Favorite Quotations

[Ask Mr. Religion]

"Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They flopped limply along, half with their webbed feet, and half with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts..."

 

[zoo22]

"... and it ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we're talking about when we talk about love.” ― Raymond Carver

 

[bybee]

"Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They flopped limply along, half with their webbed feet, and half with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts..."

Sounds like Edgar Allan Poe?

 

[Buzzword]

"Once you know you can beat someone up, it takes most of the fun out of dreaming about it."
-Matthew Polly, American Shaolin

“There’s true and false in piety, as in bravery,
And just as those whose courage shines the most
In battle, are the least inclined to boast,
So those whose hearts are pure and lowly
Don’t make a flashy show of being holy.”
-Moliere, Tartuffe

“Once the goods are carried out of the store, the owner will refuse to acknowledge them.”
-Chinese trade proverb

“What I have done, I have done. It is mine, and my doing. No one can take it from me; no one can make me disown it. All that you can do is kill me, to make me cry out no matter what under the torture, but make me say ‘Yes,’ you cannot do.”
-Jean Anouilh, The Lark

"The stronger a man is, the more gentle he can afford to be."
-Elbert Hubbard

 

[The Barbarian]

My old suggestion that public offices be filled by drawing lots, as a jury box is filled, was probably more intelligent than I suspected. It has been criticized on the ground that selecting a man at random would probably produce some extremely bad State governors. [...] But I incline to believe that it would be best to choose members of the Legislature quite at random. No matter how stupid they were, they could not be more stupid than the average legislator under the present system. Certainly, they'd be measurably more honest, taking one with another. Finally, there would be the great advantage that all of them had got their jobs unwillingly, and were eager, not to spin out their sessions endlessly, but to get home as soon as possible.
H.L. Mencken

 

[The Barbarian]

Sounds like Edgar Allan Poe?

H.P. Lovecraft. Poe couldn't touch Lovecraft for sheer, decadent horror.

 

[bybee]

My old suggestion that public offices be filled by drawing lots, as a jury box is filled, was probably more intelligent than I suspected. It has been criticized on the ground that selecting a man at random would probably produce some extremely bad State governors. [...] But I incline to believe that it would be best to choose members of the Legislature quite at random. No matter how stupid they were, they could not be more stupid than the average legislator under the present system. Certainly, they'd be measurably more honest, taking one with another. Finally, there would be the great advantage that all of them had got their jobs unwillingly, and were eager, not to spin out their sessions endlessly, but to get home as soon as possible.
H.L. Mencken

He was a brilliant guy but thought Hitler was on the right track.

 

[The Barbarian]

He was a brilliant guy but thought Hitler was on the right track.

And an anti-Semite. And hostile to religion generally.

Still, funny and insightful, if a bit of a bigot.

 

[annabenedetti]

Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest.
William Faulkner

 

[annabenedetti]

Given a choice between grief and nothing, I'd choose grief.
William Faulkner

 

[Buzzword]

"I think the most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You go to college, you do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating. You finish off as a gleam in somebody's eye!"
-Sean Morey

 

[annabenedetti]

Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.
Mark Twain


:think:

But four-dollar words are are beguiling, three-dollar words are tantalizing, and two-dollar words are enchanting. One dollar and less? Useful, but not nearly as much fun.

 

[Town Heretic]

Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.
Mark Twain


:think:

But four-dollar words are are beguiling, three-dollar words are tantalizing, and two-dollar words are enchanting. One dollar and less? Useful, but not nearly as much fun.

Especially if you only carry paper. Some people just don't have any cents. :nono:

 

[Buzzword]

Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.
Mark Twain

The difficulty here comes when you become accustomed to an environment of fifty-dollar words and suddenly find yourself in a constant stream of five-cent words.

Like when you graduate with your M.A. and have to work at McDonald's.

 

[Aimiel]

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” "It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors."

“I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.”

-- George Washington

 

[zoo22]

"After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am." ― James Agee

 

[bybee]

"After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am." ― James Agee

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."
Oscar Wilde

 

[Psalmist]

During WW II when London was under siege by the German armies, one of Winston Churchill's aides reported to Churchill that they were surround by the on the north, east, south and west, Churchill's reply was...

"Good, we've got them where we want them."​

​

 

[bybee]

And an anti-Semite. And hostile to religion generally.

Still, funny and insightful, if a bit of a bigot.

Years ago I was given a book called "A Mencken Chrestomathy".
I read it with a dictionary in hand.

 

[Buzzword]

During WW II when London was under siege by the German armies, one of Winston Churchill's aides reported to Churchill that they were surround by the on the north, east, south and west, Churchill's reply was...

"Good, we've got them where we want them."​

​

Correction: The Germans never invaded the island of Britain.

A quote from actual history comes to us from American Lieutenant General Lewis B."Chesty" Puller, while surrounded by eight Wehrmacht divisions:
"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."