Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

As addresses go; 'Birmingham, England' is a pretty poor effort - Birmingham is a big place, and that is just way too vague.

No worse than Lincoln's Gettysburg address.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

As addresses go; 'Birmingham, England' is a pretty poor effort - Birmingham is a big place, and that is just way too vague.

I can't say, as I've never read the entire address. Perhaps the entire speech was a poor effort, but I thought the line was a good one, and certainly a true one. For all I know it may indeed have been a pearl in a dung heap, but that pearl conveys a timeless truth. Only the brain-dead never reconsider their opinions.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by BenG

No worse than Lincoln's Gettysburg address.

Now that I have read, and it's a masterpiece of oratory. Lincoln managed to convey a wealth of meaning and metaphor with those few words. It's one of the greatest speeches ever. About the only part that doesn't ring true are the words, The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here."

[WT Sharpe]

Signing off to read the Lowell's "On Democracy" speech; then it's off to bed. Will return later fully armed.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Now that I have read, and it's a masterpiece of oratory. Lincoln managed to convey a wealth of meaning and metaphor with those few words. It's one of the greatest speeches ever. About the only part that doesn't ring true are the words, The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here."

I think those words as well enhanced it's meaning and relevance.

[poohbear_nc]

"When my cats are not happy, I'm not happy.
They're just sitting there thinking of ways to get even."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

[kennyc]

Love it!

[Angst]

"And the men who spurred us on
sit in judgment of all wrong
they decide and the shotgun sings the song"

One of my favorite sites contains the best speeches of the 20th century. I love to listen to them at work.

[kennyc]

Pete Townsend is great eh!

[BenG]

"Make new friends
But keep the old.
One is silver,
The other gold."

I'm not sure who said it first.

[WT Sharpe]

I read the entire 1884 Birmingham speech ("On Democracy") by James Russell Lowell last night and discovered something remarkable: the quotation ("The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.") wasn't in there! Being as how I had typed it by hand into a Word document in the days before OCR scanners were commonplace, I returned to my source to see if I had mistyped, but no, I hadn't. It's sourced to that speech in The Great Thoughts by George Seldes (1985, Introduction and a new compilation © 1996 by David Laskin). George Seldes died on July 2, 1995, and the updated version with a new compilation by David Laskin wasn't released until May 21, 1996, so thinking that his heir to the throne may have not been as meticulous in his research as Seldes, I got out my copy of the older Seldes book, The Great Quotations (1961), for comparison; and in this one he credits the quote correctly to Lowell's book My Study Windows (1871). This was confirmed by a quick peek at the Google Book version which revealed the quote to be present on page 166 of that work.

Sorry folks. I trusted a secondary source, and that source was incorrect. I have changed the original post accordingly.

Right author, wrong source.

This is how the quote should have been posted:

.....The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.
..........— James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, critic, diplomat. My Study Windows (1871), "Abraham Lincoln," pg. 166.

[WT Sharpe]

.....As loue knoweth no lawes, fo it regardeth no conditions: as the louer maketh no pawfe where he lyketh, fo he maketh no confcience of thefe idle ceremonies.
..........— John Lyly (1553-1606), English writer. Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1579). Translating the archaic words to more current English yields: As love knows no laws, for it regards no conditions: as the lover makes no pause where he likes, for he makes no conscience of these idle ceremonies.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

"When my cats are not happy, I'm not happy.
They're just sitting there thinking of ways to get even."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Is that really a P. B. Shelley quote - "ways to get even" sounds too modern to me.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

As addresses go; 'Birmingham, England' is a pretty poor effort - Birmingham is a big place, and that is just way too vague.

I liked the speech much more than you did. It took some unnecessary jabs at Europeans in my opinion, but I thought it to be a great speech nonetheless, even if it didn't include the phrase, "The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion."

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I liked the speech much more than you did.

Um, I haven't read it - I was attempting a pun on different meanings of 'address' .
(Pretending "Birmingham, England" was a postal address, rather than the location for a spoken one.) Sorry.