Adieu! Adieu! Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Category: Quotes
He said. She said. Things said that are real real smart.
A Photograph
"This vicissitudes of our century have been summed up in a few exemplary photographs that have proved epoch-making: the unruly crowd pouring into the square during the "ten days that shook the world"; Robert Capa's dying miliciano; the marines planting the flag on Iwo Jima; the Vietnamese prisoner being executed with a shot in the … Continue reading A Photograph
Best Letter to Nin?
"In the beginning was the word, but for the Word to come forth there had first to be a separation of some kind. To detach itself from the bosom of creation there had to be a need, a human need. The word is always the reminder of a more perfect state, of a union or … Continue reading Best Letter to Nin?
His Honesty
"His honesty about this paradox or contradiction is what determined him to write Nineteen Eighty-Four as an admonitory parable or fantasy in which 'Ingsoc'--English Socialism--was the Newspeak term for the ruling ideology. It would have been perfectly easy for him to have avoided this crux. In the late 1940s, a dystopian novel based on the … Continue reading His Honesty
Great Unknown Men
"The greatest men in the world have passed away unknown. The Buddhas and the Christs that we know are but second-rate heroes in comparison with the greatest men of whom the world knows nothing. Hundreds of these unknown heroes have lived in every country working silently. Silently they live and silently they pass away; and … Continue reading Great Unknown Men
Skilful Manipulation
"People are not moved by fact or reason but by the skilful manipulation of emotion." -Chris Hedges
Getting Rich
"We will lay aside the responsibilities and sacrifices of citizenship, and religiously ascribing all virtues and all growth and progress to a republican form of government, will allow our own to go to the dogs, devoting ourselves meanwhile to the business of getting rich." -from an editorial, The Nation, May 15,1873
Two Minutes Hate
"The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with … Continue reading Two Minutes Hate
Jokes Not Got
I'll tell you what your reaction will be to my next story. When I get to the punch line there will be silence, giggles, snickers, then laughs. Watch. These two girls are walking down the street. The one girl says to the other, "Hey girl, isn't that your husband coming out of the florist?" She … Continue reading Jokes Not Got
Explain Money
"About a year ago, upon reading Tropic of Cancer, Ezra Pound wrote me a postcard in his usual Cabalistic style, asking me if I had ever thought about money, what makes it and how it gets that way. The truth is that until Mr. Pound put the question to me I had never really thought … Continue reading Explain Money
Suicide Eyes
"'The only freedom that an American has is to conform, as you've already discovered.' Caroline did not in the least mind the disparity between the country's shining image of itself and the crude reality. She was entirely on the side of the rulers, ridiculous and unpleasant as so many of them were. She felt a … Continue reading Suicide Eyes
Not Ending A War
"Without the League (of Nations), there would be another war with Germany within thirty years because of the Carthaginian peace being imposed by the Allies." / "Europe had a murderous tendency to sink into barbarism, the United States had not yet achieved a civilization from which to fall." -Gore Vidal, Hollywood
They Were Really Great
"Their precepts related chiefly to ourselves, and the government of those passions which, unrestrained, would disturb our tranquility of mind. In this branch of philosophy they were really great. (Italics mine.) In developing our duties to others, they were short and defective. They embraced indeed the circles of kindred and friends, and inculcated patriotism, or … Continue reading They Were Really Great
Pilgrams And Pirates
"Pilgrims had sailed to 'The Americas' to establish doctrinal purity, and pirates had made the same voyage in search of treasure and slaves. In Paine's time, however, the New World of 'the United States of America' (a name he may have coined) was an actual and concrete achievement; not an imaginary Utopia but a home … Continue reading Pilgrams And Pirates
Amenities
"We are all civilised people, which means that we are all savages at heart but observing a few amenities of civilised behaviour. I am afraid that I observe fewer of these amenities than you do. Reason? My back is to the wall and has been to the wall for so long that the pressure of … Continue reading Amenities
Success Equals Failure
"In these times Success should be more appreciative of Fail. Unlike previous times, today, without the latter there can be no former. Or something like that." -Tommi
Possessed
"Human beings to flourish must be possessed by one idea, a central meaning to which all experience can be related." -Gore Vidal (Essay: Contemporaries: The Norman Mailer Syndrome, 1960)
Puzzled By Creation
"I think that I might have done well at banking had I not been so carefully trained to be either a priest nor a warrior. Although I have the Persian noble's contempt for trade, I lack his passion for war and hunting and drinking to excess. Although I have a priest's deep knowledge of religion, … Continue reading Puzzled By Creation
The Few Who Would Not Play The Game
"Then these are the basic rules of a government in a free society: to provide a means whereby we can modify the rules, mediate differences among us on the meaning of the rules, and to enforce compliance with the rules on the part of those few who would otherwise not play the game." -Milton Friedman, … Continue reading The Few Who Would Not Play The Game
False Prosperity
"When you borrow a lot of money to create a false prosperity, you import the future into the present." -Michael Lewis, Boomerang
Law & Disorder
"I would a thousand times rather be the most incorrigible convict than this hireling of those who are trying to maintain law and order. Law and order! Finally, when you see it staring at you through the barrel of a rifle, you know what it means. A bas puissance, justice, histoire! If society has to … Continue reading Law & Disorder
Power Humor
"The people who must never have power are the humorless." -Christopher Hitchens, Arguably
The Artist Is
"Admitting this, I nevertheless firmly believe that no world order, no world harmony, is possible until the artist assumes leadership. I mean by this that the artist in man must come to the fore, over against the patriot, the warrior, the diplomat, the fanatical idealist, the misguided revolutionary. It is not against the gods man … Continue reading The Artist Is
Mutiny Conundrum
"Is it actually true that Christopher Columbus gave false information to his sailors regarding the position of his ship so they couldn't find their way back, in the event of a mutiny?" -Sam Shepard, Day Out Of Days
The Eco Says
"The only ones who can provide an identity to a nation are its enemies." -Umberto Eco
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