Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[kennyc]

I am somewhat embarrassed to say I've not read Walden... I must.

[troymc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.....The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
..........— Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American libertarian writer. Walden (1854).

Originally Posted by kennyc

I am somewhat embarrassed to say I've not read Walden... I must.

I am sad to say that quote sometimes defines my life - sometimes I wish I hadn't read Walden. ;-)


Troy

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by troymc

I am sad to say that quote sometimes defines my life - sometimes I wish I hadn't read Walden. ;-)


Troy

Downloaded from Feedbooks and in my e-library.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Downloaded from Feedbooks and in my e-library.

Tedious in places - but overall an interesting read - IMHO.

[poohbear_nc]

You know - every time I see the title of this thread, my brain insists on changing the end to "profound lies"
Freudian slip, eh?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

You know - every time I see the title of this thread, my brain insists on changing the end to "profound lies"
Freudian slip, eh?

Which brings to mind:

Lies, Damed Lies and Statistics!
- (possibly) Benjamin Disraeli - Popularized by Mark Twain

[wayspooled]

Quotes from Dorothy Dunnett's The Lymond Chronicles

From The Disorderly Knights, Francis Crawford, visiting Kate Sommerville unexpectedly at Flaw Valleys while she is bottling raspberries and has stains on her gown:

“Kate, my dear? Haven’t your raspberries been marvellous this year? Come and be licked; I haven’t dined yet.”



And at the end of that same scene, in Kate’s head in response to the exhausted Lymond’s request for somewhere to sleep:

“My dear, my dear, I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with.”



Opening lines to a couple of Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles books:

“On the day that his grannie was killed by the English, Sir William Scott the Younger of Buccleuch was at Melrose Abbey, marrying his aunt.” (From Disorderly Knights)

Not to every young girl is it given to enter the harem of the Sultan of Turkey and return to her homeland a virgin.” (From Ringed Castle)



From Queens’ Play, this captures the intended idea perfectly:

“Quarrelling with the Prince of Barrow was like fighting a curtain.”

[WT Sharpe]

I've used this quote before in MobileRead Forums, but have never posted it to this thread. It explains so much about U.S. politics and, I suspect, folks in other countries may be able to relate as well.

....."Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?"
..........— Said by the "king" to the "duke" in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), by Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910)], Chapter XXVI.

[kennyc]

.

[poohbear_nc]

“Quarrelling with the Prince of Barrow was like fighting a curtain.”

Wonderful mental image from this one!
Very Zen-like (substitute water for curtain).

[kennyc]

What, Chicken-Zen? Wow! Now there's an idea....Hmmm.....

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by wayspooled

Quotes from Dorothy Dunnett's The Lymond Chronicles

From Queens’ Play, this captures the intended idea perfectly:

“Quarrelling with the Prince of Barrow was like fighting a curtain.”

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Wonderful mental image from this one!
Very Zen-like (substitute water for curtain).

That was good.

[WT Sharpe]

.....Famously, she [Ellen DeGeneres] hosted the Emmy Awards ceremony several months after the 9/11 attacks and told the enthusiastic audience:
........"We’re told to go on living our lives as usual, because to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and really, what would upset the Taliban more than a gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?"
..........— Michael Kantor and Laurence. Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America (2008), based on the PBS series of the same name.

[koffkoff]

"For the moment, the jazz is playing; there is no melody, just notes, a myriad of tiny tremors. The notes know no rest, an inflexible order gives birth to them then destroys them, without ever leaving them the chance to recuperate and exist for themselves.... I would like to hold them back, but I know that, if I succeeded in stopping one, there would only remain in my hand a corrupt and languishing sound. I must accept their death; I must even want that death: I know of few more bitter or intense impressions."

- Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea, 1938)

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by koffkoff

"For the moment, the jazz is playing; there is no melody, just notes, a myriad of tiny tremors. The notes know no rest, an inflexible order gives birth to them then destroys them, without ever leaving them the chance to recuperate and exist for themselves.... I would like to hold them back, but I know that, if I succeeded in stopping one, there would only remain in my hand a corrupt and languishing sound. I must accept their death; I must even want that death: I know of few more bitter or intense impressions."

- Jean-Paul Sartre (Nausea, 1938)

Vivid! I've never read Sartre - but if the writing is this grand I may have to! Which English translation is this taken from koffkoff?

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