zaziel
Now. Then. Previous. Next. Random. Ernst. Fallen. Crush. Notes&Quotes. Profile. Rings.
I'tr�m breit vula�oz�o ye spalla ei�tlin nel�ffnes pieqi aummit su berwegr'ra'ao.

Noble Man

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 -
Ap�sl�min ida corbalanyrtne 'ls�o rohl'daathi�m v� nen�a iroyss�rd.

I'm a quote freak.

There. I've said it. (Confession is good for the soul, the wise ones say.) Now you know my bliss and my shame. Even more than the novel, the play, the poem, I love the excerpt, the epigram, the caption. Would you have guessed that one as prolix as I would love such pith? I am also one of those horrible end-readers who wants to know the ending of a story before the beginning. I am sure that these are indications of a deficiency in my attention span, which I believe is only growing worse as I age. Do you know I couldn't even be bothered to go see Lord Of The Rings? My attitude was "Why should I endure a three-hour movie when I've read the books a dozen times over?"

But it's more than that. My avoidance of LOTR has a complexity that I don't fully understand. Actually, I'm not bothering to understand it. I only have this inkling that, if I see the movie, I will lose more than I will gain. Tolkien's trilogy was a huge favorite of mine, and still is, even though I haven't read any of the books for some years. I think I'm afraid that the movie will prove to be so compelling that it will wash away my own visionings of the story under a flood of indelible cinematic images. And I can't see, right now, the good in sacrificing the world that J.R.R. and I have made, for a version that has been appropriated by millions of people.

(Gee whizz, I'm confessing my elitism, too. I think I need a blessing here.)

Since I am a quote freak, today you will have to suffer through one of my episodic spasms of quotational material. And after you finish reading this entry, if you feel you haven't suffered enough, you can go to the "notes" page (which Diaryland has so thoughtfully provided) for more quotations. (Oh, joy.) You are welcomed, nay, you are encouraged, to post any quotations of your own in this place, as well as the usual comments, salutations, commiserations, and other expressions of your good will. Write anything you want to share.


"Man is a fraction of the animal world. Our history is an afterthought, no more, tacked to an infinite calendar. We are not so unique as we should like to believe. And if man in a time of need seeks deeper knowledge concerning himself, then he must explore those animal horizons from which we have made our quick little march."

Robert Ardrey


"Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder."

Isaac Asimov


"...a world absent monsters, ghosts, demons, and gods unfetters the mind to soar to new heights, to think unthinkable thoughts, to imagine the unimaginable, to contemplate infinity and eternity knowing that no one is looking back. The universe takes on a whole new meaning when you know that your place in it was not foreordained, that it was not designed for us, indeed, that it was not designed at all. If we are nothing more than star stuff, how special life becomes. How inspiring it is to share in the sublimity of knowledge generated by other human minds, and perhaps to even make a tiny contribution toward that body of knowledge that will be passed down through the ages, part of the cumulative wisdom of a single species on a tiny planet orbiting an ordinary star on the remote edge of a not-so-unusual galaxy, itself a member of a cluster of galaxies millions of light years from nowhere. For me, the Hubble Telescope Deep Field photograph WFPC2, revealing as never before the rich density of galaxies in our neck of the universe... is as grand a statement about the sacred as any medieval cathedral."

Michael Shermer


"May I take the ridiculous position of saying that I do not like the way [Andre] Gide exalts the body. He asks it to restrain its desire to make it keener. Thus he comes dangerously near to those who in brothel slang are called involved or brain-workers. Christianity also wants to suspend desire. But, more natural, it sees a mortification in this. My friend Vincent, who is a cooper and junior breast-stroke champion, has an even clear view. He drinks when he is thirsty, if he desires a woman he tries to go to bed with her, and would marry her if he loved her (this hasn't yet happened). Afterward he says: 'I feel better'-- and this sums up vigorously any apology that might be made for satiety."

Albert Camus
Summer in Algiers


"Noble man remembers nothing good he did for others."

Alisher Navoi


more quotations

<~>
Ap�sl�min ida corbalan� 'lse nesgla ugar�-cham sa cru ogrulho bat�oltha al�mv�sde.

last eleven:

Resurrection - Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Arts and Letters -
Friday, June 17, 2005
Domestic Obsessions -
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
The Kindness of Strangers -
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Gone -
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Coming Back, Little By Little -
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Effing Around -
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Explicably Yours -
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Things Too Innumerable To Mention -
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Mr. Armstrong -
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
The Pope in Our Kitchen -
Saturday, October 2, 2004



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Sa r'ji�o oss�vel meninonceiv �o poshik m�'�nch uscantebatahla o�r musiu o�r muiko.
Copyright � 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 by gcs

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