Saint Thomas Aquinas

"Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious."

Fred Allen Wolf

From his introduction to "Dr. Quantum's Big Ideas": "You may feel that you are not worth very much, or you may feel that you are far better than many of your associates. I caution you: Both of these positions are illusions."

oh-oh

"I was walking down the street wearing glasses when my prescription ran out." (Steven Wright)

Charles Dickens

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another."

Charity

As a character in John Bunyan's "A Pilgram's Progress" put it: "A man there was, tho some did count him mad / the more he cast away, the more he had."

Shakespeare

"A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, we bid be quiet when we hear it cry; but were we burdened with like weight of pain, as much or more we should ourselves complain."

Ego

"There is no limit to the good people can accomplish if they don't care who gets the credit." (anon)

What?

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the unanimous view of all parts of my mind. (Thank you for your comments yesterday Angie)

Charles Dickens

Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things, says this : "Dickens "A Christmas Carol" is not just the first of our holiday publishing extravaganzas. Even after a century and a half, it's also the best. Not one of this year's 1044 Christmas entries can touch it."

Words

"Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them." (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Now

Now is a fictitious concept, which becomes obvious when we contemplate the wider universe. To quote Marcus Chown from his book "The Quantum Zoo": "Although we think of the universe we see through our telescopes as existing now, this is a mistaken view. We can never know what the Universe is like at this instant. The farther across space we look, the farther back in time we see. Space and time are inextricably bound together."

Life

"In the game of life it's a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure fo trying to maintain an undefeated season. " (Bill Baughan)

Woody Alllen

"Photons have mass?!?! I didn't even know they were Catholic."

The Incredible Atom

As described by playwright Tom Stoppard in his play "Hapgood": "Now make a fist, and if your fist is as big as the nucleus of an atom then the atom is as big as St.Pauls, and if it happens to be a hydrogen atom then it has a single electron flitting about like a moth in an empty cathedral, now by the dome, now by the altar."

W. Somerset Maughan

"It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."

Blogging

Blogging is a lonely endeavor but sometimes it can be so rewarding. (Thank you and my very best wishes Angie.)

Henry Kissinger

"The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when you bore people, they think it's their fault."

Peggy Noonan

"From what I have seen, growing older can leave you more exposed to the force of whatever it is you're feeling. Defences erode like a fence worn by time. " "Age reorders. The order is expressed by the mysterious force of a fragment of a moment."

Comments

Every once in awhile I get a comment left on my blog which I much appreciate but cannot acknowledge for lack of an email address. (Thank you Angie.)

Joseph Epstein (on effusive language)

"Why, for example, do we need the word "icon" to describe hugely successful performers in show business, sports and elsewhere? We began with "star", which was replaced with "superstar"; and when it was discovered that too many superstars were floating around, icon was called in. After icon is used up, we shall, no doubt, have to go straight to "god"."

Lily Tomlin

"Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it."

Lily Tomlin

December 7 1941

On this date, 65 years ago, the Japanese bombed Pearl Habor. 4 months
later I began 4 years of active service in World War II.

An Intellectual

"Is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger."
(John Chesson)

Cognitive Dissonance

A rationalization theory conceived by Leon Festinger, social psychologist at Stanford University. His theory: when feelings and facts are in opposition, people will find or invent a way to reconcile them. An example: if the smoker stopped smoking he would gain weight which would also be unhealthy; some risks are worth taking to have a full life; the risks of smoking have been exaggerated.

Ambrose Bierce

The Devil's Dictionary: "Bigot, n. One who is obstinately and zealously attatched to an opinion that you do not entertain."

Peggy Noonan

"We wll need grace to get through this time. People often speak of an absence of civility in Washington, but that's not quite the problem. Faking civility is a primary operating style:"My esteemed collegue ". What is needed is grace - sensitivity, mercy, generosity of spirit, a courtesy so deep it amounts to beauty. We will have to summon it. And the dreadful thing is you can't really fake it."

Time

Contrary to our earthbound perception, time does not pass at the same rate for everyone everywhere. Time is relative to the speed of travel - clocks tick slower as their speed increases. This has profound consequences. To quote Robyn Arianrhod: "The intertwining of space and time means that at a fundamental level, even the distinction between past, present, and future is relative."

Abe Martin

"It's what we learn after we think we know it all that counts."