Not Even Past

The past is never dead.  It's not even past.

-- William Faulkner (1897-1962), American novelist and short story writer, 1949 Nobel laureate in literature, Requiem for a Nun (1951) Act 1, scene 3

Holding Your Breath

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

-- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940), Irish-American novelist and short story writer, Undated letter to his daughter "Scottie" (Frances Scott Fitzgerald) 

He Is A Talker

Time will explain it all.  He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.

-- Euripides (480 BC - 406 BC), Greek playwright, Æolus, Frag. 38

Perfect

Ah, another perfect day in my perfect life with my perfect job.

-- Homer Simpson, "And Maggie Makes Three" (Season 6, episode 13) 22 January 1995

Never Put Off

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.  No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.

-- Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694 - 1773), British statesman and man of letters, Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774), entry for 26 December 1749

To Persuade Ourselves

Nous n'avouons de petits défauts que pour persuader que nous n'en avons pas de grands.

We confess to little faults only to persuade ourselves we have no great ones.

-- François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, le Prince de Marcillac (15 September 1613 - 17 March 1680), French author of maxims and memoirs,  Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665-1678), Maxim 327

Great Skill

C'est une grande habileté que de savoir cacher son habileté.

There is great skill in knowing how to conceal one's skill.

-- François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, le Prince de Marcillac (15 September 1613 - 17 March 1680), French author of maxims and memoirs,  Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665-1678), Maxim 245

For Others

Il est plus aisé d'être sage pour les autres que de l'être pour soi-même.

It is easier to be wise for others than for oneself.

-- François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, le Prince de Marcillac (15 September 1613 - 17 March 1680), French author of maxims and memoirs,  Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665-1678), Maxim 132

Indefinitely Perfectible

The methods of science aren't foolproof, but they are indefinitely perfectible.  Just as important: there is a tradition of criticism that enforces improvement whenever and wherever flaws are discovered.

-- Daniel Clement Dennett III (1942 - 2024), American atheist philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist, "Postmodernism and Truth", delivered at the 1998 World Congress of Philosophy (13 August 1998)

Not A Single One

Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares.

-- Daniel Clement Dennett III (1942 - 2024), American atheist philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist, Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (2005), p. 2

Quietly Available

We used to think that secrecy was perhaps the greatest enemy of democracy, and as long as there was no suppression or censorship, people could be trusted to make the informed decisions that would preserve our free society, but we have learned in recent years that the techniques of misinformation and misdirection have become so refined that, even in an open society, a cleverly directed flood of misinformation can overwhelm the truth, even though the truth is out there, uncensored, quietly available to anyone who can find it.

-- Daniel Clement Dennett III (1942 - 2024), American atheist philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist, Breaking the Spell: Religion As A Natural Phenomenon (2006)

Nor The Problem

Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.

-- Sir Karl Raimund Popper (1902 - 1994), Austrian-British philosopher, academic, and social commentator, Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (1972)

Familiar Doctrine

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

-- Henry Louis (H. L.) Mencken (12 September 1880 - 29 January 1956), journalist, satirist, social critic, and freethinker, Prejudices, Third Series (1922) Ch. 3

Never Interrupt

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

-- Napoléon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821), French military general, First Consul of the French Republic, and then Emperor of the French and King of Italy under the name Napoleon I, as quoted in The Military Quotation Book (2002) by James Charlton, p. 93

The Great Enemy

The great enemy of communication is the illusion of it.

-- William H. Whyte Jr. (1917 - 1999), American urbanist, sociologist, organizational analyst, and people-watcher, "Is Anybody Listening?" Fortune Magazine (1950)

RIP James Earl Jones

I have never traveled to anyone else's drumbeat.  Some people have called me a rebel.  I qualify as one.  A lot of it is inadvertent, unintentional, not a gesture at all, just me, just the nature of myself, finding my own drumbeat.

-- James Earl Jones (17 January 1931 - 9 September 2024), American actor known for his roles in film and theater; one of the few performers to have achieved EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards), Voices and Silences (1993; 2002) p. 357 (2002 edition)

So Confident

The problem is not that Christians are conservative or liberal, but that some are so confident that their position is God's position that they become dismissive and intolerant toward others and divisive forces in our national life.

-- John Danforth (1936 -), former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, former U.S. Senator (R-MO), and ordained Episcopal priest, Faith and Politics (2006) p. 10

The Day You Follow

The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.

-- Anthony de Mello (1931 - 1987), Jesuit priest, psychotherapist, and writer who became widely known for his books on spirituality, One Minute Wisdom (1989) Discipleship

A Collective Hunch

Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.

-- Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (1939 -), American actress, comedian, writer, and producer since the late 1960s, speaking as Trudy in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985), written by Tomlin's spouse Jane Wagner

I Am Grateful

I have managed to conceal my madness fairly effectively, and as far as I know it hasn't hurt anybody badly, for which I am grateful.

-- William Saroyan (1908 - 1981), Armenian American author, My Heart's in the Highlands (1939)

Dissatisfied Unless

You can't satisfy everybody; especially if there are those who will be dissatisfied unless not everybody is satisfied.

-- Robert Nozick (1938 - 2002), American libertarian philosopher, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) Ch. 10 : A Framework for Utopia; The Framework as Utopian Common Ground, p. 320