Post 1.6

In answer to Dave's earlier comment, I have opted for a 7-day week...almost. In truth, my plan is to post quotes Monday through Saturday and to reveal their common authors and/or themes on Sunday. I hope this meets with your approval. Here's your daily dose:

1. In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice.
2. There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
3. The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not bother wondering whether you love your neighbor...act as if you did.
4. Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.
5. History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

Discuss.

Post 1.5

Let's see if you can guess any more of the authors. That was--and is--not my intent, but I suppose it's an obvious consequence of the setup. I just thought that not telling you might spark a different conversation than telling you would. Anyway, here we go:

1. The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change.
2. Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a rope, would you shake the cable, or keep shouting out to him—“Blondin, stand up a little straighter—Blondin, stoop a little more—go a little faster—lean a little more to the north—lean a little more to the south?” No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue, and keep your hands off until he was safe over. The Government are carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don’t badger them. Keep silence, and we’ll get you safe across.
3. You may wish to be loving-- you may even try with all your might--but your love will never be pure unless you are free from resentment. When we are free from resentment, loving is effortless. When we have to try hard to love, this is generally a sign that we are repressing our resentments.
4. A man sits with a pretty woman for an hour and it seems to go by in a minute. But tell that same man to sit on a hot stove for a minute and it seems to last for hours. That's relativity.
5. Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.

Discuss. (By the way, almost all these quotes are coming from my memory. Thus, they are likely not completely accurate with regard to wording and grammar. Just wanted you all to know.)

Post 1.4

This is, as far as I can see, the only time I'll be posting twice in one day. I am not sure that justice is balance, but it's a good place to start looking for it.

1. The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.
2. My friend, if this man had been guilty of the worst murder that can be conceived of, I might, perhaps, have pardoned him. You know the weakness of my nature — always open to the appeals of repentance or of grief; and with such a touching letter and such recommendations, I could not resist. But any man who would go to Africa and snatch from a mother her children to sell them into interminable bondage, merely for the sake of pecuniary gain, shall never receive pardon from me.
3. As much as people would like to believe otherwise, love incorporates more than just the spirit. People believe the outward appearance to be an accurate reflection of what's inside. Love isn't really blind...just selectively nearsighted.
4. Whatever your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you mine are still greater.
5. Ever since I served as an infantryman in the first World War, I have had a great dislike of those who, themselves in ease and safety, issue exhortations to men in the front lines. As a result, I have a great reluctance to say much about temptations to which I myself am not exposed. No man, I suppose, is tempted to every sin.

Discuss...again.

Post 1.3

And here we are again:

1. Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.
2. Whenever I hear someone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong compulsion to see it visited upon them.
3. You love her, and she loves him, and he loves somebody else, you just can't win.
4. Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.
5. There are paths that are not taken; there is terrain for which one does not contend; there are orders from the high command that are not followed.

Discuss.

Post 1.2

Well, at least a few of you have expressed some interest, so I guess I should carry on and see where it takes us. Here's your daily dose:

1. The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the Master calls a butterfly.
2. A house divided against itself shall not stand.
3. All you need is love.
4. Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity...and I'm not sure about the universe.
5. There never was a good war or a bad peace.

Discuss.

Post 1.1

As I am sure only a select group of people are reading this, let me apologize to them for both my blatant attempt to join the swelling ranks of bloggers in our group and my hollow attempt to avoid actually blogging. What I'd like to do here, assuming any of you have interest in such things, is simple. Each day, for as long as I remember to do it, I plan to post five quotes. They will generally be short, will not be annotated in any way, and will come from everywhere and, quite possibly, nowhere. (If you, for some reason, require annotation for one of more, feel free to send me an email.) My goal is to see what discussion they generate from among us. I like reading what you all think...let's try expending said intellectual fuel on something that means almost nothing for a change.

A further word of apology...I dislike numbered lists as a rule, but it does seem to be the best way to ensure no one is confused about where one quote ends and the next begins. That may change once I get the hang of this.

Here's your list for today:

1. Argue your limitations, and sure enough they're yours.
2. If I were two-faced, do you think I'd be wearing this one?
3. Love is a verb.
4. To the extent that mathematics refers to the real world, it is not perfect. To the extent that mathematics is perfect, it does not refer to the real world.
5. Despite everything...I still believe in the inner goodness of man.
   

Discuss.