*** Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile. *** William Cullen Bryant
They know that it is human nature to take up causes whereby a man may oppress his neighbor, no matter how unjustly. ... Hence they have had no trouble in finding men who would preach the damnability and heresy of the new doctrine from the very pulpit...
[Galileo Galilei, 1615]
To command the professors of astronomy to confute their own observations is to enjoin an impossibility, for it is to command them not to see what they do see, and not to understand what they do understand, and to find what they do not discover.
[Galileo Galilei, The Authority of Scripture in Philosophical Controversies]
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. it is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.)
[Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection]
JULY 4
is nigh upon us here in the USA; what are your favorite quotes about liberty and/or responsibility?
Quote from: E.M. ForsterSo, Two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.
July 1st is here; AFAIK the grand idea on Canada Day is to get pished in the woods....
(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRhvzvpPgwPsjH42mxjr3WBMEaYUArTNsSFjgywjwsEWH4w9pVl) :toasted:(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRhvzvpPgwPsjH42mxjr3WBMEaYUArTNsSFjgywjwsEWH4w9pVl)
You got visiting Royalty in Ottawa..................
My quote of the day comes courtesy of Pieces' Mower story in Snark and Rant. She describes trying to yank up a fallen riding mower as "we're pushing on the mower like fellaheen during Pyramid Building Season". That cracked me up!
I saw this poem posted on the wall yesterday in the Speech/Forensics room at a high school. I had to look it up again today.
In the desert
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter-bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
-- Stephen Crane
...my heart may be bitter but it is mine...
I like my heart like I like my coffee- hot, black and bitter!
Here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-189852.html) are some fun variations on that theme. (Watch out though, many are naughty and/or in questionable taste.)
Quote from: Eddie Izzard in "Dress to Kill"But normally it does work as long as you keep the chat sexy. "Yes, I like my coffee hot and strong. Like I like my women! Hot and strong... With a spoon in them. Ah, the curve of the spoon, the curve of your breast! I like to run the spoon ( talking with the tongue sticking out ) across my lips..." Then you're pretty close, yeah?
"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."
-Buddhist proverb