Monthly Archives: October 2011
Quote of the Week
There’s room at the top, they’re telling you still
But first you must learn to smile as you kill.
–John Lennon, “Working Class Hero”
Maybe it’s me, but the lyrics (as with those of many from that era) seem ever more timely in an eerie way.
Quote for the Week
Who will find peace with the lands? The future of humankind lies waiting for those who will come to understand their lives and take up their responsibilities to all living things. Who will listen to the trees, the animals and birds, the voices of the places of the land? As the long forgotten peoples of the respective continents rise and begin to reclaim their ancient heritage, they will discover the meaning of the lands of their ancestors. That is when the invaders of the North American continent will finally discover that for this land, God is red.
Before any final solution to American history can occur, a reconciliation must be effected between the spiritual owner of the land – American Indians – and the political owner of the land – American Whites. Guilt and accusations cannot continue to revolve in a vacuum without some effort at reaching a solution.
–Vine Deloria, Jr., God is Red
Quote for the Week (On Time This Week!)
Privation and defect, wherever seen,
Are mirrors of the beauty of all that is.
The bone-setter, where should he try his skill
But on the broken limb? The tailor, where?
Not, surely, on the well-cut finished coat.
Were no base copper in the crucible,
How could the alchemist his craft display?
–Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson
Quote for the Week III
The sentimental is the word of the word. It’s a pandering to those who don’t want to get at the word but want to be content with the word of the word.
–Robert Aitken, in The Ground We Share, by Robert Aitken and David Steindl-Rast
Quote for the Week II
INDIGNATION AT THE GOODWILL OF OTHERS–We are mistaken as to the extent to which we think we are hated or feared; because though we ourselves know very well the extent of our divergence from a person, tendency, or party, those others know us only superficially, and therefore, only hate us superficially. We often meet with goodwill which is inexplicable to us; but when we comprehend it, it shocks us, because it shows that we are not considered with sufficient seriousness or importance.
—Human, All-Too-Human, Part I, Article 337, by Nietzsche; translated by Helen Zimmern
Horribly, Terribly, Egregiously Late Quote for the Week
Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
–Evelyn Waugh, The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh, courtesy of Wikiquotes.
I’ll follow with a couple extra quotes and videos, since I dropped the ball so badly this week.
The Chequer-board of Nights and Days 