Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

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

If he wrote it towards the end of his life, then that would figure. Elderly people often try to justify their actions and philosophy of life, to themselves and their critics. For example, think of books written by politicians who have retired from the fray.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

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

There is a very longstanding tradition in support of that view:

.....For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.
..........— Ecclesiastes 1:18, Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Personally, I don't believe that one's necessarily true either.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

There is a very longstanding tradition in support of that view:

.....For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.
..........— Ecclesiastes 1:18, Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Personally, I don't believe that one's necessarily true either.

Its not hard to see how the theory works though. I suppose it depends on the type of "wisdom" or "intelligence" you are talking about. Some people can know everything there is to know about, say, stamps, and be perfectly happy in that little world. On the other hand, someone can know all there is to know about AIDS in Africa (a cause close to my heart as I lived there for a time), and the more one knows about it, the more saddened one may become. All a matter of perspective.

Like perspectives, which, rightly gazed upon,
Shew nothing but confusion—eyed awry,
Distinguish form.
Shakespeare.—King Richard II., Act II. Scene 2.

[boxcorner]

Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country.

David Hilbert - German mathematician (1862-1943)

[WT Sharpe]

.....Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.
..........— Stephen Decatur, Jr. (1779-1820), American naval officer, national war hero. Dinner Toast in Norfolk, Virginia (April 1816).


.....I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. Fiat justitia, pereat coelum. My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.
..........— John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), son of John and Abigail Adams, lawyer, diplomat, politician, and sixth President of the United States. Letter to John Adams (1 August 1816). "Fiat justitia, pereat coelum" (literally "Be instituted justice, heaven be destroyed") can be translated from the Latin as: "Let justice be done though heaven should perish".


..... The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, "My country, right or wrong." In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.
..........— Carl Schurz (1829-1906), American journalist, statesman. Address to the Anti-Imperialistic Conference, Chicago (October 17, 1899).


.....Citizenship? We have none! In place of it we teach patriotism which Samuel Johnson said a hundred and forty or a hundred and fifty years ago was the last refuge of the scoundrel—and I believe that he was right. I remember when I was a boy and I heard repeated time and time again the phrase, "My country, right or wrong, my country!" How absolutely absurd is such an idea. How absolutely absurd to teach this idea to the youth of the country.
..........— Mark Twain [penname of Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910), American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer. "True Citizenship at the Children's Theater" (speech, 1907).

[TenaciousBadger]

All secrets are deep. All secrets become dark. That's in the nature of secrets.

—Cory Doctorow

[Avedoir]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

—Cory Doctorow

I know it's slightly OT, but wasn't this used in Criminal Minds?

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by Avedoir

I know it's slightly OT, but wasn't this used in Criminal Minds?

yep! i have been found out
i find their quotes fascinating.
here's another quote not included in the show but from a British writer quoted in CM.

The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.

-- G. K. Chesterton

[WT Sharpe]

This quotation may not be particularly notable or profound, but you might say it's food for thought:

.....I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner.
..........— Hannibal Lecter (fictional character). From The Silence of the Lambs, a 1991 film based on the novel by Thomas Harris. Screenplay by Thomas Harris (1940 - ) and Ted Tally (1952 - ); spoken by Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.

[kennyc]

you're a sick man Tom.

[WT Sharpe]

Took you long enough to figure that out!

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

This quotation may not be particularly notable or profound, but you might say it's food for thought:

.....I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner.
..........— Hannibal Lecter (fictional character). From The Silence of the Lambs, a 1991 film based on the novel by Thomas Harris. Screenplay by Thomas Harris (1940 - ) and Ted Tally (1952 - ); spoken by Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.

I'm sure that's what the Islanders said when they saw Captain Cook ....

[BenG]

"If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas schoolchildren”

-Variations of this has been attributed to just about everyone, but most frequently to "Ma" Fergusan, former governor of Texas.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by BenG

"If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas schoolchildren”

-Variations of this has been attributed to just about everyone, but most frequently to "Ma" Fergusan, former governor of Texas.

This reminds me of those old John Wayne movies I used to watch with my father, where the Indians (they weren't Native Americans then) spoke French. Of course, John Wayne spoke French too, but somehow that felt just right.

Then I went to Germany for exchanges, and the Indians spoke German there.

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

This reminds me of those old John Wayne movies I used to watch with my father, where the Indians (they weren't Native Americans then) spoke French. Of course, John Wayne spoke French too, but somehow that felt just right.

Then I went to Germany for exchanges, and the Indians spoke German there.

how about all those aliens speaking english?