Bretty always says....
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
On pain and the anticipation of pain....
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. -Bertrand Russell
On context...
-Philo of Alexandria
Via Ilona Muschenetz's MySpace page
On righteous indignation....
Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves. -Bertrand Russell
On thought...
Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought is great and swift and free. -Bertrand Russell
On Marriage...
Marriage is for women the commonest mode of livelihood, and the total amount of undesired sex endured by women is probably greater in marriage than in prostitution. -Bertrand Russell
On ambiguity...
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -Bertrand Russell
On mindfulness...
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. -Bertrand Russell
On "bi-" partisan scandal....
The coward wretch whose hand and heart Can bear to torture aught below, Is ever first to quail and start From the slightest pain or equal foe. -Bertrand Russell
On Patriotism
Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country. -Bertrand Russell
On equalitibilty.
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards. -Bertrand Russell
On getting outside the head...
I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite. -Bertrand Russell
On dogma....
I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine. -Bertrand Russell
On the bored and boring....
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -Susan Ertz
Monday, January 30, 2006
On Bush ignoring urgent warnings...
You can't wake up a man who pretends to be asleep - From an old Chinese adage
Sunday, January 29, 2006
On capability...
If you hear a voice within you saying, "you are not a painter," then by all means paint... And that voice will be silenced. -Vincent Van Gogh
Friday, January 27, 2006
On the counter culture....
If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity. -Bill Vaughan
Via friend Matt Welty
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
On the cancelation of The West Wing by Whitehouse corporate cowtow NBC...
"...the West Wing? Isn't that basically just... like John Kerry fan fiction?" -Steven Colbert on the remarkable Colbert report. Episode with David Gregory
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
On the Alito nomination in the press...
Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. -Michael Crichton
On Earthlings...
It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. -Baha'u'llah
On specialization...
Be content to remember that those who can make omelettes properly can do nothing else. -Hillaire Belloc
On legacy...
When I am dead, I hope it may be said: 'His sins were scarlet, But his books were read.' -Hillaire Belloc
To the deluded and preoccupied...
In soft deluding lies let fools delight. A shadow marks our days, which end in Night. -Hillaire Belloc
On artistic integrity...
A painter is a man who paints what he sells. An artist, however, is a man who sells what he paints. -Pablo Picasso
On inspiration...
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. -Pablo Picasso
On art...
Art is not made to decorate rooms. It is an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy. -Pablo Picasso
On discernment....
In a riddle whose answer is chess, what is the only prohibited word? -Jorge Luis Borges
On change....
The beginning is always today. -Mary Wollstonecraft
On the highest authority....
The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason. -Mary Wollstonecraft
Thursday, January 19, 2006
On our present democracy...
-Gore Vidal
On the matrix...
-William Blake
On lawlessness
Ammon Hennacy
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
On the seemingly insurmountable task...
On God's love...
Whoever imagines himself a favorite with God holds others in contempt. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)
Cribbed shamelessly from A.Word.A.Day http://wordsmith.org/words/vincible.html
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
On the politics of fear...
Men feared witches and burnt women. -Justice Brandeis
From Al Gore's brilliant and moving speech. An uplifting call to action ignored by every single major news outlet. Full text here.
On diffusing anger...
On being gracious...
On being offended...
On friends...
On doing it yourself...
On commendation...
On smoking...
On team players...
On the high weirdness...
On cigarettes...
On lovability...
On physical things...
On righteous indignation...
On freedom and risk...
On feeling secure...
On slavery...
On gratitude...
On youth...
On freedom and government...
On motivation...
On universal consciousness...
On patience...
On difficult problems...
On blasphemy...
On intellect...
On Self and Image...
On dreadful tasks...
On hatred...
On prescience...
On men and women...
On rejection...
On failing to do good...
On natural religion...
On good and evil...
On bombasts...
On hearts and minds...
On casting stones...
On ephemeralization...
On destroying enemies...
On flattery...
On thinking clearly and deeply....
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