All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
I agree with this quote. That’s part of the reason I started with the quote of the day. It’s actually for my morale.
“Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Heinlein was probably exclusively thinking of religion but the relevancy to the Left’s brand of politically correct propaganda is extremely obvious to me.
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creeds into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.
Freedom and liberty are tricky words but I agree with the spirit of this saying.
“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty”
Frank Herbert
I grew up on this guy’s stuff. We don’t see eye to eye on everything but he did get a lot of stuff right. Plus he definitely was an American original. In his novel “Friday” he represented the balkanization of North America. I wonder whether he would be surprised by where we are today. My guess, probably not.
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
Robert A. Heinlein
Since dealing with SJWs is sort of like dealing with orcs I feel it relevant to quote this passage.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
I’m guessing he would be the expert.
“No soldier ever really survives a war.”
Audie Murphy
“It’s a Gift” and “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” are two of my favorite movies. I often tell Camera Girl that she reminds me of the wife in those movies. And she often throws things at me afterwards. Fields was a sort of genius in my opinion.
“No doubt exists that all women are crazy; it’s only a question of degree.”
W. C. Fields
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Sometime soon I’ll have to write a book review of Zorba the Greek. I have a love/hate relationship with the book but every few years I have to reread it. I think I read it not because the book is flawless (far from it) but because Zorba represents the essential component of the male soul, force of will.
Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Chapter 19
… ‘Let’s get back to our subject! What about Zeus?’
‘Ah! the poor chap!’ sighed Zorba. ‘I’m the only one to know what he suffered. He
loved women, of course, but not the way you think, you pen-pushers! Not at all! He
was sorry for them! He understood what they all suffered and he sacrificed himself for
their sakes! When, in some god-forsaken country hole, he saw an old maid wasting
away with desire and regret, or a pretty young wife – or even if she wasn’t at all pretty,
even if she was a monster – and her husband away and she couldn’t get to sleep, he
used to cross himself, this good fellow, changed his clothes, take on whatever shape
the woman had in mind and go to her room.
‘He never bothered about women who just wanted petting. No! Often enough even he
was dead-beat: you can understand that. How could anybody satisfy all those she-
goats? Ah! Zeus! the poor old goat, More than once he couldn’t be bothered, he didn’t
feel too good. Have you never seen a billy after he’s covered several she-goats? He
slobbers at the mouth, his eyes are all misty and rheumy, he coughs a bit and can
hardly stand on his feet. Well, poor old Zeus must have been in that sad state quite
often.
‘At dawn he’d come home, saying: “Ah! my God! whenever shall I be able to have a
good night’s rest? I’m dropping!” And he’d keep wiping the saliva from his mouth.
‘But suddenly he’d hear a sigh: down there on earth some woman had thrown off her
bedclothes, gone out onto the balcony, almost stark naked, and was sighing enough
to turn the sails of a mill! And my old Zeus would be quite over-come.
“Oh, hell! I’ll have to go down again!” he’d groan.
“There’s a woman bemoaning her lot! I’ll have to go and console her!”
‘And it went on like that to such an extent that the women emptied him completely. He
couldn’t move his back, he started vomiting, became paralysed and died. That’s when
his heir, Christ, arrived. He saw the wretched state the old man was in: “Beware of
women!” he cried.’
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When I was grade school kid every English teacher made you read Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” But unlike most of the stuff given to us that story spoke to me. And after a lifetime of doing stupid things it’s all the more resonant.
Following at the man’s heels was a big native dog. It was a wolf dog, gray-coated and not noticeably different from its brother, the wild wolf. The animal was worried by the great cold. It knew that this was no time for traveling. Its own feeling was closer to the truth than the man’s judgment. In reality, it was not merely colder than 50 below zero; it was colder than 60 below, than 70 below. It was 75 below zero. Because the freezing point is 32 above zero, it meant that there were 107 degrees of frost.The dog did not know anything about temperatures. Possibly in its brain there was no understanding of a condition of very cold, such as was in the man’s brain. But the animal sensed the danger. Its fear made it question eagerly every movement of the man as if expecting him to go into camp or to seek shelter somewhere and build a fire. The dog had learned about fire, and it wanted fire. Otherwise, it would dig itself into the snow and find shelter from the cold air.
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I have a story for this quote source. In the summer of 1972 I was attending summer session at my high school. Being a hopeless nerd, I wanted to skip a grade in math so I was taking Geometry in the summer to allow me to go on to Trigonometry and Analysis in September. This was an all-boys Catholic High School and it was even worse than it sounds. But in summer school they had some girls from the local “sister schools” and so things were actually a little better than during the regular year. There was a girl in the class who liked theater and she proposed a trip to Manhattan to see Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park). Now she probably had no romantic intentions but I was a high school boy so I was willing to take the chance. Anyway, Shakespeare in the Park involved waiting in line on the Great Lawn (which was a shambles back then and hardly a lawn in anything but a geographic sense) for hours while eating a picnic lunch and talking to a rather pretty girl. What’s not to like? The park was overrun with aging dirty hippies selling incense and drug paraphernalia which even to my younger, less-conservative self felt creepy. But it seemed like a fun day at the time. When the show began after sunset I learned that the play was King Lear and the name of the actor playing the title role was James Earl Jones. The name was vaguely familiar (possibly from Dr. Strangelove) and I was interested to see how this spectacle would turn out. Jones did not disappoint. He threw everything but the kitchen sink into his Lear. He stuttered, roared and hissed at his tormentors and cried and moaned through his torment. And during the storm scene the weather proved cooperative. There were several very real cracks of thunder and even a few lightning flashes. Very cool indeed. And after the show we enjoyed the extra thrill of leaving Central Park late at night while somehow avoiding the very real threat of being robbed or worse. Of course, nothing ever panned out with the girl but nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say. And that’s the only time I’ve ever seen or read the play King Lear. But it did leave an impression.
Shakespeare, King Lear Act 5 Scene 3
Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Captain, and others following
KING LEAR
Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’ld use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She’s dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
…
KING LEAR
A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
I might have saved her; now she’s gone for ever!
Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
What is’t thou say’st? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
I kill’d the slave that was a-hanging thee.
Captain
‘Tis true, my lords, he did.
KING LEAR
Did I not, fellow?
I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
I would have made them skip: I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o’ the best: I’ll tell you straight.
…
KING LEAR
And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!
Dies
EDGAR
He faints! My lord, my lord!
KENT
Break, heart; I prithee, break!
EDGAR
Look up, my lord.
KENT
Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him much
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.
EDGAR
He is gone, indeed.
KENT
The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
He but usurp’d his life.
ALBANY
Bear them from hence. Our present business
Is general woe.
To KENT and EDGAR
Friends of my soul, you twain
Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.
KENT
I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
My master calls me, I must not say no.
ALBANY
The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
Exeunt, with a dead march