Category: Quote of the Day

Aphorisms, proverbs, wise sayings and other witty, pithy stuff

25APR2018 – Quote of the Day

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Yeah, more Paul Simon.  What?  So sue me!

 

I am just a poor boy though my story’s seldom told

I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles,

Such are promises, all lies and jest,

Still a man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest, hmmm

…

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade

And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him

‘Til he cried out in his anger and his shame

I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains.

 

The Boxer by Paul Simon

24APR2018 – Quote of the Day

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Early to mid-career Jethro Tull was a musical favorite of mine.  But in 1979 I listened to Stormwatch and declared the end of my interest in their music.

…

The leaded window opened

to move the dancing candle flame.

And the first moths of summer

suicidal came

to join in the worship

of the light that never dies

in a moment’s reflection

of two moths spinning in her eyes.

 

Moths (from the album Heavy Horses)

Jethro Tull   (Ian Anderson)

20APR2018 – Quote of the Day

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Some more Zorba.

 

Chapter XVIII

…

‘Have you ever been to war, Zorba?’

‘How do I know?’ he asked with a frown. I can’t remember. What war?’

‘I mean, have you ever fought for your country?’

‘Couldn’t you talk about something else? All that nonsense is over and done with and
best forgotten.’

‘Do you call that nonsense, Zorba? Aren’t you ashamed? Is that how you speak of
your country?’

Zorba raised his head and looked at me. I was lying on my bed, too, and the oil-lamp
was burning above my head. He looked at me severely for a time, then, taking a firm
hold of his moustache, said:

“That’s a half-baked thing to say; it’s what I expect from a schoolmaster. I might as
well be singing, boss, for all the good it is my talking to you, if you’ll pardon my saying
so.’

‘What?’ I protested. ‘I understand things, Zorba, don’t forget.’

‘Yes, you understand with your brain. You say: “This is right, and that’s wrong; this is

true, and that isn’t; he’s right, the other one’s wrong …” But where does that lead us?

While you are talking I watch your arms and chest. Well, what are they doing? They’re

silent. They don’t say a word. As though they hadn’t a drop of blood between them.

Well, what do you think you understand with? With your head? Bah!’

…

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

19APR2018 – Quote of the Day

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When John Paul Jones was engaging a much abler ship than his own Bon Homme Richard in the British Serapis he ran the bow of his ship into the stern of the Serapis.  When the British commander mockingly asked “Has your ship struck?” Jones answered,

“I have not yet begun to fight.”

And later on as his ship was badly damaged and again he was asked if he’d surrender he declared,

I may sink, but I’ll be damned if I strike!

His ship did sink but he had already captured the Serapis at this point.

16APR2018 – Quote of the Day

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To the Arab scholars of the Caliphate Aristotle was “The Master of Those Who Know.”  Well, they were right.  I’ve always thought Plato should be relegated to the fiction section of the library so as not to tarnish the reputation of his much wiser student.  I highly recommend you read the whole of his Politics or at least read the entirety of Book 4 – Part XI to get the whole argument of the fragment below.

Aristotle – Politics – Book 4 – Part XI

…

Thus it is manifest that the best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class, and that those states are likely to be well-administered in which the middle class is large, and stronger if possible than both the other classes, or at any rate than either singly; for the addition of the middle class turns the scale, and prevents either of the extremes from being dominant. Great then is the good fortune of a state in which the citizens have a moderate and sufficient property; for where some possess much, and the others nothing, there may arise an extreme democracy, or a pure oligarchy; or a tyranny may grow out of either extreme- either out of the most rampant democracy, or out of an oligarchy; but it is not so likely to arise out of the middle constitutions and those akin to them. I will explain the reason of this hereafter, when I speak of the revolutions of states. The mean condition of states is clearly best, for no other is free from faction; and where the middle class is large, there are least likely to be factions and dissensions. For a similar reason large states are less liable to faction than small ones, because in them the middle class is large; whereas in small states it is easy to divide all the citizens into two classes who are either rich or poor, and to leave nothing in the middle. And democracies are safer and more permanent than oligarchies, because they have a middle class which is more numerous and has a greater share in the government; for when there is no middle class, and the poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise, and the state soon comes to an end. A proof of the superiority of the middle dass is that the best legislators have been of a middle condition; for example, Solon, as his own verses testify; and Lycurgus, for he was not a king; and Charondas, and almost all legislators.

…

 

Basically this is why the leftists want to destroy the middle class.  They know destroying  it will quickly destabilize the country and allow it to be destroyed and absorbed by a world state.