To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise & labour tends, & of which every desire prompts the prosecution…It is…at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate either of his virtue or felicity.
Category: Uncategorized
Edward Everett Hale
Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds — all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have. –
Llewellyn Powys
We have forgotten how to respond to the poetry of life. The hollow, tinkling facade of life put up by noisy and trivial people stands between us and our deepest wealth.
JRR Tolkein
…they liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions
Robert Tombs
History like travel ‘broadens the mind’. The differences we encounter are precious in reminding us that our ways are not the only ways, and other cultures and other generations have achievements as great as or greater than ours. Yet in the past, as in other countries, only some things are different and much is the same – a reminder of common humanity as well as cultural diversity. We owe respect to the past as we do to other societies today, not for the sake of our predecessors, who are beyond caring, but for our own sake. Treating the past as grotesque and inferior is the attitude of the tourist who can see nothing ‘abroad’ but dirt and bad plumbing.
Winston Spencer Churchill
BREVITY
(Memorandum by the Prime Minister)
To do our work, we all have to read a mass of papers. Nearly all of them are far too long. This wastes time, while energy has to be spent in looking for the essential points.
I ask my colleagues and their staffs to see to it that their reports are kept shorter.
- The aim should be Reports which set out their main points in a series of short, crisp paragraphs.
- If a Report relies on detailed analysis … these should be set out in an Appendix.
- Often the occasion is best met … by submitting an Aide-memoire, consisting of headings which can be expanded orally if needed.
- Let us have an end of phrases such as these:“It is also of importance to bear in mind the following considerations….” or “Consideration should be given to the possibility of carrying into effect….” Most of these woolly phrases are mere padding which can be left out altogether or replaced by a single word. Let us not shrink from using the short, expressive phrase, even if it is conversational.
Reports drawn up on the lines I propose may at first seem rough compared to the flat surface of officialese jargon.
But the saving of time will be great, while the discipline of setting out the real points concisely will prove an aid to clearer thinking.
W.S.C.
Bernard Bailyn
on the danger of projecting our own certainties back on to the confusion of the past as people experienced it
The fact — the inescapable fact — is that we know how it all came out, and they did not.
Valery Legasov
The truth doesn’t care about our needs or our wants. It doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time.
Czesław Miłosz
Learning
To believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.
A A Milne
Happiness
John had
Great Big
Waterproof
Boots on;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Hat;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Mackintosh —
And that
(Said John)
Is
That.
Charles E Carryl
The Sleepy Giant
My age is three hundred and seventy-two,
And I think, with the deepest regret,
How I used to pick up and voraciously chew
The dear little boys whom I met.
I’ve eaten them raw, in their holiday suits;
I’ve eaten them curried with rice;
I’ve eaten them baked, in their jackets and boots,
And found them exceedingly nice.
But now that my jaws are too weak for such fare,
I think it exceedingly rude
To do such a thing, when I’m quite well aware
Little boys do not like being chewed.
And so I contentedly live upon eels,
And try to do nothing amiss,
And I pass all the time I can spare from my meals
In innocent slumber — like this.
Henry David Thoreau
I am a Parcel of Vain Strivings Tied
I am a parcel of vain strivings tied
By a chance bond together,
Dangling this way and that, their links
Were made so loose and wide,
Methinks,
For milder weather.
Fleur Adcock
Immigrant
November ’63: eight months in London.
I pause on the low bridge to watch the pelicans:
they float swanlike, arching their white necks
over only slightly ruffled bundles of wings,
burying awkward beaks in the lake’s water.
I clench cold fists in my Marks and Spencer`s jacket
and secretly test my accent once again:
St James’s Park; St James’s Park; St James’s Park.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
A Dirge
Rough Wind, that moanest loud
Grief too sad for song;
Wild wind, when sullen cloud
Knells all the night long;
Sad storm, whose tears are vain,
Bare woods, whose branches strain,
Deep caves and dreary main, _
Wail, for the world’s wrong!
Piet Hein
Thoughts On A Station Platform
It ought to be plain
how little you gain
by getting excited
and vexed.
You’ll always be late
for the previous train,
and always in time
for the next.
Henry Reed
Naming of Parts
Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens,
And today we have naming of parts.
This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.
This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.
And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.
They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For today we have naming of parts.
Hilaire Belloc
Tarantella
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
And the tedding and the spreading
Of the straw for a bedding,
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
And the wine that tasted of tar?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
(Under the vine of the dark veranda)?
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,
Do you remember an Inn?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
Who hadn’t got a penny,
And who weren’t paying any,
And the hammer at the doors and the din?
And the hip! hop! hap!
Of the clap
Of the hands to the swirl and the twirl
Of the girl gone chancing,
Glancing,
Dancing,
Backing and advancing,
Snapping of the clapper to the spin
Out and in–
And the ting, tong, tang of the guitar!
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
Never more;
Miranda,
Never more.
Only the high peaks hoar;
And Aragon a torrent at the door.
No sound
In the walls of the halls where falls
The tread
Of the feet of the dead to the ground,
No sound:
But the boom
Of the far waterfall like doom.
G K Chesterton
The Donkey
When forests walked and fishes flew
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood,
Then, surely, I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening bray
And ears like errant wings—
The devil's walking parody
Of all four-footed things:
The battered outlaw of the earth
Of ancient crooked will;
Scourge, beat, deride me—I am dumb—
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour—
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout around my head
And palms about my feet.
Moniza Alvi
Arrival 1946
The boat docked in Liverpool.
From the train Tariq stared
at an unbroken line of washing
from the North West to Euston.
These are strange people, he thought
an Empire, and all this washing,
the underwear, the Englishmen’s garden.
It was Monday, and very sharp.
Eugene Guillevic
Elegies
He probably held too tightly
(In the palm of his hand,
Looking out on the sea)
To the sand the wind
Was taking, grain by grain —
He who is held by the fear
Of becoming mist.
E E Cummings
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and
milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles; and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
Czeslaw Milosz
Gift
A day so happy.
Fog lifted early I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no man worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man didn’t embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
On straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
John Masefield
Cargoes
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke-stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
Philip Larkin
The Trees
The trees are coming into leaf,
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again,
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
Otto von Bismark
Politics… is the capacity to choose in each fleeting moment of the situation that which is least harmful or most opportune… With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a pirate I try to be a pirate and a half.
Thomas Babington Macaulay
On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?
Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury
Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible.
Sir Roger Scruton
If we are thinking intellectually the world of scholarship and education has turned in this negative direction, always preferring debunking explanations of everything, reducing them to the lowest motive – its not truth but power that we persue – and all that Foucauldian nonesense. I think the only response to that is to come up with “bunking” explanations so to speak, to try to put back into the subject matter ones own inherint belief in it and to recognise that we are not around on this earth for every long and we do have an obligation to find the things that we love and not the things that we reject and those things we love, the best way towards them is to look at the things that other people have loved. That is what a culture is, it the residue of all the things that people have thought worthwhile to preserve. Teaching that will again reconnect us to what matters.
Sir Roger Scruton
Leftwing people find it very hard to get on with rightwing people, because they believe that they are evil. Whereas I have no problem getting on with leftwing people, because I simply believe that they are mistaken
Sir Roger Scruton
Conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created.
Sir Roger Scruton
Take away religion, take away philosophy, take away the higher aims of art, and you deprive ordinary people of the ways in which they can represent their apartness. Human nature, once something to live up to, becomes something to live down to instead. Biological reductionism nurtures this ‘living down’, which is why people so readily fall for it. It makes cynicism respectable and degeneracy chic. It abolishes our kind, and with it our kindness.
Sir Roger Scruton
A writer who says that there are no truths, or that all truth is ‘merely relative,’ is asking you not to believe him. So don’t. Deconstruction deconstructs itself, and disappears up its own behind, leaving only a disembodied smile and a faint smell of sulphur.
Sir Roger Scruton
The practice of buying rounds in the pub is one of the great cultural achievements of the English
Sir Roger Scruton
Conservatism […] is the instinct we all ultimately share, at least if we’re happy in this world; it’s the instinct to hold on to what we love.
G K Chesterton
In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion.
Henri Estienne
Clive James
Japanese Maple
Your death, near now, is of an easy sort.
So slow a fading out brings no real pain.
Breath growing short
Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain
Of energy, but thought and sight remain:
Enhanced, in fact. When did you ever see
So much sweet beauty as when fine rain falls
On that small tree
And saturates your brick back garden walls,
So many Amber Rooms and mirror halls?
Ever more lavish as the dusk descends
This glistening illuminates the air.
It never ends.
Whenever the rain comes it will be there,
Beyond my time, but now I take my share.
My daughter’s choice, the maple tree is new.
Come autumn and its leaves will turn to flame.
What I must do
Is live to see that.That will end the game
For me, though life continues all the same:
Filling the double doors to bathe my eyes,
A final flood of colors will live on
As my mind dies,
Burned by my vision of a world that shone
So brightly at the last, and then was gone.
Roger Scruton
We are entering a realm of cultural darkness, in which rational argument and respect for the opponent are disappearing…there is only one permitted view, and a licence to persecute all the heretics that do not subscribe to it.
Fernando Pessoa
To be great, be whole;
Exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you.
Be whole in everything. Put all you are
Into the smallest thing you do.
So, in each lake, the moon shines with splendor
Because it blooms up above.
Hermann Hesse
My story is not a pleasant one; it is neither sweet nor harmonious, as invented stories are; it has the taste of nonsense and chaos, of madness and dreams — like the lives of all men who stop deceiving themselves.
Juvenal (transalted by Dryden (and quoted by Benjamin Franklin))
Look round the habitable world, how few
Know their own good; or knowing it, pursue.
How void of reason are our hopes and fears!
What in the conduct of our life appears
So well design’d, so luckily begun,
But, when we have our wish, we wish undone?
Josh Billings (possibly)
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. Its what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
(like attributing this quote to Mark Twain)
Lord Palmerston
Frenchman: ‘If I were not a Frenchman, I should wish to be an Englishman.’ Palmerston: ‘If I were not an Englishman, I should wish to be an Englishman.’
Frenchman: ‘If I were not a Frenchman, I should wish to be an Englishman.’
Palmerston: ‘If I were not an Englishman, I should wish to be an Englishman.’
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.
Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.
Carl Jung
People don’t have ideas; ideas have people.
People don’t have ideas; ideas have people.
John Masefield
I have seen flowers come in stony places And kind things done by men with ugly faces And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races, So I trust too.
I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
So I trust too.
Roger Scruton
Intellectuals are naturally attracted by the idea of a planned society, in the belief that they will be in charge of it.
Intellectuals are naturally attracted by the idea of a planned society, in the belief that they will be in charge of it.
G K Chesterton
A man can pretend to be wise; a man cannot pretend to be witty.
A man can pretend to be wise; a man cannot pretend to be witty.
George Orwell
The Home Guard could only exist in a country where men feel themselves free. Totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot give the factory-worker a rifle & tell him to take it home & keep it in his bedroom.
The Home Guard could only exist in a country where men feel themselves free. Totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot give the factory-worker a rifle & tell him to take it home & keep it in his bedroom.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Mathematicians think in proofs, lawyers in constructs, logicians in operators, dancers in movement, artists in impressions, and idiots in labels.
Mathematicians think in proofs, lawyers in constructs, logicians in operators, dancers in movement, artists in impressions, and idiots in labels.
Philip Larkin
My secret flaw is just not being very good, like everyone else.
My secret flaw is just not being very good, like everyone else.
Julius Caesar
What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.
What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.
Corita Kent (popularised by her brother John Kent)
Rule 1: Find a place you trust, and then, try trusting it for awhile. Rule 2: (General Duties of a Student) Pull everything out of your teacher. Pull everything out of your fellow students. Rule 3: (General Duties of a Teacher) Pull everything out of your students. Rule 4: Consider everything an experiment. Rule 5: … Continue reading “Corita Kent (popularised by her brother John Kent)”
Rule 1: Find a place you trust, and then, try trusting it for awhile.
Rule 2: (General Duties of a Student)
Pull everything out of your teacher.
Pull everything out of your fellow students.
Rule 3: (General Duties of a Teacher)
Pull everything out of your students.
Rule 4: Consider everything an experiment.
Rule 5: Be Self Disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self disciplined is to follow in a better way.
Rule 6: Follow the leader. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.
Rule 7: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It is the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catch onto things. You can fool the fans–but not the players.
Rule 8: Do not try to create and analyze at the same time. They are different processes.
Rule 9: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It is lighter than you think.
Rule 10: We are breaking all the rules, even our own rules and how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for “x” quantities.
Helpful Hints:
Always Be Around.
Come or go to everything.
Always go to classes.
Read everything you can get your hands on.
Look at movies carefully and often.
SAVE EVERYTHING. It might come in handy later.
H L Mencken
Wealth – any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.
Wealth – any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.
Richard Russo
Anyone who observed us would conclude the purpose of all academic discussions was to become further entrenched in our original positions
Anyone who observed us would conclude the purpose of all academic discussions was to become further entrenched in our original positions
G K Chesterton
If we are uneducated, we shall not know how very old are all new ideas.
If we are uneducated, we shall not know how very old are all new ideas.
Sir Edmund Hillary
For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.
For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.
Richard Rohr
For poetry to be most effective, I believe it should be spoken aloud, embodied. After all, God didn’t think, “Let there be light”. God spoke, and creation vibrated into existence. Isn’t it just like our Creator to imprint the subtlety and mystery of creativity in the thisness of each voice?
For poetry to be most effective, I believe it should be spoken aloud, embodied. After all, God didn’t think, “Let there be light”. God spoke, and creation vibrated into existence. Isn’t it just like our Creator to imprint the subtlety and mystery of creativity in the thisness of each voice?
Malcolm Muggeridge
Another disastrous concept is the pursuit of happiness, a last?minute improvisation in the American Declaration of Independence, substituted for the defense of Property. Happiness pursued cannot be caught, and if it could, it would not be happiness.
Another disastrous concept is the pursuit of happiness, a last?minute improvisation in the American Declaration of Independence, substituted for the defense of Property. Happiness pursued cannot be caught, and if it could, it would not be happiness.
C S Lewis
To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?
To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?
Czeslaw Milosz
Gift A day so happy. Fog lifted early I worked in the garden. Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers. There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess. I knew no man worth my envying him. Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot. To think that once I was the same man didn’t embarrass … Continue reading “Czeslaw Milosz”
Gift
A day so happy.
Fog lifted early I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no man worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man didn’t embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
On straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
T S Eliot
I must tell you that I should really like to think there’s something wrong with me – Because, if there isn’t, then there’s something wrong with the world itself – and that’s much more frightening! That would be terrible. So I’d rather believe there is something wrong with me, that could be put right.
I must tell you that I should really like to think there’s something wrong with me – Because, if there isn’t, then there’s something wrong with the world itself – and that’s much more frightening! That would be terrible. So I’d rather believe there is something wrong with me, that could be put right.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in bliss so that nothing but bubbles would dance on the surface of his bliss, as on a sea…and even then every man, out of sheer ingratitude, sheer libel, would play you some loathsome trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most … Continue reading “Fyodor Dostoyevsky”
Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in bliss so that nothing but bubbles would dance on the surface of his bliss, as on a sea…and even then every man, out of sheer ingratitude, sheer libel, would play you some loathsome trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive rationality his fatal fantastic element…simply in order to prove to himself that men still are men and not piano keys.
Jordan Peterson
The thing about wisdom is it stops you running face first into walls.
The thing about wisdom is it stops you running face first into walls.
Horatio Nelson
Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian.
Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian.
Richard Rohr
…all metaphors by necessity walk with a limp.
…all metaphors by necessity walk with a limp.
Margaret Atwood
In spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt.
In spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt.
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
For the average person, all problems date to World War II; for the more informed, to World War I; for the genuine historian, to the French Revolution.
For the average person, all problems date to World War II; for the more informed, to World War I; for the genuine historian, to the French Revolution.
Ken Dodd
Ken Dodd on Parkinson: “If you tell a joke in Glasgow, they laugh. In Birmingham, they don’t.” Parkinsons: “Why’s that?” Ken Dodd: “They can’t hear it.”
Ken Dodd on Parkinson: “If you tell a joke in Glasgow, they laugh. In Birmingham, they don’t.”
Parkinsons: “Why’s that?”
Ken Dodd: “They can’t hear it.”
Henry George
Blockading squadrons are a means whereby nations prevent their enemies from trading; protective tariffs are a means whereby nations prevent their own people from trading. Protection does to us in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.
Blockading squadrons are a means whereby nations prevent their enemies from trading; protective tariffs are a means whereby nations prevent their own people from trading. Protection does to us in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.
Wendy Cope
on poetry… It’s anecdotal evidence About the human heart.
on poetry…
It’s anecdotal evidence
About the human heart.
George Macdonald
The one principle of hell is — “I am my own!”
The one principle of hell is — “I am my own!”
T S Eliot
And pray to God to have mercy upon us And pray that I may forget These matters that with myself I too much discuss
And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Robert A Heinlein
Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it
Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it
Samuel Johnson
Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at a very small expense. The power of invention has been conferred by nature upon few, and the labour of learning those sciences which by mere labour be obtained is too great to be willingly endured; but every man can exert such judgment as … Continue reading “Samuel Johnson”
Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at a very small expense. The power of invention has been conferred by nature upon few, and the labour of learning those sciences which by mere labour be obtained is too great to be willingly endured; but every man can exert such judgment as he has upon the works of others; and he whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critick.
Billy Graham
Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.
Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.
Sir Thomas More
It is possible to live for the next life and still be merry in this.
It is possible to live for the next life and still be merry in this.
Carl Jung
Beware of unearned wisdom
Beware of unearned wisdom
Tony Benn
Never give your audience your second best speech. advice to Daniel Hannan shortly before he stood for his first election
Never give your audience your second best speech.
advice to Daniel Hannan shortly before he stood for his first election
Albert Maysles
Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance.
Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
They fight and fight and fight; they are fighting now, they fought before, and they’ll fight in the future … So you see, you can say anything about world history … Except one thing, that is. It cannot be said that world history is reasonable.
They fight and fight and fight; they are fighting now, they fought before, and they’ll fight in the future … So you see, you can say anything about world history … Except one thing, that is. It cannot be said that world history is reasonable.
Marcus Aurelius
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has … Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius”
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me.
Thomas More
One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.
One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.
Friedrich Nietzsche
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
Only
She told him that she loved him Only she told him that she loved him She only told him that she loved him She told only him that she loved him She told him only that she loved him She told him that only she loved him She told him that she only loved him … Continue reading “Only”
She told him that she loved him
Only she told him that she loved him
She only told him that she loved him
She told only him that she loved him
She told him only that she loved him
She told him that only she loved him
She told him that she only loved him
She told him that she loved only him
She told him that she loved him only
Richard Rorty (1998)
…members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of being downsized—are not going to let themselves be taxed … Continue reading “Richard Rorty (1998)”
…members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of being downsized—are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.
At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for—someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots…
One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion… …All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.
Assar Lindbeck
In many cases, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing
In many cases, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing
Arthur Ransome
The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting-place.
The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting-place.
Freeman Dyson
The conservative has little to fear from the man whose reason is the servant of his passions, but let him beware of him in whom reason has become the greatest and most terrible of passions. These are the wreckers of outworn empires.
The conservative has little to fear from the man whose reason is the servant of his passions, but let him beware of him in whom reason has become the greatest and most terrible of passions. These are the wreckers of outworn empires.
Michael Oakeshott
To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.
To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.
Leo Tolstoy
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.
Jordan Peterson
In answer to the question “What are the most valuable things everyone should know?” Tell the truth. Do not do things that you hate. Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act. Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. If you have to choose, be the one who does things, … Continue reading “Jordan Peterson”
In answer to the question “What are the most valuable things everyone should know?”
Tell the truth.
Do not do things that you hate.
Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act.
Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.
If you have to choose, be the one who does things, instead of the one who is seen to do things.
Pay attention.
Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you need to know. Listen to them hard enough so that they will share it with you.
Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationships.
Be careful who you share good news with.
Be careful who you share bad news with.
Make at least one thing better every single place you go.
Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that.
Do not allow yourself to become arrogant or resentful.
Try to make one room in your house as beautiful as possible.
Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.
Work as hard as you possibly can on at least one thing and see what happens.
If old memories still make you cry, write them down carefully and completely.
Maintain your connections with people.
Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions or artistic achievement.
Treat yourself as if you were someone that you are responsible for helping.
Ask someone to do you a small favour, so that he or she can ask you to do one in the future.
Make friends with people who want the best for you.
Do not try to rescue someone who does not want to be rescued, and be very careful about rescuing someone who does.
Nothing well done is insignificant.
Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
Dress like the person you want to be.
Be precise in your speech.
Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
Don’t avoid something frightening if it stands in your way — and don’t do unnecessarily dangerous things.
Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
Do not transform your wife into a maid.
Do not hide unwanted things in the fog.
Notice that opportunity lurks where responsibility has been abdicated.
Read something written by someone great.
Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.
Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.
Don’t let bullies get away with it.
Write a letter to the government if you see something that needs fixing — and propose a solution.
Remember that what you do not yet know is more important than what you already know.
Be grateful in spite of your suffering.
Meister Eckhart
God is like a person who clears his throat while hiding and so gives himself away.
God is like a person who clears his throat while hiding and so gives himself away.
Herodotus
Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.
Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.
Robert Quillen
Self-written “Obituary” He was a writer of paragraphs and short editorials. He always hoped to write something of permanent value, but the business of making a living took most of his time and he never got around to it. In his youth he felt an urge to reform the world, but during the latter years … Continue reading “Robert Quillen”
Self-written “Obituary”
He was a writer of paragraphs and short editorials. He always hoped to write something of permanent value, but the business of making a living took most of his time and he never got around to it. In his youth he felt an urge to reform the world, but during the latter years of his life he decided that he would be doing rather well if he kept himself out of jail. … When the last clod had fallen, workmen covered the grave with a granite slab bearing the inscription: “Submitted to the Publisher by Robert Quillen.”
Arthur Ransome
They found, like many explorers before them, that somehow, in their absence, they had got into trouble at home.
They found, like many explorers before them, that somehow, in their absence, they had got into trouble at home.
Freeman Dyson
Fifty years ago Kurt Gödel… proved that the world of pure mathematics is inexhaustible. … I hope that the notion of a final statement of the laws of physics will prove as illusory as the notion of a formal decision process for all mathematics. If it should turn out that the whole of physical reality … Continue reading “Freeman Dyson”
Fifty years ago Kurt Gödel… proved that the world of pure mathematics is inexhaustible. … I hope that the notion of a final statement of the laws of physics will prove as illusory as the notion of a formal decision process for all mathematics. If it should turn out that the whole of physical reality can be described by a finite set of equations, I would be disappointed, I would feel that the Creator had been uncharacteristically lacking in imagination.
Michael Oakeshott
Poetry is a sort of truancy, a dream within the dream of life, a wild flower planted among our wheat.
Poetry is a sort of truancy, a dream within the dream of life, a wild flower planted among our wheat.
Michael Sandel
We have heard a lot about anger against elites – and I think that anger has a certain shape it’s an anger at the meritocratic hubris of those on top who have inhaled quite deeply of their success who are pretty confident that they deserve to have landed on top and by implication that those … Continue reading “Michael Sandel”
We have heard a lot about anger against elites – and I think that anger has a certain shape it’s an anger at the meritocratic hubris of those on top who have inhaled quite deeply of their success who are pretty confident that they deserve to have landed on top and by implication that those who are disadvantaged deserve their place as well, there is something galling, insulting, humiliating about the meritocratic hubris and leads those on top to a certain kind of smugness to look across the distribution of income and wealth and power and opportunities and to conclude that they are on top because they deserve to be.
John F Kennedy
For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
G K Chesterton
There is, perhaps, in our world a little too much of the practice of poring over new ideas until they become old. We require a little of the practice of poring over old ideas until they become new.
There is, perhaps, in our world a little too much of the practice of poring over new ideas until they become old. We require a little of the practice of poring over old ideas until they become new.
Daniel Hannan
When the esteem of our peers matters more than the opinion of strangers, we start looking for traitors rather than converts, striving to outdo one another in the intensity of our rage.
When the esteem of our peers matters more than the opinion of strangers, we start looking for traitors rather than converts, striving to outdo one another in the intensity of our rage.
@Nicole_Cliffe
We were all rich. There are not two kinds of rich people. All rich people are the same. You give it all away and cease being rich, or you don’t. Jesus was no idiot.
We were all rich. There are not two kinds of rich people. All rich people are the same. You give it all away and cease being rich, or you don’t. Jesus was no idiot.
Rowan Williams
Advent Calendar He will come like last leaf’s fall. One night when the November wind has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth wakes choking on the mould, the soft shroud’s folding. He will come like frost. One morning when the shrinking earth opens on mist, to find itself arrested in the net of … Continue reading “Rowan Williams”
Advent Calendar
He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart to Steve a drystone waller: How much can you build in a day Steve: A good drystone waller can build four metres in a day. A bad waller can build six.
Rory Stewart to Steve a drystone waller: How much can you build in a day
Steve: A good drystone waller can build four metres in a day. A bad waller can build six.
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord
I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and … Continue reading “Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord”
I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!
Robert Pirosh
Dear Sir: I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde. I like suave “V” words, such as Svengali, svelte, bravura, verve. I like crunchy, brittle, crackly … Continue reading “Robert Pirosh”
Dear Sir:
I like words. I like fat buttery words, such as ooze, turpitude, glutinous, toady. I like solemn, angular, creaky words, such as straitlaced, cantankerous, pecunious, valedictory. I like spurious, black-is-white words, such as mortician, liquidate, tonsorial, demi-monde. I like suave “V” words, such as Svengali, svelte, bravura, verve. I like crunchy, brittle, crackly words, such as splinter, grapple, jostle, crusty. I like sullen, crabbed, scowling words, such as skulk, glower, scabby, churl. I like Oh-Heavens, my-gracious, land’s-sake words, such as tricksy, tucker, genteel, horrid. I like elegant, flowery words, such as estivate, peregrinate, elysium, halcyon. I like wormy, squirmy, mealy words, such as crawl, blubber, squeal, drip. I like sniggly, chuckling words, such as cowlick, gurgle, bubble and burp.
I like the word screenwriter better than copywriter, so I decided to quit my job in a New York advertising agency and try my luck in Hollywood, but before taking the plunge I went to Europe for a year of study, contemplation and horsing around.
I have just returned and I still like words.
May I have a few with you?
Robert Pirosh
15 years before he won a best original screenplay Oscar
Isidor Isaac Rabi
My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: So? Did you learn anything today? But not my mother. “Izzy,” she would say, “did you ask a good question today?” That difference — asking good questions — made me become a scientist.
My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: So? Did you learn anything today? But not my mother. “Izzy,” she would say, “did you ask a good question today?” That difference — asking good questions — made me become a scientist.
A A Gill
Boris…is without doubt the very worst putative politician I’ve ever seen in action…and I can’t think of a higher compliment.
Boris…is without doubt the very worst putative politician I’ve ever seen in action…and I can’t think of a higher compliment.
George Bernard Shaw
response to receiving and draft of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Confound you and your book: you are no more to be trusted with a pen than a child with a torpedo.
response to receiving and draft of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Confound you and your book: you are no more to be trusted with a pen than a child with a torpedo.
Bertrand Russell
Dear Sir Oswald, Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general … Continue reading “Bertrand Russell”
Dear Sir Oswald,
Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism.
I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us.
I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.
Yours sincerely,
Bertrand Russell
William Stafford
Vacation One scene as I bow to pour her coffee:- Three Indians in the scouring drouth Huddle at the grave scooped in the gravel, Lean to the wind as our train goes by. Someone is gone. There is dust on everything in Nevada. I pour the cream.
Vacation
One scene as I bow to pour her coffee:-
Three Indians in the scouring drouth
Huddle at the grave scooped in the gravel,
Lean to the wind as our train goes by.
Someone is gone.
There is dust on everything in Nevada.
I pour the cream.
Robert Hayden
Those Winter Sundays Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, … Continue reading “Robert Hayden”
Those Winter Sundays
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
Marquis de Favras
Last words after reading his death sentence before being hanged I see that you have made 3 spelling mistakes.
Last words after reading his death sentence before being hanged
I see that you have made 3 spelling mistakes.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Risk as Virtue Finally, when young people who “want to help mankind” come to me, asking: “What should I do? I want to reduce poverty, save the world” and similar noble aspirations at the macro-level. My suggestion is: 1) never engage in virtue signaling; 2) never engage in rent seeking; 3) you must start a … Continue reading “Nassim Nicholas Taleb”
Risk as Virtue
Finally, when young people who “want to help mankind” come to me, asking: “What should I do? I want to reduce poverty, save the world” and similar noble aspirations at the macro-level. My suggestion is:
1) never engage in virtue signaling;
2) never engage in rent seeking;
3) you must start a business. Take risks, start a business.
Yes, take risk, and if you get rich (what is optional) spend your money generously on others. We need people to take (bounded) risks. The entire idea is to move these kids away from the macro, away from abstract universal aims, that social engineering that bring tail risks to society. Doing business will always help; institutions may help but they are equally likely to harm (I am being optimistic; I am certain that except for a few most do end up harming).
Risk is the highest virtue.
Alexander Pope
Men dream of courtship, but in wedlock wake.
Men dream of courtship, but in wedlock wake.
John Selden
Equity is a roguish thing. For Law we have a measure, know what to trust to; Equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. ‘T is all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a “foot” … Continue reading “John Selden”
Equity is a roguish thing. For Law we have a measure, know what to trust to; Equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. ‘T is all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a “foot” a Chancellor’s foot; what an uncertain measure would this be!
Ronald Reagan
The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.
The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.
Bismarck
Politics is gambling for high stakes with other people’s money… Politics is a job that can be compared with navigation in uncharted waters. One has no idea how the weather or the currents will be or what storms one is in for. In politics, there is the added fact that one is largely dependent on … Continue reading “Bismarck”
Politics is gambling for high stakes with other people’s money… Politics is a job that can be compared with navigation in uncharted waters. One has no idea how the weather or the currents will be or what storms one is in for. In politics, there is the added fact that one is largely dependent on the decisions of others, decisions on which one was counting and which then do not materialise; one’s actions are never completely one’s own. And if the friends on whose support one is relying change their minds, which is something that one cannot vouch for, the whole plan miscarries… One’s enemies one can count on – but one’s friends!
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Nothing is more fickle than people in a crowd, nothing harder to discover than how men intend to vote, nothing trickier than the whole way in which elections work.
Nothing is more fickle than people in a crowd, nothing harder to discover than how men intend to vote, nothing trickier than the whole way in which elections work.
Upton Sinclair
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Does an ‘explanation’ make it any less impressive.
Does an ‘explanation’ make it any less impressive.
Catherine Aird
If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.
If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.
Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
C S Lewis
If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work.
If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work.
Robert Conquest
Three Laws of Politics: 1) Everyone is conservative about what he knows best. 2) Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing. 3) The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.
Three Laws of Politics:
1) Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
2) Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
3) The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.
Alphonso X
Burn old logs Drink old wine Read old books Keep old friends,
Burn old logs
Drink old wine
Read old books
Keep old friends,
Plato
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.
Edward Thomas
(on the centenary of his death at the Battle of Arras) In Memoriam (Easter, 1915) The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood This Eastertide call into mind the men, Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should Have gathered them and will do never again.
(on the centenary of his death at the Battle of Arras)
In Memoriam (Easter, 1915)
The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood
This Eastertide call into mind the men,
Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should
Have gathered them and will do never again.
Najwa Zebian
These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.
These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.
Pablo Picasso
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
Non Phonetic Alphabet
A as in Aisle B as in Bdellium (the b is silent) C as in Czar D as in Djinn E as in Eye F as in Felinfoel (Welsh town, pronounced Velinfoe) G as in Gnat H as in Hour I as in Irk (or Ian) J as in Junta K as in Know L as … Continue reading “Non Phonetic Alphabet”
A as in Aisle
B as in Bdellium (the b is silent)
C as in Czar
D as in Djinn
E as in Eye
F as in Felinfoel (Welsh town, pronounced Velinfoe)
G as in Gnat
H as in Hour
I as in Irk (or Ian)
J as in Junta
K as in Know
L as in Llullaillaco (South American volcano pronounced Yu.Yai.Ya.ko)
M as in Mnemonic
N as in Ndebele
O as in One (or indeed Oestrogen or Ouija)
P as in Pneumatic (or indeed phonetic)
Q as in Quay
R as in Rzeznik (the polish pronunciation has a silent R)
S as in Szilard (or Sgraffitto)
T as in Tzar (it is an added bonus to have one word that represents two letters but if you think that might be confusing somehow you can use Tsunami instead)
U as in Urn
V as in Veni vidi vici (each word pronounced with a w)
W as in Whole
X as in Xhosa
Y as in Yvonne (or Ylang Ylang)
Z as in Zhivago
bonus phonetic but confusing
A as in H
D as in W
E as in F, E, M, N or X
S as in C (Sea)
W and in Y (Why)
Y as in U (You)
Enver Hoxha
This year will be harder than last year. On the other hand, it will be easier than next year.
This year will be harder than last year. On the other hand, it will be easier than next year.
C S Lewis
You can begin as if nothing had ever gone wrong. White as snow.
You can begin as if nothing had ever gone wrong. White as snow.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Everything before the “but” is meant to be ignored by the speaker; and everything after the “but” should be ignored by the listener.
Everything before the “but” is meant to be ignored by the speaker; and everything after the “but” should be ignored by the listener.
G K Chesterton
There were three things prefigured and promised by the gifts in the cave of Bethlehem concerning the Child who received them; that He should be crowned like a King: that He should be worshiped like a God; and that He should die like a man. And these things would sound like Eastern flattery, were it … Continue reading “G K Chesterton”
There were three things prefigured and promised by the gifts in the cave of Bethlehem concerning the Child who received them; that He should be crowned like a King: that He should be worshiped like a God; and that He should die like a man. And these things would sound like Eastern flattery, were it not for the third.
Arkell v. Pressdram
29th April 1971 Dear Sir, We act for Mr Arkell who is Retail Credit Manager of Granada TV Rental Ltd. His attention has been drawn to an article appearing in the issue of Private Eye dated 9th April 1971 on page 4. The statements made about Mr Arkell are entirely untrue and clearly highly defamatory. … Continue reading “Arkell v. Pressdram”
29th April 1971
Dear Sir,
We act for Mr Arkell who is Retail Credit Manager of Granada TV Rental Ltd. His attention has been drawn to an article appearing in the issue of Private Eye dated 9th April 1971 on page 4. The statements made about Mr Arkell are entirely untrue and clearly highly defamatory. We are therefore instructed to require from you immediately your proposals for dealing with the matter.
Mr Arkell’s first concern is that there should be a full retraction at the earliest possible date in Private Eye and he will also want his costs paid. His attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of your reply.
Yours,
(Signed)
Goodman Derrick & Co.
——————————
Dear Sirs,
We acknowledge your letter of 29th April referring to Mr. J. Arkell.
We note that Mr Arkell’s attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: fuck off.
Yours,
Private Eye
@giles_fraser
Extraordinary that all the people who self-describe as “free thinking” on Twitter all think roughly the same thing.
Extraordinary that all the people who self-describe as “free thinking” on Twitter all think roughly the same thing.
A A Gill
Freedom of speech is what all the other human rights and freedoms balance on. That may sound like unspeakable arrogance when applied to restaurant reviews or gossip columns. But that’s not the point. Journalism isn’t an individual sport like books and plays; it’s a team effort. The power of the press is cumulative. It has … Continue reading “A A Gill”
Freedom of speech is what all the other human rights and freedoms balance on. That may sound like unspeakable arrogance when applied to restaurant reviews or gossip columns. But that’s not the point. Journalism isn’t an individual sport like books and plays; it’s a team effort. The power of the press is cumulative. It has a conscious humming momentum. You can — and probably do — pick up bits of it and sneer or sigh or fling them with great force at the dog. But together they make up the most precious thing we own. “It’s all very well for him,” I hear you say, “on his high horse about freedom, but just look at the papers. They’re full of lies and gossip and laziness. The theory’s fine, the practice is disgusting.” Well, let’s just look at that. I don’t know what it is you do, what you make or sell, but consider this. Consider starting each morning with three or so dozen blank sheets of broadsheet paper. And then having to fill them with columns of facts, opinions based on facts and predictions extrapolated from facts. I don’t know how many facts a newspaper has in it. Thousands. Tens of thousands. Millions. From the Stock Market to TV listings by way of courtrooms, parliaments, disasters, wars, celebrity denials, births, deaths, horoscopes and the pictures to go with them. Now tell me, how long did your last annual general report take? Days? Weeks? And you had all that information to hand. How long did the last letter you wrote take? You just made that up. Newspapers are the size of long novels. They’re put together from around the globe from sources who lie, manipulate, want to sell things, hide things, spin things. Despite threats, injunctions, bullets, jails and non-returned phone calls, journalists do it every single day, from scratch. What’s amazing, what’s utterly staggering, is not the things papers get wrong, it’s just how much they get right. Your business, no other business, could guarantee the percentage of accuracy that a newspaper does. And what’s more, if you live in Britain, you don’t get just one, you have the choice of a dozen national papers. Oh, and a small boy will come and put it through your letter box before you’ve even got out of bed. Nothing, but nothing, makes me prouder than being a hack.
Sam Goldwyn
on first seeing a sundial What will they think of next?
on first seeing a sundial
What will they think of next?
Leonard Cohen
There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Virtue is what you do when nobody is looking. The rest is marketing.
Virtue is what you do when nobody is looking. The rest is marketing.
G K Chesterton
What we should try to do is make politics as local as possible. Keep the politicians near enough to kick them.
What we should try to do is make politics as local as possible. Keep the politicians near enough to kick them.
Richard Ingrams
Editor of Private Eye giving evidence in a libel action against the magazine The only things in Private Eye that aren’t true are the apologies.
Editor of Private Eye giving evidence in a libel action against the magazine
The only things in Private Eye that aren’t true are the apologies.
Croatian Proverb
All mushrooms are edible, but some only once.
All mushrooms are edible, but some only once.
James Landale
On Boris’ first week at FCO The foreign secretary spent much of the week looking rather like an old Labrador who has just flushed out a pheasant for the first time and is rather pleased with his unexpected success. In contrast, his officials looked like children with a new bicycle that they can’t wait to … Continue reading “James Landale”
On Boris’ first week at FCO
The foreign secretary spent much of the week looking rather like an old Labrador who has just flushed out a pheasant for the first time and is rather pleased with his unexpected success.
In contrast, his officials looked like children with a new bicycle that they can’t wait to take out for a ride but are worried they might crash.
G K Chesterton
Elie Wiesel
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Jonathan Swift
It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee house for the voice of a kingdom.
It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee house for the voice of a kingdom.
Dominic Cummings
99% of expensive punditry is noise not signal, tune it out and think for yourself.
99% of expensive punditry is noise not signal, tune it out and think for yourself.
John Gower
There are three things of such a sort that they produce merciless destruction when they get the upper hand one is a flood of water, another is a raging fire and the third is the lesser people, the common multitude; for they will not be stopped by either reason or by discipline.
There are three things of such a sort that they produce merciless destruction when they get the upper hand one is a flood of water, another is a raging fire and the third is the lesser people, the common multitude; for they will not be stopped by either reason or by discipline.
Brendan O’Neill
This is democracy in action, in all its messy, beautiful, order-upsetting glory. Behold the steadfastness of ordinary people, their willingness to act on their conviction even in the face of the threats and barbs of people with power. We hear a lot these days about how gullible the public is, how malleable are our putty-like … Continue reading “Brendan O’Neill”
This is democracy in action, in all its messy, beautiful, order-upsetting glory. Behold the steadfastness of ordinary people, their willingness to act on their conviction even in the face of the threats and barbs of people with power. We hear a lot these days about how gullible the public is, how malleable are our putty-like minds, play-doh in the hands of demagogues. And yet yesterday, the people thought for themselves; they weighed things up and they decided to reject received wisdom and the Westminster / Washington / Brussels consensus. Such independence of spirit, such freedom of thought, is stirring.
Tweet
@Michael1979 When you feel something is impossible, remind yourself that Leicester won the league. But also that your thing is probably still impossible
@Michael1979
When you feel something is impossible, remind yourself that Leicester won the league.
But also that your thing is probably still impossible
Freeman Dyson
My view of the prevalence of doom-and-gloom in Cambridge is that it is a result of the English class system. In England there were always two sharply opposed middle classes, the academic middle class and the commercial middle class. In the nineteenth century, the academic middle class won the battle for power and status. As … Continue reading “Freeman Dyson”
My view of the prevalence of doom-and-gloom in Cambridge is that it is a result of the English class system. In England there were always two sharply opposed middle classes, the academic middle class and the commercial middle class. In the nineteenth century, the academic middle class won the battle for power and status. As a child of the academic middle class, I learned to look on the commercial middle class with loathing and contempt. Then came the triumph of Margaret Thatcher, which was also the revenge of the commercial middle class. The academics lost their power and prestige and the business people took over. The academics never forgave Thatcher and have been gloomy ever since
Princess Elizabeth
I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I … Continue reading “Princess Elizabeth”
I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.
21st April 1947
Rumi
I choose to love you in silence… For in silence I find no rejection, I choose to love you in loneliness… For in loneliness no one owns you but me, I choose to adore you from a distance… For distance will shield me from pain, I choose to kiss you in the wind… For the … Continue reading “Rumi”
I choose to love you in silence…
For in silence I find no rejection,
I choose to love you in loneliness…
For in loneliness no one owns you but me,
I choose to adore you from a distance…
For distance will shield me from pain,
I choose to kiss you in the wind…
For the wind is gentler than my lips,
I choose to hold you in my dreams…
For in my dreams, you have no end…
C. S. Lewis
What one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day.
What one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day.
G K Chesterton
I strongly object to wrong arguments on the right side. I think I object to them more than to the wrong arguments on the wrong side.
I strongly object to wrong arguments on the right side. I think I object to them more than to the wrong arguments on the wrong side.
Murray N. Rothbard
It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
Boris Johnson
My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it.
My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it.
Umberto Eco
I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.
I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.
C. S. Lewis
There have been men before…who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself.
There have been men before…who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself.
Siegfried Sassoon
Everyone suddenly burst out singing; And I was filled with such delight As prisoned birds must find in freedom, Winging wildly across the white Orchards and dark-green fields; on–on–and out of sight. Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted; And beauty came like the setting sun: My heart was shaken with tears; and horror Drifted away … … Continue reading “Siegfried Sassoon”
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on–on–and out of sight.
Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away … O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
@policecommander
A Copper’s Christmas And now for something just a little bit different… …A retelling of the Christmas story using detail drawn from a little known historical source – the Daily Crime Bulletin of the Bethlehem Police Department (known by all as the ‘BPD’ – and by some as the ‘Thin Beige Line’). Published daily by … Continue reading “@policecommander”
A Copper’s Christmas
And now for something just a little bit different…
…A retelling of the Christmas story using detail drawn from a little known historical source – the Daily Crime Bulletin of the Bethlehem Police Department (known by all as the ‘BPD’ – and by some as the ‘Thin Beige Line’).
Published daily by the local Constabulary, the Bulletin offers a fascinating insight into the work of a hitherto unheralded group of women and men – whilst shining new light on an old tale.
————————————-
Bethlehem Police Department
Daily Crime Bulletin
(Date obscured)
Late Turn – Briefing for Operation Census
– Substantial number of migrants arriving at border during past week;
– Limited community tension reported – no incidents of note;
– Large crowds expected in Bethlehem this evening;
– No intelligence re: pre-planned disorder;
– Terrorism Threat Level remains at ‘Severe’;
– 12 officers on duty;
– Roads Policing Chariot in for repairs – no replacement available.
1400hrs
Start of shift;
2 PCs to fixed post at main Town Checkpoint;
2 PCs to ongoing crime scene at Caesar’s Nightclub;
2 PCs to constant watch in the cells;
Remaining officers out on foot.
1500hrs
Routine patrols – High Street.
Town Centre crowded but peaceful.
16.30hrs
Call to Civil Dispute in the foyer of the Judea Travelodge.
Apparent misunderstanding regarding double booking of two suites.
Situation deteriorated as it became apparent that there are no other rooms available – anywhere in the neighbourhood.
Suspects became violent. Two arrests. Now lodging with us overnight.
17.15hrs
Suspect detained for Theft of Wine from the Bethlehem Brasserie.
Evidence consumed prior to police arrival.
Suspect unfit for interview until tomorrow morning.
18.00hrs
Reports of possible UFO sighting.
Claims of a bright light – moving East to West at height of several thousand feet.
Area Search No Trace.
Possible Nuisance Call.
18.30hrs
Multiple calls to disturbance on hillside a mile outside town.
Reports of strobe lighting and loud music.
Initial suspicions of an illegal rave in progress.
On arrival, met by gang of Shepherds and a large quantity of sheep. Shepherds claiming to been visited by angels.
Despite lengthy enquiries and thorough searches, no sound system or lighting equipment found – and no evidence of alcohol or illegal substances. Not even a spliff.
Initially threatened Shepherds with arrest for wasting police time – but settled for a Verbal Warning when they explained that they were leaving anyway.
Last seen running towards Bethlehem Town Centre.
19.30hrs
Call from Judea Border Patrol.
They have stopped a group of Travellers who claim to have come from ‘afar’.
Have yet to establish where this is.
The three who appear to be in charge are well dressed and claim to know something about the earlier UFO report.
Search of luggage has revealed a quantity of gold and a container filled with an aromatic and suspicious looking resin.
Enquiries ongoing.
20.15hrs
Update from Border Patrol.
Travellers able to prove ownership of gold – and the resin turns out to be something called Myrrh. Checks confirm this isn’t a Controlled Drug.
Allowed on their way.
21.00hrs
Call to believed Child Protection case.
Reports of newborn baby being cared for in wholly unsuitable circumstances – apparently in a stable, surrounded by livestock and with no heating or running water.
Unmarried teenage mother with no obvious means of support aside from someone claiming – without documentation – to be her ‘betrothed’.
On arrival, found earlier group of Shepherds in street outside.
Initially threatened them with arrest for Obstructing Police – then saw expression on their faces.
Decided to see for myself what was going on.
Ma’am, I’ve walked this beat for more than 20 years and I’ve seen most things that this line of work puts your way – but I have no words to describe what I saw last night.
No arrests necessary. No explanation adequate. But everything is different now.
By the time you read this, I’ll have finished my shift. If you have any questions about this report, you’ll find me back at the stable door.
If I may Ma’am – and if you have time – you really ought to come and see for yourself.
Bulletin ends.
Kenneth Grahame
All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered. ‘Rat!’ he found breath to whisper, shaking. ‘Are you afraid?’ ‘Afraid?’ murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. ‘Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! … Continue reading “Kenneth Grahame”
All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.
‘Rat!’ he found breath to whisper, shaking. ‘Are you afraid?’
‘Afraid?’ murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. ‘Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet— and yet— O, Mole, I am afraid!’
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
Rowan Williams
Advent Calendar He will come like last leaf’s fall. One night when the November wind has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth wakes choking on the mould, the soft shroud’s folding. He will come like frost. One morning when the shrinking earth opens on mist, to find itself arrested in the net of … Continue reading “Rowan Williams”
Advent Calendar
He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
Janan Ganesh
The problem is systemic. The tolerable price of democracy is its pesky resistance to strategic government. Every policy is an amendment upon an improvisation upon a half-forgotten contingency, agreed by quarrelling interest groups amid the blare of the electorate.
The problem is systemic. The tolerable price of democracy is its pesky resistance to strategic government. Every policy is an amendment upon an improvisation upon a half-forgotten contingency, agreed by quarrelling interest groups amid the blare of the electorate.
Edmund Christopher Pery, 7th Earl of Limerick
the following poem was submitted as the Earl’s Candidature Statement for election as one of the 92 hereditary peers to have a seat in the House of Lords following a vacancy The Upper House knows none so queer A creature as the Seatless Peer. Flamingo-like he stands all day With no support to hold his … Continue reading “Edmund Christopher Pery, 7th Earl of Limerick”
the following poem was submitted as the Earl’s Candidature Statement for election as one of the 92 hereditary peers to have a seat in the House of Lords following a vacancy
The Upper House knows none so queer
A creature as the Seatless Peer.
Flamingo-like he stands all day
With no support to hold his sway.
And waits with covert eagerness
For ninety-two to be one less.
Then on to hustings he must pace
Once more to plead his special case.
Noble Lordships, spare a thought
For one so vertically distraught,
And from your seats so well entrenched,
Please vote that mine may be embenched.
Yogi Berra
Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
Even Napoleon had his Watergate.
Chanie Gorkin
Worst Day Ever? Today was the absolute worst day ever And don’t try to convince me that There’s something good in every day Because, when you take a closer look, This world is a pretty evil place. Even if Some goodness does shine through once in a while Satisfaction and happiness don’t last. And it’s … Continue reading “Chanie Gorkin”
Worst Day Ever?
Today was the absolute worst day ever
And don’t try to convince me that
There’s something good in every day
Because, when you take a closer look,
This world is a pretty evil place.
Even if
Some goodness does shine through once in a while
Satisfaction and happiness don’t last.
And it’s not true that
It’s all in the mind and heart
Because
True happiness can be attained
Only if one’s surroundings are good
It’s not true that good exists
I’m sure you can agree that
The reality
Creates
My attitude
It’s all beyond my control
And you’ll never in a million years hear me say
Today was a very good day
Now read it from bottom to top, the other way,
And see what I really feel about my day.
Edmund Burke
Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.
Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.
Queen Elizabeth II
In the old days the monarch led his soldiers on the battlefield and his leadership at all times was close and personal. Today things are very different. I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and … Continue reading “Queen Elizabeth II”
In the old days the monarch led his soldiers on the battlefield and his leadership at all times was close and personal.
Today things are very different. I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.
I believe in our qualities and in our strength, I believe that together we can set an example to the world which will encourage upright people everywhere.
Japanese proverb
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Herodotus
Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.
Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.
Sterling Hayden
Measured in terms of enchantment, is there anything can compare with a chartroom?
Measured in terms of enchantment, is there anything can compare with a chartroom?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
What I learned on my own I still remember.
What I learned on my own I still remember.
R S Thomas
The Bright Field I have seen the sun break through to illuminate a small field for a while, and gone my way and forgotten it. But that was the pearl of great price, the one field that had treasure in it. I realise now that I must give all that I have to possess it. … Continue reading “R S Thomas”
The Bright Field
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
C S Lewis
But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless . . . shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately … Continue reading “C S Lewis”
But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless . . . shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars
My whole, more general, difficulty about praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It’s not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.
Clive James
I am much more interested in the great poem than great poetry.
I am much more interested in the great poem than great poetry.
William James
Our science is a drop, our ignorance a sea.
Our science is a drop, our ignorance a sea.
Alexis De Tocqueville
The American, is the Englishman left to himself.
The American, is the Englishman left to himself.
William Wilberforce
You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.
You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.
Nicholas Nassim Taleb
If you see fraud, and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.
If you see fraud, and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
For things to remain the same, everything must change.
For things to remain the same, everything must change.
George Orwell
England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, … Continue reading “George Orwell”
England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during “God save the King” than of stealing from a poor box.
C S Lewis
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your … Continue reading “C S Lewis”
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
Tony Blair
The election in 2015 could be one in which a traditional left-wing party competes with a traditional right-wing party, with the traditional result
The election in 2015 could be one in which a traditional left-wing party competes with a traditional right-wing party, with the traditional result
Emily Dickinson
My friends are my estate.
My friends are my estate.
Richie Benaud
on leadership: I think there are two aspects of it, I think it needs to be 90% luck and 10% skill but I give you a very strict warning don’t try it without the skill.
on leadership:
I think there are two aspects of it, I think it needs to be 90% luck and 10% skill but I give you a very strict warning don’t try it without the skill.
C S Lewis
Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.
Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.
Robert Burns
On Commissary Goldie’s Brains Lord, to account who dares thee call, Or e’er dispute thy pleasure? Else why, within so thick a wall, Enclose so poor a treasure?
On Commissary Goldie’s Brains
Lord, to account who dares thee call,
Or e’er dispute thy pleasure?
Else why, within so thick a wall,
Enclose so poor a treasure?
Walter Terence Stace
Religion can get on with any sort of astronomy, geology, biology, physics. But it cannot get on with a purposeless and meaningless universe. If the scheme of things is purposeless and meaningless, then the life of man is purposeless and meaningless too. Everything is futile, all effort is in the end worthless. A man may, … Continue reading “Walter Terence Stace”
Religion can get on with any sort of astronomy, geology, biology, physics. But it cannot get on with a purposeless and meaningless universe. If the scheme of things is purposeless and meaningless, then the life of man is purposeless and meaningless too. Everything is futile, all effort is in the end worthless. A man may, of course, still pursue disconnected ends, money, fame, art, science, and may gain pleasure from them. But his life is hollow at the center. Hence the dissatisfied, disillusioned, restless, spirit of modern man.
Mother Teresa (based on a text by Dr Kent Keith)
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere … Continue reading “Mother Teresa (based on a text by Dr Kent Keith)”
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
Monsignor Ronald Knox
The 10 Rules of Detective Fiction 1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow. 2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course. 3. Not more than one secret room … Continue reading “Monsignor Ronald Knox”
The 10 Rules of Detective Fiction
1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.
6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.
7. The detective must not himself commit the crime.
8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.
9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.
10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.
Miroslav Volf
To remember wrongdoing untruthfully is to act unjustly.
To remember wrongdoing untruthfully is to act unjustly.
Christopher Tolkien
Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time. The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution … Continue reading “Christopher Tolkien”
Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time. The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away.
Avril Anderson
Drop English earth on him beneath Do our sons; and their sons bequeath His glories and our pride and grief At Bladon. For Lionheart that lies below That feared not toil nor tears nor foe. Let the oak stand tho’ tempests blow At Bladon. So Churchill sleeps, yet surely wakes Old Warrior where the morning … Continue reading “Avril Anderson”
Drop English earth on him beneath
Do our sons; and their sons bequeath
His glories and our pride and grief
At Bladon.
For Lionheart that lies below
That feared not toil nor tears nor foe.
Let the oak stand tho’ tempests blow
At Bladon.
So Churchill sleeps, yet surely wakes
Old Warrior where the morning breaks
On sunlit uplands. But the heart aches
At Bladon.
Adam Smith
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
Cardinal Richelieu
Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books
Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books
Publilius Syrus
Mighty rivers can be easily leaped at their source
Mighty rivers can be easily leaped at their source
E E Cummings
be of love(a little) More careful Than of everything guard her perhaps only A trifle less (merely beyond how very) closely than Nothing,remember love by frequent anguish(imagine Her least never with most memory)give entirely each Forever its freedom (Dare until a flower, understanding sizelessly sunlight Open what thousandth why and discover laughing)
be of love(a little)
More careful
Than of everything
guard her perhaps only
A trifle less
(merely beyond how very)
closely than
Nothing,remember love by
frequent
anguish(imagine
Her least never with most
memory)give entirely each
Forever its freedom
(Dare until a flower,
understanding sizelessly
sunlight
Open what thousandth why
and
discover laughing)
C S Lewis
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
Frank Johnson
“Stravinsky (I think) said, in a most elaborate jibe, that ‘Richard Strauss is the Puccini of music’. Well, James Callaghan is the Harold Wilson of politics.”
“Stravinsky (I think) said, in a most elaborate jibe, that ‘Richard Strauss is the Puccini of music’. Well, James Callaghan is the Harold Wilson of politics.”
W H Auden
We would rather be ruined than changed
We would rather be ruined than changed
Needles
Robert Burns
Be Britain still to Britain true, Among ourselves united; For never but by British hands Must British wrongs be righted!
Be Britain still to Britain true,
Among ourselves united;
For never but by British hands
Must British wrongs be righted!
William Wilberforce
on the human condition Truly we must pronounce him “majestic though in ruin”.
on the human condition
Truly we must pronounce him “majestic though in ruin”.
Crispin’s Razor
In any argument every time the word “clearly” is used apply the following definition. Clearly: (adverb) an incantation uttered in the hope that a reader or listener will not notice that, whilst the truth of the statement that follows it is essential to case being posited, there is in fact no evidence for the truth … Continue reading “Crispin’s Razor”
In any argument every time the word “clearly” is used apply the following definition.
Clearly: (adverb) an incantation uttered in the hope that a reader or listener will not notice that, whilst the truth of the statement that follows it is essential to case being posited, there is in fact no evidence for the truth of that statement nor does it follow logically from any premise already established. Synonyms “undoubtedly”, “naturally”.
Wanda Landowska (harpsichordist)
I never practice, I always play.
I never practice, I always play.
Misunderstanding
“Your adorable” she texted “No YOU’RE adorable” I texted back and now she thinks I like her and all I was doing was correcting her English.
“Your adorable” she texted
“No YOU’RE adorable” I texted back
and now she thinks I like her and all I was doing was correcting her English.
Steve Jobs (in 1983)
[Apple’s] strategy is really simple. What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes … and we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don’t have … Continue reading “Steve Jobs (in 1983)”
[Apple’s] strategy is really simple. What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes … and we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don’t have to hook up to anything and you’re in communication with all of these larger databases and other computers.
Milton Friedman
One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.
One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.
H L Mencken
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
Christian Bovee
Example has more followers than reason.
Example has more followers than reason.
Einstein and Chaplin (possibly)
Einstein: What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You don’t say a word, yet the world understands you. Chaplin: It is true but your glory is even greater: The whole world admires you, even though they don’t understand a word of what you say.
Einstein: What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You don’t say a word, yet the world understands you.
Chaplin: It is true but your glory is even greater: The whole world admires you, even though they don’t understand a word of what you say.
Sterling Hayden
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea — “cruising,” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who … Continue reading “Sterling Hayden”
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea — “cruising,” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.
Paul Krugman (in 1998)
The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s law”–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants–becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s … Continue reading “Paul Krugman (in 1998)”
The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s law”–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants–becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.
Francis Bacon
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; morals, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; morals, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
C S Lewis
The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal.
The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal.
Tim Harford
As human freedoms go, the freedom to take your custom elsewhere is not a grand or noble one – but neither is it one that we should abandon without a fight.
As human freedoms go, the freedom to take your custom elsewhere is not a grand or noble one – but neither is it one that we should abandon without a fight.
T S Eliot
Words strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still.
Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.
T E Lawrence
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.
Tony Benn
If one meets a powerful person – Rupert Murdoch, perhaps, or Joe Stalin or Hitler – one can ask five questions: what power do you have; where did you get it; in whose interests do you exercise it; to whom are you accountable; and, how can we get rid of you? Anyone who cannot answer … Continue reading “Tony Benn”
If one meets a powerful person – Rupert Murdoch, perhaps, or Joe Stalin or Hitler – one can ask five questions: what power do you have; where did you get it; in whose interests do you exercise it; to whom are you accountable; and, how can we get rid of you? Anyone who cannot answer the last of those questions does not live in a democratic system.
Kwesi Brew
The Mesh We have come to the cross-roads And I must either leave or come with you. I lingered over the choice But in the darkness of my doubts You lifted the lamp of love And I saw in your face The road that I should take.
The Mesh
We have come to the cross-roads
And I must either leave or come with you.
I lingered over the choice
But in the darkness of my doubts
You lifted the lamp of love
And I saw in your face
The road that I should take.
C S Lewis
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
We are half-hearted creatures,
fooling about with drink and sex and
ambition when infinite joy is offered us,
like an ignorant child who wants to go on
making mud pies in a slum because he
cannot imagine what is meant by the offer
of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily
pleased.
Tom Stoppard
14th March Einstein born, Quite unprepared, For E to equal MC squared
14th March
Einstein born,
Quite unprepared,
For E to equal
MC squared
Malcolm Muggeridge
The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realise, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth.
The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realise, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth.
Rumi
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment
David Coleman
If that had gone in, it would have been a goal.
If that had gone in, it would have been a goal.
William Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard. It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Ian Dury
The Bus Driver’s Prayer Our Father, Who art in Hendon Harrow Road be Thy name Thy Kingston come Thy Wimbledon In Erith as it is in Hendon. Give us this day our Berkhamsted And forgive us our Westminsters As we forgive those who Westminster against us. Lead us not into Temple Station And deliver us … Continue reading “Ian Dury”
The Bus Driver’s Prayer
Our Father,
Who art in Hendon
Harrow Road be Thy name
Thy Kingston come
Thy Wimbledon
In Erith as it is in Hendon.
Give us this day our Berkhamsted
And forgive us our Westminsters
As we forgive those who Westminster against us.
Lead us not into Temple Station
And deliver us from Ealing,
For thine is the Kingston
The Purley and the Crawley,
For Iver and Iver.
Crouch End.
Thomas Hood
No sun – no moon! No morn – no noon – No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day. No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member – No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! – November!
No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon –
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! –
November!
Stir Up Sunday (from the collect for the last Sunday before Advent)
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
C S Lewis
The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning
The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning
Abraham Lincoln
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We … Continue reading “Abraham Lincoln”
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war; we are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, but in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or to detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us here to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain. That the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Ian McMillan
Lamb’s Conduit Street A world in miniature; a universe in a grain of sand. You can look from one end and see the other end. You couldn’t call it majestic. It isn’t very grand And yet I think it’s monumental. A nuanced blend Of shops and popups and café’s you can pop in, Slip out … Continue reading “Ian McMillan”
Lamb’s Conduit Street
A world in miniature; a universe in a grain of sand.
You can look from one end and see the other end.
You couldn’t call it majestic. It isn’t very grand
And yet I think it’s monumental. A nuanced blend
Of shops and popups and café’s you can pop in,
Slip out of carrying coffee that makes everything clear
And somehow this street quietens the city’s din
And concentrates the careworn mind to the sheer
Pleasure of simply walking down a welcoming street
That asks you to pause, take your time, have a look
And follow a different, independent, subtle beat.
Buy a shirt. Buy a croissant. Meet your mate. Buy a book.
I went there with my son and he turned to me and said
‘This is the perfect street. I’ll always live here in my head.’
Christopher Logue
To a Friend in Search of Rural Seclusion When all else fails, Try Wales.
To a Friend in Search of Rural Seclusion
When all else fails,
Try Wales.
Adam Smith
The frugality and industry of private people can repair the breaches which the extravagance of government makes in society’s capital.
The frugality and industry of private people can repair the breaches which the extravagance of government makes in society’s capital.
John Davidson
For she’s made of flint and roses, very odd;
For she’s made of flint and roses, very odd;
Leonardo da Vinci
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
Calvin Coolidge (possibly)
Women sitting next to him at dinner: Oh Mr President my friend bet me I wouldn’t be able to get you to say three words to me tonight. Coolidge: You lose
Women sitting next to him at dinner: Oh Mr President my friend bet me I wouldn’t be able to get you to say three words to me tonight.
Coolidge: You lose
Milton Friedman
We economists don’t know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers can’t sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you’ll have a tomato shortage. It’s the same with oil or gas.
We economists don’t know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers can’t sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you’ll have a tomato shortage. It’s the same with oil or gas.
Robert Browning
Meeting at Night The grey sea and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and low; And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep, As I gain the cove with pushing prow, And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand. Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; Three … Continue reading “Robert Browning”
Meeting at Night
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro’ its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each.
Elmore Leonard
10 Rules of Good Writing 1 Never open a book with weather. 2 Avoid prologues. 3 Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. 4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … he admonished gravely. 5 Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or … Continue reading “Elmore Leonard”
10 Rules of Good Writing
1 Never open a book with weather.
2 Avoid prologues.
3 Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … he admonished gravely.
5 Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6 Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9 Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
The most important rule is one that sums up the 10, if it sounds like writing, rewrite it.
T S Eliot
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm — but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm — but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
Richard Rohr
To finally surrender ourselves to healing, we have to have three spaces opened within us – and all at the same time; our opinionated head, our closed down heart, and our defensive and defended body.
To finally surrender ourselves to healing, we have to have three spaces opened within us – and all at the same time; our opinionated head, our closed down heart, and our defensive and defended body.
William Douglas-Home
Smoke Answer to the exam question “What is the future of coal?”
Smoke
Answer to the exam question “What is the future of coal?”
William Morris (possibly)
Morris said to have spent much of his time in Paris in the Eiffel tower, painting, sketching, writing and taking many of his meals in its restaurant. One of the restaurant staff noticed he was a regular visitor and said, “You are certainly impressed with our Tower, monsieur!” “Impressed?!!” said Morris. “This is the only … Continue reading “William Morris (possibly)”
Morris said to have spent much of his time in Paris in the Eiffel tower, painting, sketching, writing and taking many of his meals in its restaurant.
One of the restaurant staff noticed he was a regular visitor and said, “You are certainly impressed with our Tower, monsieur!”
“Impressed?!!” said Morris. “This is the only place in Paris where I can avoid seeing the thing!”
G K Chesterton
We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality only means that, for certain dead levels of our life, we forget what we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant, we remember what we forgot
We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality only means that, for certain dead levels of our life, we forget what we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant, we remember what we forgot
C S Lewis
True Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth. successfully tested for at least two further iterations
True Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth.
successfully tested for at least two further iterations
Charles Mackay
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Alan Leshner
The plural of ‘anecdote’ is not ‘evidence’
The plural of ‘anecdote’ is not ‘evidence’
On Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
A bishop interviewing Justin Welby when he first put himself forward for ordination: I have interviewed a thousand candidates for ordination and you don’t come in the top thousand.
A bishop interviewing Justin Welby when he first put himself forward for ordination:
I have interviewed a thousand candidates for ordination and you don’t come in the top thousand.
Graffito
Things I hate 1) Vandalism 2) Irony 3) Lists
Things I hate
1) Vandalism
2) Irony
3) Lists
Margaret Thatcher
I had applied for a job at Imperial Chemical Industries in 1948 and was called for a personal interview. However I failed to get selected. Many years later, I succeeded in finding out why I had been rejected. The remarks written by the selectors on my application were: “This woman is headstrong, obstinate and dangerously … Continue reading “Margaret Thatcher”
I had applied for a job at Imperial Chemical Industries in 1948 and was called for a personal interview. However I failed to get selected. Many years later, I succeeded in finding out why I had been rejected. The remarks written by the selectors on my application were: “This woman is headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated!”
Michael Symmons Roberts
Jairus So, God takes your child by the hand and pulls her from her deathbed. He says: ‘Feed her, she is ravenous.’ You give her fruits with thick hides – pomegranate, cantaloupe – food with weight, to keep her here. You hope that if she eats enough the light and dust and love which weave … Continue reading “Michael Symmons Roberts”
Jairus
So, God takes your child by the hand
and pulls her from her deathbed.
He says: ‘Feed her, she is ravenous.’
You give her fruits with thick hides
– pomegranate, cantaloupe –
food with weight, to keep her here.
You hope that if she eats enough
the light and dust and love
which weave the matrix of her body
will not fray, nor wear so thin
that morning sun breaks through her,
shadowless, complete.
Somehow this reanimation
has cut sharp the fear of death,
the shock of presence. Feed her
roast lamb, egg, unleavened bread:
forget the herbs, she has an aching
fast to break. Sit by her side,
split skins for her so she can gorge,
and notice how the dawn
draws colour to her just-kissed face.
Albert Bartlett
The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.
The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.
Winston Churchill
On September 28 the fleet came safely to anchor in Pevensey Bay. There was no opposition to the landing. The local “fyrd” had been called out this year four times already to watch the coast, and having, in true English style, come to the conclusion that the danger was past because it had not yet … Continue reading “Winston Churchill”
On September 28 the fleet came safely to anchor in Pevensey Bay. There was no opposition to the landing. The local “fyrd” had been called out this year four times already to watch the coast, and having, in true English style, come to the conclusion that the danger was past because it had not yet arrived had gone back to their homes.
Tom Stoppard
Milne: No matter how imperfect things are, if you’ve got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable. Ruth: I’m with you on the free press. It’s the newspapers I can’t stand.
Milne: No matter how imperfect things are, if you’ve got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable.
Ruth: I’m with you on the free press. It’s the newspapers I can’t stand.
Lord Tennyson
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
George Macdonald
That is always the way with you men; you believe nothing the first time; and it is foolish enough to let mere repetition convince you of what you consider in itself unbelievable.
That is always the way with you men; you believe nothing the first time; and it is foolish enough to let mere repetition convince you of what you consider in itself unbelievable.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so odds with prayer as vanity
It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so odds with prayer as vanity
Once removed
Show this bold Prussian that praises slaughter, slaughter brings rout. becomes How his old Russian hat raises laughter, laughter rings out.
Show this bold Prussian that praises slaughter, slaughter brings rout.
becomes
How his old Russian hat raises laughter, laughter rings out.
Charles Handy
The McNamara Fallacy The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes. The second step is to disregard that which can’t be easily measured or to give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading. The third step is to presume that what … Continue reading “Charles Handy”
The McNamara Fallacy
The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes.
The second step is to disregard that which can’t be easily measured or to give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading.
The third step is to presume that what can’t be measured easily really isn’t important. This is blindness.
The fourth step is to say that what can’t be easily measured really doesn’t exist. This is suicide.
H L Mencken (possibly)
When I hear artists or authors making fun of business men, I think of a regiment in which the band makes fun of the cooks.
When I hear artists or authors making fun of business men, I think of a regiment in which the band makes fun of the cooks.
Richard Feynman
What is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.
What is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.
Gustave Flaubert
Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.
Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.
Winston Churchill
of Charles de Gaulle He looks like a female llama who has just been surprised in her bath.
of Charles de Gaulle
He looks like a female llama who has just been surprised in her bath.
Thomas Traherne
News from a foreign country came As if my treasure and my wealth lay there; So much it did my heart inflame, ‘Twas wont to call my Soul into mine ear; Which thither went to meet The approaching sweet, And on the threshold stood To entertain the unknown Good. It hover’d there As if ‘twould … Continue reading “Thomas Traherne”
News from a foreign country came
As if my treasure and my wealth lay there;
So much it did my heart inflame,
‘Twas wont to call my Soul into mine ear;
Which thither went to meet
The approaching sweet,
And on the threshold stood
To entertain the unknown Good.
It hover’d there
As if ‘twould leave mine ear,
And was so eager to embrace
The joyful tidings as they came,
‘Twould almost leave its dwelling-place
To entertain that same.
C S Lewis
Adherents of Xmas are exhausted and overextended but Christmas worshipers are joyful. Are you rushing or feasting?
Adherents of Xmas are exhausted and overextended but Christmas worshipers are joyful. Are you rushing or feasting?
C. S. Lewis
It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.
It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.
Samuel Johnson
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
Yehuda Amichai
The Place Where We Are Right From the place where we are right Flowers will never grow In the spring. The place where we are right Is hard and trampled Like a yard. But doubts and loves Dig up the world Like a mole, a plow. And a whisper will be heard in the place … Continue reading “Yehuda Amichai”
The Place Where We Are Right
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.
But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.
John Rogers
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Hugh Kingsmill
The well-to-do do not want the poor to suffer. They wish them to be as happy as is consistent with the continued prosperity of the well-to-do.
The well-to-do do not want the poor to suffer. They wish them to be as happy as is consistent with the continued prosperity of the well-to-do.
G K Chesterton
To be a failure may be one step to being a saint
To be a failure may be one step to being a saint
Hugh Kingsmill
People who can repeat what you are saying aren’t listening
People who can repeat what you are saying aren’t listening
Tom Stoppard
(from his television adaption of Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End) A flat in Holborn! I couldn’t have imagined anything more humiliating!
(from his television adaption of Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End)
A flat in Holborn! I couldn’t have imagined anything more humiliating!
G K Chesterton
…the reason why the lives of the rich are at bottom so tame and uneventful is simply that they can choose the events. They are dull because they are omnipotent. They fail to feel adventures because they can make the adventures. The thing which keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities is the existence … Continue reading “G K Chesterton”
…the reason why the lives of the rich are at bottom so tame and uneventful is simply that they can choose the events. They are dull because they are omnipotent. They fail to feel adventures because they can make the adventures. The thing which keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities is the existence of these great plain limitations which force all of us to meet the things we do not like or do not expect.
Woody Guthrie
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we … Continue reading “Woody Guthrie”
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.
Sir Thomas Browne
Be charitable before Wealth makes thee covetous.
Be charitable before Wealth makes thee covetous.
Claude Debussy
of Richard Wagner A beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn.
of Richard Wagner
A beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Snr)
He must be a poor creature that does not often repeat himself.
He must be a poor creature that does not often repeat himself.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Snr)
He must be a poor creature that does not often repeat himself.
He must be a poor creature that does not often repeat himself.
Willard Van Orman Quine
Quine’s Paradox “Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation” yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.
Quine’s Paradox
“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation” yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.
Engraved
Nikainetos, third century BC I am the grave of Biton, traveller: If from Torone to Amphipolis you go Give Nicagoras this message: his one son Died in a storm, in early winter, before sunrise.
Nikainetos, third century BC
I am the grave of Biton, traveller:
If from Torone to Amphipolis you go
Give Nicagoras this message: his one son
Died in a storm, in early winter, before sunrise.
Of John Wycliffe
The Avon to the Severn runs, The Severn to the sea, And Wycliffe’s dust shall spread abroad, Wide as the waters be. 50 years after his death Wycliffe, who instigated the first full translation of the bible into English, was condemned for heresy and his body was dug up, his bones burned and his ashes … Continue reading “Of John Wycliffe”
The Avon to the Severn runs,
The Severn to the sea,
And Wycliffe’s dust shall spread abroad,
Wide as the waters be.
50 years after his death Wycliffe, who instigated the first full translation of the bible into English, was condemned for heresy and his body was dug up, his bones burned and his ashes poured into the river Avon
The English Lesson
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes; But the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, But the plural of … Continue reading “The English Lesson”
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and showed you my feet,
When I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this, and the plural is these,
Why shouldn’t the plural of kiss be kese?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
So plurals in English, I think you’ll agree,
Are indeed very tricky–singularly.
E F Schumacher
Once you have a formula and an electronic computer, there is an awful temptation to squeeze the lemon until it is dry and present a picture of the future which through its very precision and verisimilitude carries conviction. Yet a man who uses an imaginary map, thinking it a true one, is likely to be … Continue reading “E F Schumacher”
Once you have a formula and an electronic computer, there is an awful temptation to squeeze the lemon until it is dry and present a picture of the future which through its very precision and verisimilitude carries conviction. Yet a man who uses an imaginary map, thinking it a true one, is likely to be worse off than someone with no map at all; for he will fail to inquire wherever he can, to observe every detail on his way, and to search continuously with all his senses and all his intelligence for indications of where he should go.
Michael Johnson
I didn’t have a pre-race ritual, only a post race one – I stood on a podium and someone put a medal around my neck.
I didn’t have a pre-race ritual, only a post race one – I stood on a podium and someone put a medal around my neck.
Thomas Pryor Gore (Gore Vidal’s grandfather)
Never have children, only grandchildren
Never have children, only grandchildren
Karen Lamb
A year from now you may wish you had started today.
A year from now you may wish you had started today.
From the funeral of Otto Von Habsburg
The following traditional Habsburg entombment “knocking” ceremony took place at the door of Vienna’s Capuchin Friary after the funeral followed of Otto Von Habsburg. FIRST KNOCK Capuchin Friar : “Who desires admission?” Leader of funeral party: “Otto of Austria, former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, … Continue reading “From the funeral of Otto Von Habsburg”
The following traditional Habsburg entombment “knocking” ceremony took place at the door of Vienna’s Capuchin Friary after the funeral followed of Otto Von Habsburg.
FIRST KNOCK
Capuchin Friar : “Who desires admission?”
Leader of funeral party: “Otto of Austria, former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukowina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Osweicim and Zator, of Teschen, Friaul, Dubrovnik and Zadar; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trento and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria: Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenburg; Lord of Trieste, Kotor and Windic March; Grand Voivod of the Voivodship of Serbia”
Friar : “We do not know him!”
SECOND KNOCK
Friar : “Who desires admission?”
Leader : “Dr Otto von Habsburg; President and Honorary President of the Pan-European Union; Member and Father of the House of the European Parliament; Holder of honorary doctorates from countless universities and freeman of many communities in Central Europe; Member of numerous noble academies and institutes; Bearer of high and highest awards, decorations and honours of church and state made to him in recognition of his decade-long struggle for the freedom of peoples, for right and justice.”
Friar: “We do not know him!”
THIRD KNOCK
Friar : “Who desires admission?”
Leader : “Otto — a mortal, sinful man!”
Friar: “Let him be admitted.”
Fred Perry
casual comment made within hearing of his opponent in the changing room before a big final I wouldn’t want to be playing me today.
casual comment made within hearing of his opponent in the changing room before a big final
I wouldn’t want to be playing me today.
Matthew Parris
We have been living beyond our means. We have been paying ourselves more than our efforts were earning. We sought political leaders who would assure us that the good times would never end and that the centuries of boom and bust were over; and we voted for those who offered that assurance. We sought credit … Continue reading “Matthew Parris”
We have been living beyond our means. We have been paying ourselves more than our efforts were earning. We sought political leaders who would assure us that the good times would never end and that the centuries of boom and bust were over; and we voted for those who offered that assurance. We sought credit for which we had no security and we gave our business to the banks that advertised it. We wanted higher exam grades for our children and were rewarded with politicians prepared to supply them by lowering exam standards. We wanted free and better health care and demanded chancellors who paid for it without putting up our taxes. We wanted salacious stories in our newspapers and bought the papers that broke the rules to provide them. And now we whimper and snarl at MPs, bankers and journalists. Fair enough, my friends, but, you know, we really are all in this together.
Bruce Cockburn
I’ve been scraping little shavings off my ration of light And I’ve formed it into a ball, and each time I pack a bit more onto it I make a bowl of my hands and I scoop it from its secret cache Under a loose board in the floor And I blow across it and … Continue reading “Bruce Cockburn”
I’ve been scraping little shavings off my ration of light
And I’ve formed it into a ball, and each time I pack a bit more onto it
I make a bowl of my hands and I scoop it from its secret cache
Under a loose board in the floor
And I blow across it and I send it to you
Against those moments when
The darkness blows under your door
Isn’t that what friends are for?
xkcd
(an unmatched left parenthesis creates a unresolved tension that will stay with you all day
(an unmatched left parenthesis creates a unresolved tension that will stay with you all day
Duke of Wellington
A message to the Foreign Office from Central Spain, August 1812 Gentlemen, Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch to our … Continue reading “Duke of Wellington”
A message to the Foreign Office from Central Spain, August 1812
Gentlemen,
Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch to our headquarters.
We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all manner of sundry items for which His Majesty’s Government holds me accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit, and spleen of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for, with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence.
Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and ninepence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battalion’s petty cash and there has been a hideous confusion as the number of jars of raspberry jam issued
to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance, since we are at war with France, a fact which may come
as a bit of a surprise to you gentlemen in Whitehall.
This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of my instructions from His Majesty’s Government so that I may better understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I
construe that perforce it must be one of two alternative duties, as given below. I shall pursue either one with the best of my ability, but I cannot do both:
1. To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the benefit of the accountants and copy-boys in London or perchance,
2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain.
Your most obedient servant
Wellington
Ray Bradbury
Digression is the soul of wit.
Digression is the soul of wit.
Emily Dickinson
This World is not Conclusion. This World is not Conclusion. A Species stands beyond — Invisible, as Music — But positive, as Sound — It beckons, and it baffles — Philosophy — don’t know — And through a Riddle, at the last — Sagacity, must go — To guess it, puzzles scholars — To gain … Continue reading “Emily Dickinson”
This World is not Conclusion.
This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond —
Invisible, as Music —
But positive, as Sound —
It beckons, and it baffles —
Philosophy — don’t know —
And through a Riddle, at the last —
Sagacity, must go —
To guess it, puzzles scholars —
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown —
Faith slips — and laughs, and rallies —
Blushes, if any see —
Plucks at a twig of Evidence —
And asks a Vane, the way —
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit —
Strong Hallelujahs roll —
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul —
George Eliot
What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
Muphry’s Law
1.if you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be a fault in what you have written; 2.if an author thanks you in a book for your editing or proofreading, there will be mistakes in the book; 3.the stronger the sentiment in (a) and (b), the greater the fault; and 4.any book devoted to … Continue reading “Muphry’s Law”
1.if you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be a fault in what you have written;
2.if an author thanks you in a book for your editing or proofreading, there will be mistakes in the book;
3.the stronger the sentiment in (a) and (b), the greater the fault; and
4.any book devoted to editing or style will be internally inconsistent.
Sam Walter Foss
Strew gladness on the paths of men— You will not pass this way again.
Strew gladness on the paths of men—
You will not pass this way again.
Michelangelo
If you knew how much work went into it, you would not call it genius.
If you knew how much work went into it, you would not call it genius.
Themistocles
to his son For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians; your mother commands me, and you command your mother.
to his son
For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians; your mother commands me, and you command your mother.
Ross McKitrick
I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there.
I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there.
Richard Buckminster Fuller
Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers.
Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers.
Admiral John Jervis
On the prospects of the a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars. I do not say they cannot come – I only say they cannot come by sea.
On the prospects of the a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars.
I do not say they cannot come – I only say they cannot come by sea.
Max Planck
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.
John Betjeman
In A Bath Teashop “Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another — Let us hold hands and look.” She such a very ordinary little woman; He such a thumping crook; But both, for a moment, little lower than the angels In the teashop’s ingle-nook.
In A Bath Teashop
“Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another —
Let us hold hands and look.”
She such a very ordinary little woman;
He such a thumping crook;
But both, for a moment, little lower than the angels
In the teashop’s ingle-nook.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.
Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.
Gehm’s Corollary
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Christina Rossetti
Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank.
Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank.
Philip Larkin
Snow fell, undated. Light
Snow fell, undated. Light
Federico Fellini
A good opening and a good ending make for a good film provided they come close together.
A good opening and a good ending make for a good film provided they come close together.
Johannes Kepler
Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.
Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.
Emanuel Lasker
When you see a good move, look for a better one.
When you see a good move, look for a better one.
Hilaire Belloc
The south-west wind roaring in from the Atlantic…. is, I think the presiding genius of England.
The south-west wind roaring in from the Atlantic…. is, I think the presiding genius of England.
Tigran Petrosian
on being asked which was his favorite chess piece It does not really matter, as long as it is an extra one.
on being asked which was his favorite chess piece
It does not really matter, as long as it is an extra one.
Juvenal
No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.
No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.
Igor Stravinsky
Harpists spend 90% of their time tuning their harps and 10% playing out of tune. This is a great metaphor – I just haven’t worked out what for!
Harpists spend 90% of their time tuning their harps and 10% playing out of tune.
This is a great metaphor – I just haven’t worked out what for!
Philip Larkin
New Year Poem Tomorrow in the offices the year on the stamps will be altered; Tomorrow new diaries consulted, new calendars stand; With such small adjustments life will again move forward Implicating us all; and the voice of the living be heard: “It is to us that you should turn your straying attention; Us who … Continue reading “Philip Larkin”
New Year Poem
Tomorrow in the offices the year on the stamps will be altered;
Tomorrow new diaries consulted, new calendars stand;
With such small adjustments life will again move forward
Implicating us all; and the voice of the living be heard:
“It is to us that you should turn your straying attention;
Us who need you, and are affected by your fortune;
Us you should love and to whom you should give your word.”
31 December 1940
C S Lewis
“Always winter and never Christmas; think of that.” said Tumnus. “How awful!” said Lucy.
“Always winter and never Christmas; think of that.” said Tumnus. “How awful!” said Lucy.
John Maynard Keynes
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.
Christopher Hitchens
Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realise that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.
Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realise that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.
Vaclav Havel
As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.
As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.
Alexander Pope
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
T S Eliot
We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
E E Cummings
A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.
A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.
Michel de Montaigne
My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.
My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.
Leonard Bernstein
To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.
To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.
Ellen Sturgis Hooper
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty. Was thy dream then a shadowy lie? Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly; And thou shalt find thy dream to be A truth and noonday light to thee.
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?
Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly;
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A truth and noonday light to thee.
Archilochus
The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog one good one.
The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog one good one.
Alfred Adler
The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.
The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.
Oscar Wilde
“?” Single letter telegram sent by Wilde from Paris to his publisher in Britain inquiring how his new book was doing. The publisher cabled an, arguably, marginally briefer reply: “!”
“?”
Single letter telegram sent by Wilde from Paris to his publisher in Britain inquiring how his new book was doing.
The publisher cabled an, arguably, marginally briefer reply:
“!”
Clement Freud
Clement Freud (grandson of Sigmund) was visiting China as part of a parliamentary delegation with Winston Churchill MP and he asked of the authorities… “I am in your country with a colleague, than whom I am older, have been in parliament longer, have held higher positions in our respective political parties: we are both staying … Continue reading “Clement Freud”
Clement Freud (grandson of Sigmund) was visiting China as part of a parliamentary delegation with Winston Churchill MP and he asked of the authorities…
“I am in your country with a colleague, than whom I am older, have been in parliament longer, have held higher positions in our respective political parties: we are both staying at the Peking Palace Hotel and his suite is bigger than mine. Why?”
The Minister, very embarrassed, finally said: “It is because Mr Churchill had a famous grandfather.”
Clement reflected that “It is the only time that I have been out-grandfathered.”
Thomas Treherne
Till you can sing and rejoice and delight in God, as misers do in gold, and Kings in sceptres, you never enjoy the world.
Till you can sing and rejoice and delight in God, as misers do in gold, and Kings in sceptres, you never enjoy the world.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.
The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.
Jorge Luis Borges
Any time something is written against me, I not only share the sentiment but feel I could do the job far better myself. Perhaps I should advise would-be enemies to send me their grievances beforehand, with full assurance that they will receive my every aid and support. I have even secretly longed to write, under … Continue reading “Jorge Luis Borges”
Any time something is written against me, I not only share the sentiment but feel I could do the job far better myself. Perhaps I should advise would-be enemies to send me their grievances beforehand, with full assurance that they will receive my every aid and support. I have even secretly longed to write, under a pen name, a merciless tirade against myself.
G K Chesterton
Rossetti makes the remark somewhere, bitterly but with great truth, that the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.
Rossetti makes the remark somewhere, bitterly but with great truth, that the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.
Robert Anton Wilson
It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea.
It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea.
Walter Miller Jr
(in slightly different words previously incorrectly attributed to C S Lewis) You don’t have a soul, Doctor. You are a soul. You have a body, temporarily.
(in slightly different words previously incorrectly attributed to C S Lewis)
You don’t have a soul, Doctor. You are a soul. You have a body, temporarily.
Niels Bohr
There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature…
There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature…
P G Wodehouse
Travel is highly educational. I can’t do with any more education. I was full up years ago.
Travel is highly educational.
I can’t do with any more education. I was full up years ago.
C S Lewis
Most political sermons teach the congregation nothing except what newspapers are taken at the Rectory
Most political sermons teach the congregation nothing except what newspapers are taken at the Rectory
John Steinbeck
Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
John S Coleman
The point to remember is what the government gives it must first take away.
The point to remember is what the government gives it must first take away.
William Butler Yeats
Sailing To Byzantium That is no country for old men. The young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees —Those dying generations—at their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unageing intellect. … Continue reading “William Butler Yeats”
Sailing To Byzantium
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
Kahlil Gibran
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
William Carey
I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.
I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.
Jean-Claude Juncker
We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it.
We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it.
Emma Rounds
‘Twas Euclid, and the theorem pi Did plane and solid in the text, All parallel were the radii, And the ang-gulls convex’d. “Beware the Wentworth-Smith, my son, And the Loci that vacillate; Beware the Axiom, and shun The faithless Postulate.” He took his Waterman in hand; Long time the proper proof he sought; Then rested … Continue reading “Emma Rounds”
‘Twas Euclid, and the theorem pi
Did plane and solid in the text,
All parallel were the radii,
And the ang-gulls convex’d.
“Beware the Wentworth-Smith, my son,
And the Loci that vacillate;
Beware the Axiom, and shun
The faithless Postulate.”
He took his Waterman in hand;
Long time the proper proof he sought;
Then rested he by the XYZ
And sat awhile in thought.
And as in inverse thought he sat
A brilliant proof, in lines of flame,
All neat and trim, it came to him,
Tangenting as it came.
“AB, CD,” reflected he–
The Waterman went snicker-snack–
He Q.E.D.-ed, and, proud indeed,
He trapezoided back.
“And hast thou proved the 29th?
Come to my arms, my radius boy!
O good for you! O one point two!”
He rhombused in his joy.
‘Twas Euclid, and the theorem pi
Did plane and solid in the text;
All parallel were the radii,
And the ang-gulls convex’d.
Precise Tweet
@JamieFro: Someone recently told me: “We’d have less arguments if you weren’t so pedantic”. I replied, “Don’t you mean ‘fewer’?”
@JamieFro: Someone recently told me: “We’d have less arguments if you weren’t so pedantic”. I replied, “Don’t you mean ‘fewer’?”
Barbara Tuchman
History is the unfolding of miscalculations
History is the unfolding of miscalculations
Immanuel Kant
… skepticism is a resting place for reason, … but it cannot be its permanent dwelling-place.
… skepticism is a resting place for reason, … but it cannot be its permanent dwelling-place.
Soren Kierkegaard
Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.
Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.
Richard Feynman
Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.
Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.
James Mackintosh
It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are.
It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are.
G K Chesterton
Fairyland is nothing but the sunny country of common sense.
Fairyland is nothing but the sunny country of common sense.
Roald Amundsen
Adventure is just bad planning.
Adventure is just bad planning.
David Thomson
Eyebrows are made to be raised.
Eyebrows are made to be raised.
Natsume Soseki
The winds that blow Ask them, which leaf of the tree Will be the next to go.
The winds that blow
Ask them, which leaf of the tree
Will be the next to go.
Martin Gardner
The last level of metaphor in the Alice books is this: that life, viewed rationally and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician. At the heart of things science finds only a mad, never-ending quadrille of Mock Turtle Waves and Gryphon Particles. For a moment the waves and particles … Continue reading “Martin Gardner”
The last level of metaphor in the Alice books is this: that life, viewed rationally and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician. At the heart of things science finds only a mad, never-ending quadrille of Mock Turtle Waves and Gryphon Particles. For a moment the waves and particles dance in grotesque, inconceivably complex patterns capable of reflecting on their own absurdity.
Saint Augustine
Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die
Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die
Roger McGough
The only problem with Haiku is that you just get started and then
The only problem
with Haiku is that you just
get started and then
Marianne Moore
a definition of poetry “imaginary gardens with real toads in them”
a definition of poetry
“imaginary gardens with real toads in them”
Samuel Beckett
I was not made for the great light that devours, a dim lamp was all I had been given, and patience without end, to shine it on the empty shadows.
I was not made for the great light that devours, a dim lamp was all I had been given, and patience without end, to shine it on the empty shadows.
Will Durant
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
Michael Faraday
The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.
The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.
Immanuel Kant
Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved
Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved
From the movie “Hud”
Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire.
Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire.
Milton Friedman
Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.
Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.
Samuel Butler
The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.
The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.
Truman Capote
of Jack Kerouac That’s not writing, that’s typing!
of Jack Kerouac
That’s not writing, that’s typing!
Henry Thomas Buckle
on playing chess against a slow playing opponent The slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is intolerable.
on playing chess against a slow playing opponent
The slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is intolerable.
Charles V – Holy Roman Emporer
Fortune hath somewhat the nature of a woman; if she be too much wooed, she is the farther off.
Fortune hath somewhat the nature of a woman; if she be too much wooed, she is the farther off.
Joseph Pulitzer
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Matt Harvey
Where Earwigs Dare A silver trail across the monitor; fresh mouse-droppings beneath the swivel-chair; the view obscured by rogue japonica. Released into the wild, where earwigs dare – you first went freelance – and then gently feral. You worked from home – then wandered out again, roughed it with spider, ant, shrew, blackbird, squirrel in … Continue reading “Matt Harvey”
Where Earwigs Dare
A silver trail across the monitor;
fresh mouse-droppings beneath the swivel-chair;
the view obscured by rogue japonica.
Released into the wild, where earwigs dare –
you first went freelance – and then gently feral.
You worked from home – then wandered out again,
roughed it with spider, ant, shrew, blackbird, squirrel
in your won realm, your micro-Vatican.
No name conveys exactly what it is –
Chalet? Gazebo? You were not misled
by studios, snugs, garden offices,
workshops or outhouses. A shed’s a shed –
and proud of it. You wouldn’t want to hide it.
Wi-Fi-enabled rain-proof wooden box –
a box to sit in while you think outside it.
Self-rattling cage, den, poop-deck, paradox,
hutch with home-rule, cramped cubicle of freedom,
laboratory, thought-palace, bodger’s bower,
plot both to sow seeds and to go to seed in,
cobwebbed, Cuprinol-scented, Seat of Power.
Lido Anthony Iacocca
My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.
My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.
Karl Popper
The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, retires from the game.
The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, retires from the game.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The opposite of success isn’t failure; it is name-dropping.
The opposite of success isn’t failure; it is name-dropping.
Vitruvius
Building well has three conditions: firmness, commodity, and delight.
Building well has three conditions: firmness, commodity, and delight.
Ricardo Reis (Hetronym of Fernando Pessoa)
To be great, be whole: don’t exaggerate Or leave out any part of you. Be complete in each thing. Put all you are Into the least of your acts. So too in each lake, with its lofty life, The whole moon shines.
To be great, be whole: don’t exaggerate
Or leave out any part of you.
Be complete in each thing. Put all you are
Into the least of your acts.
So too in each lake, with its lofty life,
The whole moon shines.
William Shakespeare
So foul a sky clears not without a storm
So foul a sky clears not without a storm
Michel de Montaigne
My reason is not framed to bend or stoop; my knees are.
My reason is not framed to bend or stoop; my knees are.
African Proverb
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
Friedrich Hayek
Liberty is an opportunity for doing good, but this is only so when it is also an opportunity for doing wrong.
Liberty is an opportunity for doing good, but this is only so when it is also an opportunity for doing wrong.
Sigmund Freud
Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.
Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.
Anthony Trollope
He was not so anxious to prove himself right, as to be so.
He was not so anxious to prove himself right, as to be so.
Ronald Reagan
Don’t just do something. Stand there.
Don’t just do something. Stand there.
P G Wodehouse
Aunt Dahlia was staring at Jeeves like a bear about to receive a bun.
Aunt Dahlia was staring at Jeeves like a bear about to receive a bun.
Mikhail Bulgakov
Manuscripts don’t burn
Manuscripts don’t burn
Honest Epitaph
Epitaph of Sir John Strange, Master of the Rolls, who died, at the age of fifty-eight, in 1754. Here lies an honest lawyer,– that is Strange. found here
Epitaph of Sir John Strange, Master of the Rolls, who died, at the age of fifty-eight, in 1754.
Here lies an honest lawyer,–
that is Strange.
found here
Jules Henri Poincaré
Thinking must never submit itself, neither to a dogma, nor to a party, nor to a passion, nor to an interest, nor to a preconceived idea, nor to whatever it may be, if not to facts themselves, because, for it, to submit would be to cease to be.
Thinking must never submit itself, neither to a dogma, nor to a party, nor to a passion, nor to an interest, nor to a preconceived idea, nor to whatever it may be, if not to facts themselves, because, for it, to submit would be to cease to be.
A A Milne
from “King John’s Christmas.” Forget about the crackers, And forget about the candy; I’m sure a box of chocolates Would never come in handy; I don’t like oranges, I don’t want nuts, And I HAVE got a pocket-knife That almost cuts. But, oh! Father Christmas, if you love me at all, Bring me a big, … Continue reading “A A Milne”
from “King John’s Christmas.”
Forget about the crackers,
And forget about the candy;
I’m sure a box of chocolates
Would never come in handy;
I don’t like oranges,
I don’t want nuts,
And I HAVE got a pocket-knife
That almost cuts.
But, oh! Father Christmas, if you love me at all,
Bring me a big, red India-rubber ball!
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The person you are the most afraid to contradict is yourself.
The person you are the most afraid to contradict is yourself.
Jerry Seinfeld
What are lawyers really? To me a lawyer is basically the person that knows the rules of the country. We’re all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there’s a problem, the lawyer is the only person that has actually read the inside of the top of the … Continue reading “Jerry Seinfeld”
What are lawyers really? To me a lawyer is basically the person that knows the rules of the country. We’re all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there’s a problem, the lawyer is the only person that has actually read the inside of the top of the box.
Division Limerick – John Saxton
A Dozen, a Gross and a Score, plus three times the square root of four, Divided by seven, Plus five times eleven, Equals nine squared and not a bit more.
A Dozen, a Gross and a Score,
plus three times the square root of four,
Divided by seven,
Plus five times eleven,
Equals nine squared and not a bit more.
Integration Limerick
The Integral of tee-squared dee tee, From one to the cube root of three, Times half the cosine, Of three-pi over nine, Is the log of the sixth root of e.
The Integral of tee-squared dee tee,
From one to the cube root of three,
Times half the cosine,
Of three-pi over nine,
Is the log of the sixth root of e.
Bertrand Russell
Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that, if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then such and such another proposition is true of that thing. It is essential not to discuss whether the first proposition is really true, and not to mention what the anything is, of which it … Continue reading “Bertrand Russell”
Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that, if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then such and such another proposition is true of that thing. It is essential not to discuss whether the first proposition is really true, and not to mention what the anything is, of which it is supposed to be true.
Irving Chernev
Every chess master was once a beginner.
Every chess master was once a beginner.
Clarence Darrow
You can only be free if I am free.
You can only be free if I am free.
Clare Boothe Luce
…. with no cure except as a guillotine might be called a cure for dandruff.
…. with no cure except as a guillotine might be called a cure for dandruff.
Ludwig Boltzmann
Elegance should be left to shoemakers and tailors
Elegance should be left to shoemakers and tailors
John Stanley Purvis
I can’t forget the lane that goes from Steyning to the Ring In summer time, and on the Down how larks and linnets sing High in the sun. The wind comes off the sea, and Oh the air! I never knew till now that life in old days was so fair. But now I know … Continue reading “John Stanley Purvis”
I can’t forget the lane that goes from Steyning to the Ring
In summer time, and on the Down how larks and linnets sing
High in the sun. The wind comes off the sea, and Oh the air!
I never knew till now that life in old days was so fair.
But now I know it in this filthy rat infested ditch
When every shell may spare or kill – and God alone knows which.
And I am made a beast of prey, and this trench is my lair.
My God! I never knew till now that those days were so fair.
So we assault in half an hour, and – it’s a silly thing –
I can’t forget the narrow lane to Chanctonbury Ring.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Snr)
I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity; I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.
I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity;
I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.
Søren Kierkegaard
The truth is a trap: you can not get it without it getting you; you cannot get the truth by capturing it, only by its capturing you.
The truth is a trap: you can not get it without it getting you; you cannot get the truth by capturing it, only by its capturing you.
Hal Borland
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
Peter Porter
In Australia Inter alia, Mediocrities Think they’re Socrates.
In Australia
Inter alia,
Mediocrities
Think they’re Socrates.
Kitty Grime
of jazz musician and composer John Dankworth Couth, kempt and shevelled.
of jazz musician and composer John Dankworth
Couth, kempt and shevelled.
Calvin Coolidge – (mis)attributed
An alledged conversation between the taciturn president and his wife – on being asked by her what the the preacher’s sermon had been about Coolidge: Sins. Mrs. Coolidge: Well, what did he say about it? Coolidge: He was against it.
An alledged conversation between the taciturn president and his wife – on being asked by her what the the preacher’s sermon had been about
Coolidge: Sins.
Mrs. Coolidge: Well, what did he say about it?
Coolidge: He was against it.
Mark Twain
The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.
The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.
Matt Harvey
Botox Early onset taxidermy
Botox
Early onset
taxidermy
Donald Miller
…there are some guys who don’t believe in God and they can prove He doesn’t exist, and some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it’s about who is smarter.
…there are some guys who don’t believe in God and they can prove He doesn’t exist, and some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it’s about who is smarter.
John Wilkes
Do not ask me, for I am so ignorant that I cannot tell the difference between a king and a knave. On being asked to play a table of cards, at a time when he was in dispute with the government and court.
Do not ask me, for I am so ignorant that I cannot tell the difference between a king and a knave.
On being asked to play a table of cards, at a time when he was in dispute with the government and court.
Henry Clay
The time will come when Winter will ask you what you were doing all Summer.
The time will come when Winter will ask you what you were doing all Summer.
Don Paterson (writing as François Aussemain)
Nothing is ever lost; things only become irretrievable. What is lost, then, is the method of their retrieval, and what we rediscover is not the thing itself, but the overgrown path, the secret staircase, the ancient sewer.
Nothing is ever lost; things only become irretrievable. What is lost, then, is the method of their retrieval, and what we rediscover is not the thing itself, but the overgrown path, the secret staircase, the ancient sewer.
Robert Benchley
The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.
The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.
Stephen Crane
Three little birds in a row Sat musing. A man passed near that place. Then did the little birds nudge each other. They said, “He thinks he can sing.” They threw back their heads to laugh. With quaint countenances They regarded him. They were very curious, Those three little birds in a row.
Three little birds in a row
Sat musing.
A man passed near that place.
Then did the little birds nudge each other.
They said, “He thinks he can sing.”
They threw back their heads to laugh.
With quaint countenances
They regarded him.
They were very curious,
Those three little birds in a row.
Alan Turing
We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
Samuel Madden
In an orchard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot on the ground.
In an orchard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot on the ground.
Juvenal
Honesty is praised and starves. (Probitas laudatur et alget)
Honesty is praised and starves.
(Probitas laudatur et alget)
Malcolm Muggeridge
On one of my birthdays I was given a toy printing-set with whose rubber letters I was able to print off my first composition. It was a story of a train going along very fast and, to the satisfaction of the passengers, racing through the samll stations along the track without stopping. Their satisfaction, however, … Continue reading “Malcolm Muggeridge”
On one of my birthdays I was given a toy printing-set with whose rubber letters I was able to print off my first composition. It was a story of a train going along very fast and, to the satisfaction of the passengers, racing through the samll stations along the track without stopping. Their satisfaction, however, turned to dismay, and then to panic fury, as it dawned on them that it was not going to stop at their stations either when it came to them. They raged and shouted and shook their fists, but all to no avail. The train went roaring on. At the time I had no notion what, if anything, the story signified. […] Yet, as I came to see, and see now more clearly than ever, it is the story I have been writing ever since; the story of our time.
John Henry Newmann
The world is content with setting right the surface of things.
The world is content with setting right the surface of things.
Joseph Brodsky
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
Robert Penn Warren
In separateness only does love learn definition.
In separateness only does love learn definition.
H D Thoreau
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours … In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty … Continue reading “H D Thoreau”
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours … In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.
James Joyce
People could put up with being bitten by a wolf but what properly riled them up was a bite from a sheep.
People could put up with being bitten by a wolf but what properly riled them up was a bite from a sheep.
Charles Harper Webb
Retreat Before she can deliver the cruncher, I stride away backwards My car door opens, I fall in as the engine fires. I speed home in reverse, unshave, unshower, plop down in my easy chair where, picturing what a good night it’s going to be, I slowly spit up a manhattan – dry – just … Continue reading “Charles Harper Webb”
Retreat
Before she can deliver
the cruncher,
I stride away backwards
My car door opens,
I fall in
as the engine fires.
I speed home in reverse,
unshave, unshower,
plop down in my easy chair
where, picturing what a good
night it’s going to be,
I slowly spit up
a manhattan – dry –
just the way
I like it.
W H Auden
I Have No Gun, But I Can Spit Some thirty inches from my nose The frontier of my Person goes, And all the untilled air between Is private pagus or demesne. Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes I beckon you to fraternize, Beware of rudely crossing it: I have no gun, but I can spit.
I Have No Gun, But I Can Spit
Some thirty inches from my nose
The frontier of my Person goes,
And all the untilled air between
Is private pagus or demesne.
Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes
I beckon you to fraternize,
Beware of rudely crossing it:
I have no gun, but I can spit.
In the Whole Village
In the whole village The husband alone Does not know of it 18th Century Japanese poem
In the whole village
The husband alone
Does not know of it
18th Century Japanese poem
Chrétien de Troyes
For hunger is a sauce, well blended and prepared, for any food.
For hunger is a sauce, well blended and prepared, for any food.
Giuseppe Peano
Peano Axioms of the Natural Numbers 1. 0 is a number. 2. The immediate successor of a number is also a number. 3. 0 is not the immediate successor of any number. 4. No two numbers have the same immediate successor. 5. Any property belonging to 0 and to the immediate successor of any number … Continue reading “Giuseppe Peano”
Peano Axioms of the Natural Numbers
1. 0 is a number.
2. The immediate successor of a number is also a number.
3. 0 is not the immediate successor of any number.
4. No two numbers have the same immediate successor.
5. Any property belonging to 0 and to the immediate successor of any number that also has that property belongs to all numbers.
Charles E Carryl
The Sleepy Giant My age is three hundred and seventy-two, And I think, with the deepest regret, How I used to pick up and voraciously chew The dear little boys whom I met. I’ve eaten them raw, in their holiday suits; I’ve eaten them curried with rice; I’ve eaten them baked, in their jackets and … Continue reading “Charles E Carryl”
The Sleepy Giant
My age is three hundred and seventy-two,
And I think, with the deepest regret,
How I used to pick up and voraciously chew
The dear little boys whom I met.
I’ve eaten them raw, in their holiday suits;
I’ve eaten them curried with rice;
I’ve eaten them baked, in their jackets and boots,
And found them exceedingly nice.
But now that my jaws are too weak for such fare,
I think it exceedingly rude
To do such a thing, when I’m quite well aware
Little boys do not like being chewed.
And so I contentedly live upon eels,
And try to do nothing amiss,
And I pass all the time I can spare from my meals
In innocent slumber — like this.