Favourite Quotes

[JLT]

And LBJ's. And president of the World Bank and the Ford Motor Company. Fascinating but controversial historical figure. He's been condemned and rehabilitated several times as the modern contextual lens evaluating the Vietnam era (or any era) changes with age.

For a good look at it, there's a documentary called The Fog of War, worth checking out.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/

Another quote on war, attributed to Albert Einstein:

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

 

[Homer Potvin]

For a good look at it, there's a documentary called The Fog of War, worth checking out.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/

Another quote on war, attributed to Albert Einstein:

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

That's where I got the quote from. I was watching it last night. There's a zillion more where that came from.

 

[Louanne Learning]

“I am interested in language because it wounds or seduces me.”

― Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text

 

[Rath Darkblade]

"Trust everybody, but cut the cards."
--Finley Peter Dunne

 

[GrahamLewis]

"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk." Thoreau

 

[JLT]

"My works are like water. The works of the great masters are like wine. But everybody drinks water."
--Mark Twain

 

[Rath Darkblade]

"The salvation of mankind lies only in making everything the concern of all."
--Alexander Solzhenitsyn

 

[GrahamLewis]

"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk." Thoreau

Whenever I come across that quotation I'm reminded of a scene in a Saki short story, "The Lumber Room":

"Nicholas was . . . in disgrace. Only that morning he had refused to eat his wholesome bread-and-milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was frog in it. Older and wiser and better people had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his butter-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense; he continued, nevertheless, to talk what seemed the veriest nonsense, and described with much detail the colourization and markings of the alleged frog. The dramatic part of that incident was that there really was a frog in Nicholas' basin of bread-and-milk; he had put it there himself."

 

[JLT]

Whenever I come across that quotation I'm reminded of a scene in a Saki short story, "The Lumber Room":

"Nicholas was . . . in disgrace. Only that morning he had refused to eat his wholesome bread-and-milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was frog in it. Older and wiser and better people had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his butter-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense; he continued, nevertheless, to talk what seemed the veriest nonsense, and described with much detail the colourization and markings of the alleged frog. The dramatic part of that incident was that there really was a frog in Nicholas' basin of bread-and-milk; he had put it there himself."

Which reminds me of a quote attributed to John F. Kennedy, regarding politics: "Where there's smoke, there's usually a smoke-making machine."

 

[Rigor Mortis]

I'm sure others here are signed up for Only Poems newsletter. They send some real diamonds by email every day. Meeting Again After Decades by James Richardson landed today and ends with this final sentiment. Exquisite:

Where we want to be is exactly
where we are,
but there's no way to get there
from here.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Everything that lives is in flux. Everything that lives emits sound. But we only perceive a part of it. We do not hear the circulation of the blood, the growth and decay of our bodily tissue, the sound of our chemical processes. But our delicate organic cells, the fibres of brain and nerves and skin are impregnated with these inaudible sounds. They vibrate in response to their environment. This is the foundation of the power of music. We can set free these profound emotional vibrations. In order to do so, we employ musical instruments, in which the decisive factor is their own inner sound potential. That is to say: what is decisive is not the strength of the sound, or its tonal colour, but its hidden character, the intensity with which its musical power affects the nerves. [Music] must … elevate into human consciousness vibrations which are otherwise inaudible and unperceived… [bring] silence to life… uncover the hidden sound of silence.

Franz Kafka

 

[JLT]

This is the foundation of the power of music. We can set free these profound emotional vibrations. In order to do so, we employ musical instruments, in which the decisive factor is their own inner sound potential.

Franz Kafka

Which is why the most powerful music there is was written for organ. It goes straight to the body itself. If you've ever heard E. Power Biggs playing Bach on a decent sound system, you'll know what I mean.

And now that I've been playing bass guitar for a while, I see those deep notes going to vast empty spaces that yearn to be filled.