Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[BenG]

Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth

it’s no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners

the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn’t need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water

I wouldn’t want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days

--Animals, Frank O‘Hara (1950)

[WT Sharpe]

.....Man defends himself as much as he can against truth, as a child does against a medicine, as the man of the Platonic cave did against the light. He does not willingly follow his path, but has to be dragged along backward.
.....The natural liking for the false has several causes: the inheritance of prejudices, which produces an unconscious habit, a slavery; the predominance of the imagination over reason, which affects the understanding; the predominance of the passions over the conscience, which depraves the heart; the predominance of the will over the intelligence, which vitiates the character.
.....A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism and doubt.
.....Truth is not only violated by falsehood, it may be outraged by silence.
..........— Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881), Swiss philosopher. The Private Journal of Henri Frédéric Amiel, December 17, 1856. Quoted in George Seldes, One Thousand Americans (New York: Boni & Gaer, 1948), page vi.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism and doubt.

Nice quote (all of it). I've always found it a bit strange that reflection and criticism usually seem to increase doubt rather than reduce it. It makes me wonder why any of us bother with it at all.

[poohbear_nc]

"Remember: the past won't fit into memory without something left over;
it must have a future."

Joseph Brodsky

[Billi]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I've always found it a bit strange that reflection and criticism usually seem to increase doubt rather than reduce it.

That sounds like a good quote/profound line/proverb, too!

[Bryan790]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Nice quote (all of it). I've always found it a bit strange that reflection and criticism usually seem to increase doubt rather than reduce it. It makes me wonder why any of us bother with it at all.

Similarly, the leader who can develop a plan for the future and convey it will reduce doubt and criticism, although it will never be eliminated.

[Badandy]

I've always liked the opening to War of the Worlds even if it's not one of my all-time favorites:

"that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same."

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Badandy

I've always liked the opening to War of the Worlds even if it's not one of my all-time favorites: [..]

And years of listening to the Jeff Wayne musical version always has me hearing these words in Richard Burton's voice ... I love the way he narrates on these CDs.

[WT Sharpe]

.....These decrees of yours are no different from spiders' webs. They'll restrain anyone weak and insignificant who gets caught in them, but they'll be torn to shreds by people with power and wealth.
..........— Anacharsis (flourished circa 600 B.C.E.), Scythian philosopher and traveler. To Solon, concerning the latter's laws, as recounted by Plutarch in Greek Lives (1998 translation by Robin Waterfield). More widely quoted as "Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will like them only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them," but I could not discover that translator's name.

[kennyc]

"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people."
-- George Bernard Shaw

(This was a favorite quote of Michael S Hart founder of Project Gutenberg - who died this week) http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Michael_S._Hart

[Billi]

Unfortunately true!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Billi

Unfortunately true!

Good then, Let's all be unreasonable.

[kennyc]

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.
- Mahatma Gandhi

(Goodreads quote of the day today)

[astrangerhere]

A bit long, but well worth it today.

I AM THE PEOPLE, THE MOB
By Carl Sandburg

I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass.

Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?

I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world’s food and clothes.

I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons come from me and the Lincolns. They die. And then I send forth more Napoleons and Lincolns.

I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me. I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted. I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and makes me work and give up what I have. And I forget.

Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history to remember. Then—I forget.

When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer forget who robbed me last year, who played me for a fool—then there will be no speaker in all the world say the name: “The People,” with any fleck of a sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision.

The mob—the crowd—the mass—will arrive then.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

A bit long, but well worth it today.

I love Sandburg! Thank you.

Particularly "Grass" (which is in this same vein) and Fog:

FOG

by: Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.