Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[BenG]

“They’d need no reason!” shouted Arbeely. “Why can’t you understand? Men need no reason to cause mischief, only an excuse!”
― Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

[kennyc]

Some may not be quite so happy.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Some may not be quite so happy.

Indeed...


“In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2:55, when you know that you've had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.”


― Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything

[kennyc]

"In the end, we'll all become stories."

- Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder and Other Stories

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by kennyc

"In the end, we'll all become stories."

- Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder and Other Stories

Very nice.

“Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.”
― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

or

“To survive, you must tell stories.”
― Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before

[AlexBell]

'In front of the lecturer was a large number of students; and on either hand as many as forty or fifty girls. These girls were from a neighbouring school, and from the houses of the farmers and mechanics of the village. The students appeared quite as attentive as if they had had the room to themselves. We found that the admission of girls to such lectures as they could understand (this was on Geology), was a practice of some years' standing; and that no evil had been found to result from it.'

From Retrospect of Western Travel by Harriet Martineau, in the late 1830's

[kennyc]

"I have read many books, but to place all those volumes on top of one another and stand on them would not add a cubit to my stature. Their learned terms are of little use when I attempt to seize naked experience, which eludes all accepted ideas."
- Czeslaw Milosz (born on this date 6/30/1911)

[bfisher]

July 1, 1916 - first day of the Battle of the Somme

“See that little stream — we could walk to it in two minutes. It took the British a month to walk to it — a whole empire walking very slowly, dying in front and pushing forward behind. And another empire walked very slowly backward a few inches a day, leaving the dead like a million bloody rugs. No Europeans will ever do that again in this generation.”
- F.Scott Fitzgerald, Tender Is The Night

Now that that generation has passed, and the following generation that witnessed the bloodlands of Hitler and Stalin, have we forgotten the real lessons of the 20th century? Will our children have to learn them again?

[bfisher]

Elie Wiesel has died.

“For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.”
― Elie Wiesel, Night

[covingtoncat73]

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Complete Fairy Tales
tags: life 879 likes Like

[covingtoncat73]

"“Had he but known that before the day was over he would discover the hidden dimensions of the universe, Kit might have been better prepared. At least, he would have brought an umbrella.”

― Stephen R. Lawhead, The Skin Map

[covingtoncat73]

"I read the news today, oh boy." ~Messers Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Star

[BenG]

“She drove home and grabbed the things she would need to check out a book: strong rope and a grappling hook, a compass, a flare gun, matches and a can of hair spray, a sharpened wooden spear, and, of course, her library card.”

― Joseph Fink, Welcome to Night Vale

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by BenG

“She drove home and grabbed the things she would need to check out a book: strong rope and a grappling hook, a compass, a flare gun, matches and a can of hair spray, a sharpened wooden spear, and, of course, her library card.”

― Joseph Fink, Welcome to Night Vale

[covingtoncat73]

“Hatred is like a long, dark shadow. Not even the person it falls upon knows where it comes from, in most cases. It is like a two-edged sword. When you cut the other person, you cut yourself. The more violently you hack at the other person, the more violently you hack at yourself. It can often be fatal. But it is not easy to dispose of. Please be careful, Mr.Okada. It is very dangerous. Once it has taken root in your heart, hatred is the most difficult thing in the world to shake off.”
― Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle