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OP “I hate quotation” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), [Journals, 1849]
When Emerson wrote that phrase, how amazed he would have been to think of his words being despatched all the way around the world to many thousands of people simultaneously. As an additional tribute to Anu’s work on the AWAD service I thought it might be worth calling attention to the quotation feature, which I believe adds significantly to AWAD’s popularity. Here are some thoughts culled from the archives, under rather arbitrary headings.
Quotation
I quote others only in order to better express myself Michel de Montaigne
A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience. Cervantes
Politics
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing Edmund Burke
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has Margaret Mead
Fate
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem Theodore Rubin
One often meets destiny in the road taken to avoid it French Proverb
Religion
Man is certainly stark mad: he cannot make a flea, yet he makes gods by the dozen Michel de Montaigne
Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it, anything but live for it Charles Caleb Cotton
History
History is an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
History is fables agreed upon Voltaire (1694-1778)
War
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) [The New Dictionary of Thoughts]
No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come Victor Hugo, poet, novelist and dramatist (1802-1885)
Language
All language reflects the prejudices of the society in which it evolved.
Casey Miller
Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes, and thanks to words, we have sunk to the level of the demons.
Aldous Huxley
Parole
What we say is important... for in most cases the mouth speaks what the heart is full of Jim Beggs
Folks that blurt out just what they think wouldn't be so bad if they thought Kin Hubbard
Family
We should measure affection, not like youngsters by the ardour of its passion, but by its strength and constancy Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE)
If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Friendships
A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations.
Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author (1872-1970)
Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better Edgar W. Howe
Self-knowledge
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance Confucius (551-479 BC)
The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it John Ruskin (1819-1900)
Conscience
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking H.L. Mencken
He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes. Chinese Proverb
And finally, a unique voice of America…
Mark Twain
I believe I have no prejudices whatsoever. All I need to know is that a man is a member of the human race. That's bad enough for me Mark Twain, U.S. Author (1835-1910)
The truth is a precious commodity. That's why I use it so sparingly Mark Twain, U.S. Author (1835-1910)
Do you have any particular favourites, on these or other topics? Put ‘em here as votive offerings
My current favourite, which ran fairly recently, is now in my email signature file:
"It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
-John Andrew Holmes
This sort of summarizes my worldview in one neat sentence.
I have these two posted above my computer area:
The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago, had they
happened to be within reach of predatory human hands. -Havelock Ellis
and:
Because we don't think about future generations,
they will never forget us. -Henrik Tikkanen
Dear Maverick, I have something to say to you and about you and of you, but that will be in another place and time.
For now this is a gem I would like to offer on the altar of quotations:
The more I thought,.... the more I saw myself clearly, and the more I realized that I had no more control over being white than [he] had over being black. And I thought to myself: why am I so proud of something over which I have no control and was in no way a matter of achievement? It was all a matter of chance.
Red Barber
(Does this qualify as a quotation? Please let me know.)
chronist
I read this list somewhere, attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, with the eighth one attributed to his grandson, Arun
The Seven Blunders of the World
• Wealth without work
• Pleasure without conscience
• Knowledge without character
• Commerce without morality
• Science without humanity
• Worship without sacrifice
• Politics without principle
• Rights without responsibilities
Here's one that touches on most of the subject headings:
Nothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in
the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs. This is the principle behind
lotteries, dating, and religion. -- Scott Adams
We are all queer fish, queerer behind our faces and voices than we want anyone to know or that we know ourselves.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
chronist
Thank you, maverick, for doing this. In giving the following, from the W.A.D. from Aug. 28th, 2000,
I salute our beloved Anu, for his inspiration--both for us and to us--and his true, human wisdom, as well as the person he quoted on that day.
I'll part with the words of Kabir, a medieval
Indian mystic poet, who never set foot in a classroom. Here is one of his
couplets, rendered in my less than poetic translation:
The world passes while reading tomes, none any wiser;
Truly learned is the one who learns the meaning of love."
Children
"All bachelors love dogs, and we would love children just as
much if they could be taught to retrieve."
-P J O'Rourke
"With the birth of each child you lose two novels."
-Candia McWilliam
PJ O'Rourke is probably the ONLY author today who can have me laughing so hard that my sides hurt. His combination of wit and keen observation of the human condition is impossible to beat.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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