Some weather we’ve been havingSome weather we’ve been having
“The first prerequisite to civilization is an ability to make polite conversation.” – W. H. Auden (interviewed by Michael Newman in The Paris Review)
Category: Verandah
Traveling lightTraveling light
“Own nothing! Possess nothing! Buddha and Christ taught us this, and the Stoics and the Cynics. Greedy though we are, why can’t we seem to grasp that simple teaching? Can’t we understand that with property we destroy our soul? . . . Own only what you can carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” – Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago (trans. Whitney)
Fries up crispyFries up crispy
“Pride grows in the human heart like lard on a pig.” – Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago (trans. Whitney)
You’re a big boy nowYou’re a big boy now
“The infant’s and child’s outsized fantasies — of omnipotence and terrified helplessness, of rage and undifferentiated union, and so on — must gradually be worn down, reduced to human scale. And this inward, intensive identification — different from the outward-turning, assimilative identification that enlarges our sympathies — is what gives us human shape, psychically speaking, along with other, secondary identifications the same sort: with church, neighborhood, ethnic group, and their beliefs and practices. The memories of which these local identifications consist constitute us. We are our histories, in a way more precise and intimate than previously appreciated.” – George Scialabba, “A Prophet, Honored”
An unintended side-effectAn unintended side-effect
“There is no getting around the fact that cops and sergeants spoil your fun.” – T. E. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War
Mr. Fix-ItMr. Fix-It
“Gender roles are often a predominant factor during fire and explosion incidents. Research indicates, for example, that women are more likely to report a fire or explosion immediately, while their male counterparts may delay reporting the incident, opting rather to engage in suppression or other mitigation efforts.” – “Roles and Norms,” Sec. 10.3.2.4.2, NFPA 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations (2011 Edition)
From here to eternityFrom here to eternity
“People say that life is short, but it isn’t short, it’s very long. When you make a mistake, you have to live with it for the rest of your life.” – Frank Abagnale (author of Catch Me If You Can)
Easy-peaseyEasy-peasey
“To be a hero, you only had to be brave for a moment … But to be a coward was to embark on a career that lasted a lifetime … Being a coward required pertinacity, persistence, a refusal to change – which made it, in a way, a kind of courage.” – Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time
The place to beThe place to be
“The artist believes in the future because he lives in the future.” – Modest Mussorgsky (quoted by David Dubal in The Essential Canon of Classical Music)
Look behind youLook behind you
“I’m always more intrigued with the story no one is telling than the story everyone is telling.” – Liz Ann Sonders, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Strategist, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Circling the wagon, hoisting the petardCircling the wagon, hoisting the petard
“It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.” – George F. Kennan, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”
We can all have one of theseWe can all have one of these
“ ‘Little Boy,’ ‘an elongated trash can with fins’ . . . exploded 1,900 feet above Hiroshima’s Shima Hospital, 550 feet from its aiming point. . . . The 8,900-pound device created temperatures at ground level which reached 5,400 degrees and generated the explosive power of 12,500 tons of TNT. All but 6,000 of the city’s 76,000 buildings were destroyed by fire or blast. . . . The detonation of ‘Little Boy,’ the mushroom cloud which changed the world, created injuries never before seen on mortal creatures, and recorded with disbelief by survivors: the cavalry horse standing pink, stripped of its hide; people with clothing patterns imprinted upon their flesh; the line of schoolgirls with ribbons of skin dangling from their faces; doomed survivors, hideously burned, without hope of effective medical relief; the host of charred and shrivelled corpses. Hiroshima and its people had been almost obliterated, and even many of those who clung to life would not long do so.” – Max Hastings, Retribution
On top of itOn top of it
“If you’re a super well-developed, gorgeous rich guy who is being watched by all the girls, then you might be less pissed at the world.” – Adil El Arbi (Director, Black)
We might give this a tryWe might give this a try
“There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all.” – Booker T. Washington, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Address”
Still working on itStill working on it
“We shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful.” – Booker T. Washington, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Address”
How to spend ’em if you got ’emHow to spend ’em if you got ’em
“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community.” – Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth”
Listen closely to the distant whisperListen closely to the distant whisper
“More often than not, the still, small voice of our genius requires many decades to get our attention.” – George Scialabba, “Self-Reliance: A Syllabus”
My bag, my bundle, my boneMy bag, my bundle, my bone
“Only very wise people know how much they can do without before wasting many years doing with.” – George Scialabba, “Self-Reliance: A Syllabus”
The green flashThe green flash
“In the process of decline a civilization may, from time to time, rally for a while; but it is the overall trajectory, the structural properties of the situation, that ultimately determine the outcome.” – Morris Berman, Dark Ages America
Word upWord up
“Avoid swimming in places where you may resemble part of the food chain.” – The Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide
But they’re such nice peopleBut they’re such nice people
“If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a weekend with your parents.” – Bob Walker (quoted by Jean Stein in West of Eden)
EquationEquation
“In proportion as the body grows fat, so does the soul wither away.” – Abba Daniel of Skettis
What’s that buzzing sound?What’s that buzzing sound?
“I’d listen to my conscience if I were sure it was really mine.” – James Richardson, “Vectors 4.2: Everyone Else”
Give it a tryGive it a try
“However far you extend a horizontal, it will not turn vertical.” – Timothy Williamson
Explaining the inexplicableExplaining the inexplicable
“We still are living in the reality of the cosmos and not in the universe of physics, the brainwashing propaganda of our scientistic ideologues notwithstanding.” – Eric Voegelin (quoted by John Bussanich in “Eric Voegelin’s Philosophy of Myth”)
Hence the rise of starsHence the rise of stars
“In a very deep sense mythical symbols are unavoidable for humans because reality transcends all types of representation and because our formulations cannot dispense completely with concrete phenomena. . . . Although over time particular symbols and myths may become referentially opaque, the realities symbolized do not cease to exist, which is evidenced by the fact that invalidated myths and symbols are replaced by new or revitalized ones.” – John Bussanich, “Eric Voegelin’s Philosophy of Myth”
You gotta be a believerYou gotta be a believer
“No more than the truth of myth can the truth of reason be conveyed by information; it must be acquired by an act of meditative articulation.” – Eric Voegelin (quoted by John Bussanich in “Eric Voegelin’s Philosophy of Myth”)
So thereSo there
“Every concrete symbol is true insofar as it envisages the truth, but none is completely true insofar as the truth about being is essentially beyond human reach.” – Eric Voegelin (quoted by John Bussanich in “Eric Voegelin’s Philosophy of Myth”)
The man who fell to artThe man who fell to art
“The most interesting thing for an artist is to pick through the debris of a culture, to look at what’s been forgotten or not really taken seriously. Once something is categorized and accepted, it becomes part of the tyranny of the mainstream, and it loses its potency.” – David Bowie (interviewed by Michael Kimmelman in The New York Times)
Transcendence must transcendTranscendence must transcend
“God’s Word is no longer grace, and grace itself is no longer grace, if we ascribe to man a predisposition towards this Word, a possibility of knowledge regarding it, that is intrinsically and independently native to him.” – Karl Barth, The Church Dogmatics