Notable quotes, excerpts, and profound lines.

[WT Sharpe]

.....What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?
..........— Isak Dinesen [Karen Blixen] (1885-1962), Danish writer of novels and short-stories. Seven Gothic Tales (1934), "The Dreamers."

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.....What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?
..........— Isak Dinesen [Karen Blixen] (1885-1962), Danish writer of novels and short-stories. Seven Gothic Tales (1934), "The Dreamers."

[astrangerhere]

"I suppose you'll see her. You'll be disappointed at first. Then, without being able to say how or when it happened, you'll find you've forgotten your disappointment, and the first thing you know you'll be telling her your life's history, and all your troubles and hopes...and then you're caught, absolutely caught."

-Dashiell Hammett Red Harvest (1929, first Sam Spade novel)

[WT Sharpe]

.....Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth—more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet it bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
.....But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back—fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be. 'Should the working man think freely about property? Then what will become of us, the rich? Should young men and young women think freely about sex? Then what will become of morality? Should soldiers think freely about war? Then what will become of military discipline? Away with thought! Back into the shades of prejudice, lest property, morals, and war should be endangered! Better men should be stupid, slothful, and oppressive than that their thoughts should be free. For if their thoughts were free they might not think as we do. And at all costs this disaster must be averted.' So the opponents of thought argue in the unconscious depths of their souls. And so they act in their churches, their schools, and their universities.
..........— Bertrand Russell (Lord Russell) (1872-1970), British mathematician, philosopher. The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959, Robert E. Egner, and Lester E. Denonn, editors (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961), PART X: The Philosopher of Education, chapter 45: "EDUCATION", page 411.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Men fear thought ... Bertrand Russell

Thanks for this post.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

Thanks for this post.

You're welcome!

[fruiter]

Someone I once knew wrote: "No man is an island, but I am no man". She clearly took the Donne reference and added a really interesting twist to this quote.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by fruiter

Someone I once knew wrote: "No man is an island, but I am no man". She clearly took the Donne reference and added a really interesting twist to this quote.

So the conclusion is that Women are Islands...like in the Paul Simon song?
and so Paul is a woman?

[fruiter]

Originally Posted by kennyc

So the conclusion is that Women are Islands...like in the Paul Simon song?
and so Paul is a woman?

I didn't think about that! It makes sense

It was very contextualized, I think - it was about, uh, aliens and men and a couple of sci-fi tv shows and book series she was really into.

[TenaciousBadger]

I can resist everything....

....except temptation

Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

[WT Sharpe]

.....There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know.
..........— W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois (1868-1963), American civil rights activist (in 1963 he became a citizen of Ghana), educator, writer, and editor. "The Study of the Negro Problems," in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. XI (January 1898).

[AndrewH]

"The flesh surrenders itself. Eternity takes back its own. Our bodies stirred these waters briefly, danced with a certain intoxication before the love of life and self, dealt with a few strange ideas, then submitted to the instruments of Time. What can we say of this? I occurred. I am not...yet, I occurred."
- Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by AndrewH

"The flesh surrenders itself. Eternity takes back its own. Our bodies stirred these waters briefly, danced with a certain intoxication before the love of life and self, dealt with a few strange ideas, then submitted to the instruments of Time. What can we say of this? I occurred. I am not...yet, I occurred."
- Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah.

I love that! Thank you!

[boxcorner]

Who do you think said this?

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

Spoiler:

John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917-1963)

[WT Sharpe]

.....I have been called a pioneer. In my book a pioneer is a man who comes to virgin country, traps off all the fur, kills off all the wild meat, cuts down all the trees, grazes off all the grass, plows the roots up, and strings ten million miles of wire. A pioneer destroys things and calls it civilization.
..........— Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926), American artist. Quoted in John Hutchns, One Man's Montana (Lippincott; 1st edition, 1964).