Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[WT Sharpe]

.....Go, go, go, said the bird; human kind
.....Cannot bear very much reality.
..........— T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), American-born British poet, critic, and dramatist. "Burnt Norton" (1936), quoted in T.S. Eliot: The Critical Heritage, Volume 2, Edited by Michael Grant (First published in 1982, Reprinted in 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE & 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001).

[WT Sharpe]

.....The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men.
..........— Alice [Malsenior] Walker (1944 - ), African-American author, 1983 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Foreword to The Dreaded Comparison: Animal Slavery and Human Slavery (1996) by Marjorie Spiegel, page 14.

[BenG]

"He's a good boy, he takes instruction well; I just can't think of enough things to tell him not to do."

— Ferrol Sams, Run With the Horsemen

[TenaciousBadger]

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is becoming something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

said.... Who do you think?

Spoiler:

Einstein of course

[WT Sharpe]

.....I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.
..........— Nora Ephron (1941 - ), American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. "Barney Collier's Book," Esquire (January 1976).

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.....I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.
..........— Nora Ephron (1941 - ), American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. "Barney Collier's Book," Esquire (January 1976).

Where there's an overcrowding of intelligence, the world is grayer and grayer, which is both good or, as in the above case, bad.

[TenaciousBadger]

Two quotes and two (opposite?) views on love:

I have loved to the point of madness;
That which is called madness,
That which to me, is the only sensible way to love.

--Françoise Sagan

and

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

--William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

[Falcao]

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nature.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.....I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.
..........— Nora Ephron (1941 - ), American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. "Barney Collier's Book," Esquire (January 1976).

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

Where there's an overcrowding of intelligence, the world is grayer and grayer, which is both good or, as in the above case, bad.

Speaking of gray, here's another quote from Mr. Sunshine himself:

.....As a rule, a man is sociable just in the degree in which he is intellectually poor and generally vulgar.
..........— Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher. "Wisdom of Life," Chapter II: "Personality, or What a Man Is," from The Wisdom of Life: and Other Essays by Arthur Schopenhauer, translated by Bailey Saunders and Ernest Belfort Bax (M. Walther Dunne, 1901), p. 20.

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.....As a rule, a man is sociable just in the degree in which he is intellectually poor and generally vulgar.
..........— Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher. "Wisdom of Life," Chapter II: "Personality, or What a Man Is," from The Wisdom of Life: and Other Essays by Arthur Schopenhauer, translated by Bailey Saunders and Ernest Belfort Bax (M. Walther Dunne, 1901), p. 20.

While I agree with Mr. Sunshine's idea that what one is influences our happiness rather than what one has. I will have to disagree with the manner in which he phrases the thought above. Intelligence does not preclude sociability, and, as we all know, neither does the lack of intelligence.
I'd say Schopenhauer suffers from the "ivory tower" syndrome. Very close to being offensive , especially considering the rest of his quote.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
--Kurt Vonnegut

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

While I agree with Mr. Sunshine's idea that what one is influences our happiness rather than what one has. I will have to disagree with the manner in which he phrases the thought above. Intelligence does not preclude sociability, and, as we all know, neither does the lack of intelligence.
I'd say Schopenhauer suffers from the "ivory tower" syndrome. Very close to being offensive , especially considering the rest of his quote.

Yes, the rest of that passage is extremely offensive, which is why I didn't post it. Personally I look at it as his being a product of his times.

I like Schopenhauer, and there are times when I find his unremitting pessimism refreshing. I don't agree with his outlook on life, but as I've mentioned elsewhere, those times when you're so down that you feel you'd like to smack the next person who demands you "have a nice day", Schopenhauer's dismal view of life can seem like a breath of fresh air. Perhaps in such times it's a case of misery loves company.

But I agree with you: Intelligence does not preclude sociability. Some of the most intelligent are also among the most gregarious, while some of the least intellectually gifted are among those who shun human companionship. There may be some kind of statistical correlation one way or the other overall (I have no idea), but it's certain that there's no hard and fast rule of the kind Schopenhauer seems to commend.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

... But I agree with you: Intelligence does not preclude sociability. Some of the most intelligent are also among the most gregarious, while some of the least intellectually gifted are among those who shun human companionship. There may be some kind of statistical correlation one way or the other overall (I have no idea), but it's certain that there's no hard and fast rule of the kind Schopenhauer seems to commend.

Also, people who are intelligent are not necessarily well educated. Many people who are intelligent and gregarious, are poorly educated. Even those who are urbane and witty, are sometimes poorly educated. Frequently, intelligent people aren't offered the educational opportunities that others enjoy. Indeed, it would be interesting to know if there is any kind of scientific evidence, but the idea sounds to me a bit like phrenology.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

Also, people who are intelligent are not necessarily well educated. Many people who are intelligent and gregarious, are poorly educated. Even those who are urbane and witty, are sometimes poorly educated. Frequently, intelligent people aren't offered the educational opportunities that others enjoy. Indeed, it would be interesting to know if there is any kind of scientific evidence, but the idea sounds to me a bit like phrenology.

I think it sounds like the embittered musings of an unhappy member of one of the privileged classes who never got invited to many parties. He seems to have been extremely jealous of the much more popular Hegel.

[WT Sharpe]

....."En ma Fin gît mon Commencement."
....."In my end is my beginning."
..........— Mary, Queen of Scots (born Mary Stewart; 1542–1587), Queen regnant of Scotland from December 14, 1542 to July 24, 1567. Embroidered on her cloth of estate while in protective custody in Workington, England.


.....In my beginning is my end.
..........— T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), American-born British poet, critic, and dramatist. Four Quartets, Quartet 2: "East Coker", pt. 1, opening line (published as a collection in 1943).

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I think it sounds like the embittered musings of an unhappy member of one of the privileged classes who never got invited to many parties. He seems to have been extremely jealous of the much more popular Hegel.

To me he sounds like someone self-diagnosing and concluding his way is the right one.

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

-- Ernest Hemingway