Contradicted

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher, essayist, and poet, Journals, 8 November 1838

Huffing And Puffing

I suppose earlier generations had to sit through all this huffing and puffing with the invention of television, the phone, cinema, radio, the car, the bicycle, printing, the wheel and so on, but you would think we would learn the way these things work, which is this:

1) everything that's already in the world when you're born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you're thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it's been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are.

-- Douglas Adams (1952-2001), English author and satirist, How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet, Sunday Times, 29 August 1999

[T]he man who is to wage active battle against the powers that prey ... must walk warily and fearlessly, and while he should never brawl if he can avoid it, he must be ready to hit hard if the need arises.  Let him remember, by the way, that the unforgivable crime is soft hitting.  Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly.

-- Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1858 - 1919), 26th President of the US (1901-1909), "Practical Politics" in The Outlook (26 April 1913)

What We Mean By That Word

No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by that word. It is every individual's individual code of behavior by means of which he makes himself a better human being than his nature wants to be, if he followed his nature only.  Whatever its symbol -- cross or crescent or whatever -- that symbol is s reminder of his duty inside the human race.

-- William Faulkner (1897-1962), American novelist and poet, 1949 Nobel laureate in literature, The Paris Review interview (1956) with Jean Stein

Gains

An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals.  These are all lessons in life.

-- Kristi Yamaguchi, world champion figure skater, as quoted in Breakthrough Power for Athletes, by David Young (2012)

Wildest Dreams

If the government can round up someone and never be required to explain why, then it's no longer the United States of America as you and I always understood it.  Our enemies have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They have made us become like them.

-- Garrison Keillor (1942-), American novelist, humorist, and public radio personality, "Congress's Shameful Retreat From American Values", Chicago Tribune, 4 October 2006

Spring Cleaning

Over the weekend, I accomplished 2 things:

1) I reached 10,000 total miles on my current road bike.  That took a few years.  John, you and your bike probably have me trumped by a significant multiple.

2) I cleared out all the old computer equipment I had been hoarding, unwilling to let them go because of their ~$10,000 cumulative cost.  I managed to recyle 7 PCs, 5 CRT monitors, 4 inkjet printers, and an old TiVo box, along with a box of CD/DVD drives, and a ton of cables.

Seek Not To Follow

Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought.

-- Matsu Basho (1644-1694), Japanese poet, from "Words by a Brushwood Gate"

Not A Lost Art

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.

-- Jacques Barzun (1907-2012), French-born American scholar, historian, critic, and teacher, Teacher In America (1945)

Unspoken Order

Apparently there is an unspoken order to deny losses and hide graves.

-- Lev Shlosberg, a lawmaker who was beaten and hospitalized after he began documenting the deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, New York Times, 22 September 2014

Dwarfs

If I have seen further than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarfs.

-- Murray Gell-Mann (15 September 1929-), American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles, as quoted in "Wilson vs Watson: The blessing of great enemies" by Amanda Gefter in New Scientist (10 September 2009)

Wrong?

We hope we're wrong.

-- Bryan Lewis, epidemiologist at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech, who worked on calculations to project the extent of the Ebola crisis, NY Times, 13 September 2014

There's Some Pizza Waiting For Me

I am extremely proud to be joining all the iconic riders that have beaten this record before me.  My name is now among the greats.

-- German cyclist Jens Voigt, age 43, upon setting a new record of 51.115km (31.77 miles) in one hour on a 250-meter track at Velodrome Suisse, Grenchen, Switzerland, besting the old record by 1.1415 km, 17 September 2014

Rock The Vote!

Rock the vote, Scotland!

Work And Love

Freud's prescription for personal happiness as consisting of work and love must be taken with the proviso that the work has to be loved, and the love has to be worked at.

-- Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986), London-born American syndicated essayist and drama critic, Pieces of Eight (1982)

Kill Bad Bills

It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.

-- John Calvin Coolidge Jr. (4 July 1872 - 5 January 1933), 29th Vice President and 30th President of the United States, Letter (6 September 1910) to his father, John Coolidge, who had been elected to the Vermont State Senate

Something Better

He knew the truth and was looking for something better.

-- William Saroyan (1908-1981), Armenian American author, Jim Dandy: Fat Man in a Famine (1947)

Isn't Worth It

I can't hate for long.  It isn't worth it.

-- William Saroyan (1908-1981), Armenian American author, The Bicycle Rider In Beverly Hills (1952)

A Chance To Inquire

Instead of insight, maybe all a man gets is strength to wander for a while. Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more.

-- William Least Heat-Moon (27 August 1939-), American travel writer and historian, Blue Highways, Part Six, Chapter 9 (1982)

"Just War"

The term "just war" contains an internal contradiction.  War is inherently unjust, and the great challenge of our time is how to deal with evil, tyranny, and oppression without killing huge numbers of people.

-- Howard Zinn (1924 - 2010), American historian, political scientist, playwright, and social activist, Terrorism and War (2002)