politics and historyHippolyte Adolphe TaineFrench critic and historian (Died this day 1893) I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 5, 2014 5:40:23 GMT 10
If there is time to reflect, slowing down is likely to be a good idea
Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance
Intelligence is not only the ability to reason; it is also the ability to find relevant material in memory and to deploy attention when needed
A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact
Money does not buy you happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery
We don't see very far in the future, we are very focused on one idea at a time, one problem at a time, and all these are incompatible with rationality as economic theory assumes it
The psychologist, Paul Rozin, an expert on disgust, observed that a single cockroach will completely wreck the appeal of a bowl of cherries, but a cherry will do nothing at all for a bowl of cockroachesDaniel KahnemanIsraeli-American psychologist and economist (Born this day 1934) Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 5, 2014 5:41:07 GMT 10
How shall the soul of a man be larger than the life he has lived?
Immortality is not a gift, immortality is an achievement; And only those who strive mightily shall possess it
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness, But life without meaning is the torture of restlessness and vague desire — It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid
In time you shall see Fate approach you in the shape of your own image in the mirror
Rather a thousand times the county jail than to lie under this marble figure with wings and this granite pedestal bearing the words "pro patria." What do they mean anyway?
Beware of the man who rises to power from one suspender
Those who first oppose a good work, seize it and make it their own, when the cornerstone is laid and memorial tablets are erectedEdgar Lee MastersAmerican poet, biographer, and dramatist (Died this day 1950) It takes life to love life
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 5, 2014 5:42:08 GMT 10
Death solves all problems — no man, no problem
One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic
The only real power comes out of a long rifle
Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed
Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?
Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs
I believe in one thing only, the power of human willJosef StalinSoviet dictator and mass murderer (Died this day 1953 — Good Riddance!) I trust no one, not even myself
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 5, 2014 5:45:25 GMT 10
Whatever you do, don't read the Bible for a moral code: it advocates pre- judice, cruelty, superstition, and murder. Read it because: we need more atheists — and nothin' will get you there faster than readin' the damn Bible
I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less
If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again
Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby
Luck is statistics taken personally
Channeling is just bad ventriloquism. You use another voice, but people can see your lips moving
That's the beauty of the Web: You can roll around in a stranger's obsession with- out having to smell his or her house. You can amscray whenever you want without being rude. The site gets its "hit" and you know more about our species' diversityPenn JilletteAmerican illusionist, juggler and comedian (Penn & Teller) (Born this day 1955) I've always wanted to make the world a more rational place. I'm still working on it
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 6, 2014 8:34:42 GMT 10
Thursday’s Quotes:Genius is eternal patience
Beauty is the purgation of superfluities
Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle
The greatest artist does not have any concept which a single piece of marble does not itself contain within its excess, though only a hand that obeys the intellect can discover it
Why do You Send Fools To judge My Work?
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all
Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplishMichelangeloItalian architect, painter, poet and sculptor (Born this day 1475) Still I learn!
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 6, 2014 8:35:22 GMT 10
Oh, love will make a dog howl in rhyme
Interest makes some people blind, and others quick-sighted
Envy, like the worm, never runs but to the fairest fruit; like a cunning bloodhound, it singles out the fattest deer in the flock
Faith without works is like a bird without wings; though she may hop with her companions on earth, yet she will never fly with them to heaven
There is a method in man's wickedness; it grows up by degrees
It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it
But what is past my help is past my careFrancis BeaumontEnglish dramatist ( The Knight of the Burning Pestle) (Died this day 1616) You are no better than you should be
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 6, 2014 8:37:36 GMT 10
Most men judge only by their senses and let themselves be persuaded by what they see. Just as the man whose boat sails from shore to shore thinks he is stationary and that the shore moves, men turn with the earth under the sky and have believed that the sky was turning above them. On top of that, insufferable vanity has convinced humans that nature has been made only for them, as though the sun, a huge body four hundred and thirty- four times as large as the earth, had been lit only to ripen our crab apples and cabbages
You imagine that what you can't understand is either spiritual or does not exist. The con- clusion is quite wrong; rather there are obviously a million things in the universe that we would need a million quite different organs to understand ... someone blind from birth can- not imagine the beauty of a landscape, the colors of a painting or the shadings of an iris. He will imagine them as something palpable, edible, audible or olfactory. Likewise, if I were to explain to you what I perceive by the senses you do not have, you would interpret it as something that could be heard, seen, touched, smelled or tasted; but it is not like that
Do you say it is incomprehensible that there is nothingness in the world and that we are partly composed of nothing? Well, why not? Is not the whole world enveloped by nothingness? Since you concede that point, admit as well that it is just as easy for the world to have nothingness within as without
You are amazed that matter can form a man when matter is all mixed up at random and so many things go into making a person. But do you not realize that before matter forms someone it has also stopped along the way to make a stone, lead, coral, a flower, or a comet because there was too much or too little of it to make a human being?
A man contains all that is needed to make up a tree; likewise, a tree contains all that is needed to make up a man. Thus, finally, all things meet in all things, but we need a Prometheus to distill it
For all eternity has God not occupied His intellect with the cabbage's birth as well as yours? It also seems that He has necessarily provided more for the birth of the vegetable than for the thinking being... Will anyone say that we are born in the image of the Sovereign Being, while cabbages are not?
Even if a King defeats his enemy in battle, that still doesn't settle anything. There are other, less numerous armies of philosophers and scientists, and their contests determine the true triumph or defeat of nations. One scholar is matched with another; one creative mind with another; and one judicious temperament with his counterpart. A victory won on that field counts for three won by force of arms
Cyrano de Bergerac French dramatist and soldier (Born this day 1619)
Give thought to life and liberty
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 6, 2014 8:38:17 GMT 10
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes
God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame
God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers, and thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face, A gauntlet with a gift in it
Since when was genius found respectable?
And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can
For ‘tis not in mere death that men die mostElizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (Born this day 1806) Light tomorrow with today!
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 6, 2014 8:38:58 GMT 10
Where do they get that stuff about me being a satirist? I just listen
This story is slightly immoral, but so, I guess, are stories based on truth
A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor
No one, ever, wrote anything as well even after one drink as he would have done without it
I've known what it is to be hungry, but I always went right to a restaurant
The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have
They gave each other a smile with a future in itRing LardnerUS sports columnist and short story writer (Born this day 1885) He give her a look that you could of poured on a waffle
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