Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[poohbear_nc]

"What a dream! That day was like a string of verses -- rhymed hours."

(A Passionate Pilgrim - Henry James)

[Stitchawl]

"I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture,
but I had not made it worth anyone's while to buy them.
Yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them,
and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets,
I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them."

Thoreau


Stitchawl

[Falcao]

LXXXI: Then, after several victims had been slain, and he [Caesar] could not get favorable omens, he entered the Senate in defiance of portents, laughing at Spurinna and calling him a false prophet, because the Ides of March were come without bringing him harm; though Spurinna replied that they had of a truth come, but they had not gone.

LXXXII: And in this wise he was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke, though some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said in Greek, 'You too, my child?"

LXXXVIII: He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was numbered among the gods, not only by a formal decree, but also in the conviction of the common people. For at the first of the games which his heir Augustus gave in honor of his apotheosis, a comet shone for seven successive days, rising about the eleventh hour [about an hour before sunset] and was believed to be the soul of Caesar, who had been taken to heaven; and this is why a star is set upon the crown of his head in his statue. It was voted that the curia in which he was slain be walled up, that the Ides of March be called the Day of Parricide, and that a meeting of the senate should never be called on that day.
--- De Vita Caesarum, Divus Iulius (The Lives of the Caesars, The Divine Julius) by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

[poohbear_nc]

We say a countenance is 'lit up' by a smile; and indeed that momentary flicker does the office of a candle in a dark room. It sheds a ray upon the dim upholstery of our souls.
(Henry James -- A Tragedy of Errors)

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Falcao

LXXXI: Then, after several victims had been slain, and he [Caesar] could not get favorable omens, he entered the Senate in defiance of portents, laughing at Spurinna and calling him a false prophet, because the Ides of March were come without bringing him harm; though Spurinna replied that they had of a truth come, but they had not gone.

LXXXII: And in this wise he was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke, though some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said in Greek, 'You too, my child?"

LXXXVIII: He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was numbered among the gods, not only by a formal decree, but also in the conviction of the common people. For at the first of the games which his heir Augustus gave in honor of his apotheosis, a comet shone for seven successive days, rising about the eleventh hour [about an hour before sunset] and was believed to be the soul of Caesar, who had been taken to heaven; and this is why a star is set upon the crown of his head in his statue. It was voted that the curia in which he was slain be walled up, that the Ides of March be called the Day of Parricide, and that a meeting of the senate should never be called on that day.
--- De Vita Caesarum, Divus Iulius (The Lives of the Caesars, The Divine Julius) by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

Caesar was stabbed in the Forum. Also in the chest, the neck, the abdomen....


Sorry! I'll be exiting now, stage right.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Caesar was stabbed in the Forum. Also in the chest, the neck, the abdomen....


Sorry! I'll be exiting now, stage right.

Carpe Jugulum.



Stitchawl

[WT Sharpe]

.....In every age 'the good old days' were a myth. No one ever thought they were good at the time. For every age has consisted of crises that seemed intolerable to the people who lived through them.
..........— Brooks Atkinson (1894-1984), American journalist. Once Around the Sun (1951).

[WT Sharpe]

..... A life spent in constant labor is a life wasted, save a man be such a fool as to regard a fulsome obituary notice as ample reward. Show me a man who, as the phrase goes, works himself to death and I'll show you an unimaginative dolt. There is a lot of amusement in this world and a man should get his full share of it.
..........— George Jean Nathan (1882 –1958), American drama critic, editor. Testament of a Critic (Published by Alfred A Knopf in New York, 1931). Also found in Living Philosophies Chapter XV: George Jean Nathan, page 226 (Published by Simon and Schuster in New York, 1931).

[WT Sharpe]

...Some thirty inches from my nose
…...The frontier of my Person goes,
...And all the untilled air between
…...Is private paqus or demesne.
...Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes
…...I beckon you to fraternize,
...Beware of rudely crossing it:
…...I have no gun, but I can spit.
..........— W. H. Auden (1907-1973), British-born poet and critic, in America resident from 1939 onward. "Some Thirty Inches from My Nose" from As I Walked Out One Evening (1940; 1st Vintage edition August 8, 1995).

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

"I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture,
but I had not made it worth anyone's while to buy them.
Yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them,
and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets,
I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them."

Thoreau




Stitchawl

[WT Sharpe]

.....Even logical positivists are capable of love.
..........— A. J. Ayer (1910-1989), English philosopher. Quoted in Kenneth Tynan, Profiles (1989). Sam Leith, in his review of the theatrical play Jumpers by Sir Tom Stoppard, says that Ayers' remark was written by Ayers in 1972 in response to the lead character "George", who is considered to have been modeled on Ayers. That review was published in the Telegraph on 8 November 2003 under the title, "I'm not clever enough".


.....Ayers' fistic encounter was with Mike Tyson. When Tyson was harassing a woman in a New York nightclub, the audacious Ayer intervened. Tyson yelled: "Do you know who the fuck I am? I'm the heavyweight champion of the world."
.....Ayer replied: "And I am the former Wykeham professor of logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field." Can one imagine any of the etiolated and desiccated spirits of Oxford - Isaiah Berlin, say - getting involved in such a fracas? It is that kind of thing that makes one respond warmly to Ayer, and is one of many outstanding anecdotes that enliven Rogers' excellent book, masterly in its exposition of the philosophy as much as in its analysis of the life.
..........— From Frank McLynn's review of Ben Rogers' biography of A.J. Ayers, A J Ayer: A Life (Chatto & Windus; illustrated edition edition, 10 Jun 1999) entitled "Fond, foolish Freddie" (New Statesman, 28 June 1999).

[Stitchawl]

The first retainer he gave to her
was a golden wedding ring.

The second—late at night
he woke up, leaned over on an elbow,
and kissed her.

The third and the last—
he died with and gave up loving
and lived with her.

Robert Creeley, “A Marriage”

Stitchawl

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

The first retainer he gave to her
was a golden wedding ring.

The second—late at night
he woke up, leaned over on an elbow,
and kissed her.

The third and the last—
he died with and gave up loving
and lived with her.

Robert Creeley, “A Marriage”

Stitchawl

Wow.

[WT Sharpe]

.....It is our judgment that the war on drugs has failed, that it is diverting
intelligent energy away from how to deal with the problem of addiction, that
it is wasting our resources and that it is encouraging civil, judicial and
penal procedures associated with police states.
..........— National Review editors, Feb. 12, 1996.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.....It is our judgment that the war on drugs has failed, that it is diverting
intelligent energy away from how to deal with the problem of addiction, that
it is wasting our resources and that it is encouraging civil, judicial and
penal procedures associated with police states.
..........— National Review editors, Feb. 12, 1996.

And what has happened in the 15 years since....hmmm.....