Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[AlexBell]

There is scarcely any peace so unjust, but it is preferable... to the justest war. Sit down, before you draw the sword... and compute the expense of blood as well as treasure which war requires, and the evils which it of necessity brings with it; and then see at the bottom of the account whether, after the greatest success, there is likely to be a balance in your favour.

From The Complaint of Peace by Erasmus

[Lin2412]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I think you mean Andy Weir is hilarious.....

Yeah, you're right. It's not only Mark Watney's character, I find all the characters from Andy Weir's book entertaining (and smart!) to a great degree.
I still have a lot of laugh out loud moments with The Martian. I really love Andy Weir's sense of humor.

[AlexBell]

"'Do you love me?' they ask, and, 'I will make you happy!' they say; and you get married - and after that it's Housework!"...

..."Can't a woman enjoy her home, just as a man does, without running the shop? I enjoy ocean travel, but I don't want to be either a captain or a common sailor!"

From What Diantha Did, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1909

[Lin2412]

“I was told love should be unconditional. That's the rule, everyone says so. But if love has no boundaries, no limits, no conditions, why should anyone try to do the right thing ever? If I know I am loved no matter what, where is the challenge? I am supposed to love Nick despite all his shortcomings. And Nick is supposed to love me despite my quirks. But clearly, neither of us does. It makes me think that everyone is very wrong, that love should have many conditions. Love should require both partners to be their very best at all times.” - Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

[covingtoncat73]

"When the blind man arrived in the city, he claimed that he had travelled across a desert of living sand."
—Kevin Brockmeier, A Brief History of the Dead

[kennyc]

(makes me think of this)

THE BEDOUINS OF PARIS

"The city of Paris appeared to a band of Bedouins somewhere out in the Sahara. They were searching for a place to pitch their tents for the night when one of them noticed buildings on the horizon. They continued traveling and soon found themselves on a side street in Montparnasse. But they knew better than to trust in illusions. They had heard how their ancestors had come upon the city of Babylon and were honored guests for a dozen years before realizing that even the dancing women were made of sand. It’s a lesson each generation must learn. The desert, like the mind, plays tricks on you. So they traveled the length of the city ignoring the children running beside their camels. The traffic jammed up along the way. The cameramen and the helicopters. When they reached the north side of Paris, it was all desert again. Ask any Bedouin about reality…. He will tell you to ignore everything you see. Believe only in the sand."

- David Shumate from The Floating Bridge

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by kennyc

(makes me think of this)

THE BEDOUINS OF PARIS

"The city of Paris appeared to a band of Bedouins somewhere out in the Sahara. They were searching for a place to pitch their tents for the night when one of them noticed buildings on the horizon. They continued traveling and soon found themselves on a side street in Montparnasse. But they knew better than to trust in illusions. They had heard how their ancestors had come upon the city of Babylon and were honored guests for a dozen years before realizing that even the dancing women were made of sand. It’s a lesson each generation must learn. The desert, like the mind, plays tricks on you. So they traveled the length of the city ignoring the children running beside their camels. The traffic jammed up along the way. The cameramen and the helicopters. When they reached the north side of Paris, it was all desert again. Ask any Bedouin about reality…. He will tell you to ignore everything you see. Believe only in the sand."

- David Shumate from The Floating Bridge

Lovely! I have to look that one up.

[AlexBell]

I... request that you will bear in mind certain established truths... (First): That the actions of human beings are not invariably governed by the laws of pure reason. (Secondly): That we are by no means always in the habit of bestowing our love on the objects which are the most deserving of it...

From The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins 1875

[Lin2412]

“Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are!”
From Jane Eyre By Charlotte Brontë

[covingtoncat73]

...Beautiful though that silent city may be." ~ On a tombstone in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

[covingtoncat73]

[Lin2412]

“One of my greatest lessons has been to fully understand that what looks like a dark patch in the quest for success is the universe pointing you in a new direction. Anything can be a miracle, a blessing, an opportunity if you choose to see it that way.”
― Oprah Winfrey, What I Know For Sure

[AlexBell]

I returned to the sitting room, pondering on a question which has perplexed wiser heads than mine. Could a man who was hopelessly and entirely wicked have inspired such devoted attachment to him as Dexter had inspired in the faithful woman who had just left me? in the rough gardener who had carried him out so gently on the previous night? Who can decide? The greatest scoundrel living always has a friend - in a woman or a dog.

from The Law and the Lady, by Wilkie Collins, 1875

The speaker is Mrs Valeria Macallen, who tells the story. The author is male.

[covingtoncat73]

“Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet.” ~W.B. Yeats, "The Celtic Twilight" (1893, 1902)

[covingtoncat73]

"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." --William Butler Yeats by Alice Boughton

Try being Irish, French Creole, and German, Mr. Yeats.