Historian: an… H. L. Mencken

Historian: an unsuccessful novelist.

H. L. Mencken

US editor (1880 - 1956)

December 31st, 2005 - Posted in H. L. Mencken | | 0 Comments

California, the… Raymond Chandler

California, the department store state.

Raymond Chandler

US detective novelist & screenwriter (1888 - 1959)

December 30th, 2005 - Posted in Raymond Chandler | | 0 Comments

In the transmission… Gregory Bateson

In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to the next generation the skills and values of the parents, but the attempt always fails because cultural transmission is geared to learning, not D.N.A.

Gregory Bateson, “Mind and Matter”

December 29th, 2005 - Posted in Gregory Bateson | | 0 Comments

I really wonder… Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

December 28th, 2005 - Posted in Kurt Vonnegut Jr. | | 0 Comments

Be wary of the man… Joaquin Setanti

Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.

Joaquin Setanti

December 27th, 2005 - Posted in Joaquin Setanti | | 0 Comments

In all honesty,… Connie Chung to Johnny Carson

In all honesty, Johnny, we are often at the mercy of the White House for the news we report. Frequently, we simply repeat verbatim what the White House tells us.

Connie Chung to Johnny Carson

December 26th, 2005 - Posted in Connie Chung to Johnny Carson | | 0 Comments

We trained hard,… From Petronii Arbitri Satyricon AD 66 (Attributed to Gaius Petronus

We trained hard, but it seemed every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation.

From Petronii Arbitri Satyricon AD 66 (Attributed to Gaius Petronus, a Roman General who later committed suicide)

December 25th, 2005 - Posted in From Petronii Arbitri Satyricon AD 66 (Attributed to Ga | | 0 Comments

It was one of those… P.D. James

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.

P.D. James

December 24th, 2005 - Posted in P.D. James | | 0 Comments

Love is like an… Jules Renard

Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.

Jules Renard

(1864 - 1910)

December 23rd, 2005 - Posted in Jules Renard | | 0 Comments

Never feel… Millicent Fenwick

Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self.

Millicent Fenwick

December 22nd, 2005 - Posted in Millicent Fenwick | | 0 Comments

Many books today… Peter S. Prescott

Many books today suggest that the mass of women lead lives of noisy desperation.

Peter S. Prescott

December 21st, 2005 - Posted in Peter S. Prescott | | 0 Comments

To be clever enough… George Bernard Shaw

To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it.

George Bernard Shaw

Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

December 20th, 2005 - Posted in George Bernard Shaw | | 0 Comments

God made everything… Paul Valery

God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.

Paul Valery

French critic & poet (1871 - 1945)

December 19th, 2005 - Posted in Paul Valery | | 0 Comments

A pious man is one… Jean de La Bruyere

A pious man is one who would be an athiest if the king were.

Jean de La Bruyere

French moralist (1645 - 1696)

December 18th, 2005 - Posted in Jean de La Bruyere | | 0 Comments

Man is certainly… Michel de Montaigne

Man is certainly stark mad. He cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.

Michel de Montaigne

French essayist (1533 - 1592)

December 17th, 2005 - Posted in Michel de Montaigne | | 0 Comments

If I had been the… Margaret “Stevie” Smith

If I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said “No.”

Margaret “Stevie” Smith

December 16th, 2005 - Posted in Margaret "Stevie" Smith | | 0 Comments

We were married by… Woody Allen

We were married by a reformed rabbi in Long Island. A very reformed rabbi. A Nazi.

Woody Allen

US movie actor, comedian, & director (1935 - )

December 15th, 2005 - Posted in Woody Allen | | 0 Comments

How should they… Abigail Van Buren in reply to the question: “Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?”

How should they answer?

Abigail Van Buren in reply to the question: “Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?”

December 14th, 2005 - Posted in Abigail Van Buren in reply to the question: "Why do Jew | | 0 Comments

The world is proof… Bob Stokes

The world is proof that God is a committee.

Bob Stokes

December 13th, 2005 - Posted in Bob Stokes | | 0 Comments

Death is more… A. Sachs

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

A. Sachs

December 12th, 2005 - Posted in A. Sachs | | 0 Comments

The only thing that… Nicholas Chamfort

The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless.

Nicholas Chamfort

(1741 - 1794)

December 11th, 2005 - Posted in Nicholas Chamfort | | 0 Comments

For all the gold… Hans Konig

For all the gold and silver stolen and shipped to Spain did not make the Spanish people richer. It gave their kings an edge in the balance of power for a time, a chance to hire more mercenary soldiers for their wars. They ended up losing those wars anyway, and all that was left was a deadly inflation, a starving population, the rich richer, the poor poorer, and a ruined peasant class.

Hans Konig

December 10th, 2005 - Posted in Hans Konig | | 0 Comments

Education: the… John Maynard Keynes

Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent.

John Maynard Keynes

English economist (1883 - 1946)

December 9th, 2005 - Posted in John Maynard Keynes | | 0 Comments

He who joyfully… Albert Einstein

He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

Albert Einstein

US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

December 8th, 2005 - Posted in Albert Einstein | | 0 Comments

It is inaccurate to… H. L. Mencken

It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

H. L. Mencken

US editor (1880 - 1956)

December 7th, 2005 - Posted in H. L. Mencken | | 0 Comments

Be modest! It is… Jules Renard

Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend.

Jules Renard

(1864 - 1910)

December 6th, 2005 - Posted in Jules Renard | | 0 Comments

The [Interstate… Richard Olney

The [Interstate Commerce] commission, as its functions have now been limited by the courts is, or can be made, of great use to the railroads. It satisfies the public clamor for a government supervision of railroads, at the same time that that supervision is almost entirely nominal.

Richard Olney, a lawyer for the Boston & Maine and Attorney General under Grover Cleveland, advising a railroad president

December 5th, 2005 - Posted in Richard Olney | | 0 Comments

So far as I can… Bertrand Russell

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

Bertrand Russell

British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)

December 4th, 2005 - Posted in Bertrand Russell | | 0 Comments

American women… W. Somerset Maugham

American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers.

W. Somerset Maugham

English dramatist & novelist (1874 - 1965)

December 3rd, 2005 - Posted in W. Somerset Maugham | | 0 Comments

What people call… Oscar Wilde

What people call insincerity is simply a method by which we can multiply our personalities.

Oscar Wilde

Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)

December 2nd, 2005 - Posted in Oscar Wilde | | 0 Comments

Metric is… Dean Krakel

Metric is definitely communist. One monetary system, one language, one weight and measurement system, one world - all communist! We know the West was won by the inch, foot, yard, and mile.

Dean Krakel, Director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame

December 1st, 2005 - Posted in Dean Krakel | | 0 Comments