He dared us to call his bluff, and, when we didn’t, he made all of us complicit in what he’d done. — Mark Steyn Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Quotations
Ghost World
REBECCA: This is so bad it’s almost good. ENID: This is so bad it’s gone past good and back to bad again. — Ghost World Read more →
Morality is Insignificant
Fidelity to a personal code of morality would seem to fade in significance as the public sphere, like an enormous sun, blinds us to all else. — Joyce Carol Oates Read more →
Famous Quotes Revisited
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. — Martin Luther King Jr. The staircase?! That doesn’t make sense. Why can’t I see the staircase? Am I drunk? Read more →
Twitter: 2009-08-17
My uncle fell down and cracked his head open. He's 80. No, he's not a member of Aerosmith. # RT @ericmusselman: Jerry West "Sometimes talent gets in the way of people being able to play well together " # Read more →
Polite Acerbity
I am learning to bring into [my voice] that polite acerbity that makes people feel that far from being welcome they are not even tolerated and are under continual and scathing analysis at every moment. — F. Scott Fitzgerald Read more →
Twitter: 2009-08-02
I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something. — Jackie Mason # Read more →
A Lesson in Mystique
Before I go, lemme give you a lesson in mystique. (Holds out a cigarette lighter in one hand and closes his other fist.) You can only have one. Which one do you want? As long as you can’t see what’s in this hand (shows closed fist), you’ll always want it more. — Almost Famous Read more →
Twitter: 2009-07-21
We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. — Isaac Newton # Read more →
To Fly is the Opposite of Traveling
To fly is the opposite of traveling: you cross a gap in space, you vanish into the void, you accept not being in any place for a duration that is itself a kind of void in time; then you reappear, in a place and in a moment with no relation to the where and when in which you vanished. — Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Read more →
The Last Frontier
California’s fiscal crisis has left the US state without courts and some administration offices were ordered to close on Friday. A predicted 24 billion dollar budget deficit over the next two years has forced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to order massive cost-cutting measures. — California closes state offices to save cash There is no more new frontier We have got to make it here — The Eagles, “The Last Resort” All the economic news from here in California is bad and unfortunately the cry heeded by our forbears — “Go West!” — is no longer an option . . . Read more →
Sighs and Shrugs
The United States is declining as a nation and a world power, with mostly sighs and shrugs to mark this seismic event. Astonishingly, some people do not appear to realize that the situation is all that serious. — Leslie Gelb, Necessity, Choice, and Common Sense | Foreign Affairs Read more →
Twitter: 2009-07-09
Niagara Falls is INSANE! # RT @paulandstorm: [P] "Listen to them. Children of the night. Christ, what a racket." #1stdraftmovielines # RT @paulandstorm: [P] "First rule of Fight Club is — dues must be paid by the first of every month." #1stdraftmovielines # RT @paulandstorm: [P] "I'm mad as hell, and I'm telling you, that's pretty damn mad. Mad, mad, mad! Hoo-boy, am I mad!" #1stdraftmovielines # RT @paulandstorm: [P] "He's Spartacus!" #1stdraftmovielines # RT @paulandstorm: "I'm sorry; did you say 'badgers' or 'badges?' Actually, we don't have either, so the point is moot." #1stdraftmovielines # RT @ChipChantry: "Guys, guys, time out… this boat is WAY TOO SMALL." #1stdraftmovielines # RT @ChipChantry: "If you build it, your wife will get angry with you." #1stdraftmovielines # RT @diablocody: "Make sure I get paid adequately." #1stdraftmovielines # Why isn't there a law against guys with sleep apnea taking redeye flights? # Just… Read more →
Fourteen Good Days
I have now reigned about fifty years in victory and peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to be wanting for my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to fourteen. O man, place not thy confidence in this present world! — Abd-el-Raham, 912-961 A.D. Read more →
Organic Organizing
A problem-solving leader’s entire orientation is toward creating an environment in which everyone can be solving problems, making decisions, and implementing those decisions, rather than personally solving problems, making decisions, and implementing those decisions. — Gerald M. Weinberg, Becoming a Technical Leader Read more →
The Myth of the Natural Genius
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. — Emile Zola People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times. — Mozart Read more →
I’m Afraid People Will Laugh at Me
London’s Evening Standard from 1966: “Three girls, one of them named Twyla Tharp, appeared at the Albert Hall last evening and threatened to do the same tonight.” So what? Thirty-seven years later I’m still here. — Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit I was at Borders over the weekend and found the Twyla Tharp book. I wasn’t looking for it. It was on the Software Development shelf. It shouldn’t have been there but it was, so I felt that it was my destiny to buy it and read it. It was meant to be . . . Read more →
Do Not Do What Someone Else Could Do
Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings. — André Gide Read more →
Microblog: 2009-04-29
A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding — Marshall McLuhan # Reading _Love in the Time of Cholera_ to prepare for the swine flu epidemic # Read more →
It’s Not Their Destiny
And there was like a fierce wind that was pushing me, just to do this one thing like nobody had ever done it before. . . . But you know, popular music. It doesn’t attract people who are in it for the right reasons. They’re not called to do it. It’s not their destiny. — Bob Dylan Read more →