let us eat November 26, 2009

      But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is [...]

Finest of all the things I have left November 26, 2009

Finest of all the things I have left is the light of the sun, Next to that the brilliant stars and the face of the moon, Cucumbers in their season, too, and apples and pears. —Praxilla

Ex Machina November 26, 2009

The machine was obviously going to pieces. . . . The Harrow was not writing, it was only jabbing, and the Bed was not turning the body over but only bringing it up quivering against the needles. —Franz Kafka For what is the Heart, but a Spring; and the Nerves, but so many Strings; and [...]

rare in the wild but extremely important November 26, 2009

Smooth shapes are very rare in the wild but extremely important in the ivory tower and the factory. —Benoit Mandelbrot

why have to be human November 25, 2009

Why, when this span of life might be fleeted away as laurel, a little darker than all the surrounding green, with tiny waves on the border of every leaf (like the smile of a wind): – oh, why have to be human, and shunning Destiny, long for Destiny?… —Rilke

The end of war November 25, 2009

War would end if the dead could return. —Stanley Baldwin

soon enough November 25, 2009

I never think of the future – it comes soon enough. —Albert Einstein

10 years willingly November 25, 2009

A mule will labor ten years willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once. —William Faulkner And we never got the mule, let alone the forty acres. —Charles Evers

like a ghost November 25, 2009

An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. —Charles Dickens Reverse of same, in my grandmother’s hand: she is second from right in the photo  

no use for psychology November 25, 2009

Children have no use for psychology. They detest sociology. They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff. When a book is boring, they yawn openly. They don’t expect their writer to redeem humanity, but leave to adults such childish illusions.    —Isaac Bashevis Singer