Monday, April 23, 2007

Perspectives on Ideas. April 23, 2007.

Debt
Debt 992 A man in debt is…a slave. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Wealth.

Decision Making
Decision-making 535 JFK: “We see little value in a [UN] resolution which would be primarily a means for a discharge of our emotions, which would be unlikely to be fully implemented and which calls for measures which could be easily evaded….” Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

Decision-making 316 The Iroquois believed that no decision should be made without considering its impact seven generations into the future. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.

Decisions 983 But in our flowing affairs a decision must be made,--the best, if you can; but any is better than none. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Power.

Decisions 983 [On decision-making]: There are twenty ways of going to a point, and one is the shortest; but set out at once on one. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Power.

Decisions 826 …instinct is to search for precedent. Emerson, English Traits.

Definition
Definition 681 …Mr. Robert Bolton, an individual who defines himself as “a gentleman connected with the press,” which is a definition of peculiar indefiniteness. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.

Definition 38 There are only three things worthwhile in this world—justice, beauty and truth; and perhaps none of them can be defined. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Plato.

Definition 180 Johnson: “To explain requires the use of terms less abstruse than that which is to be explained, and such terms cannot always be found.” Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.

Definition 180 Johnson: …nothing can be defined but by the use of words too plain to admit of definition. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.

Definition 8 …the relation between an analogy and a pun: in the former one truth lies under two expressions, and in the latter two truths lie under one expression. R V Jones. A Random Walk in Science.

Definition 105 It is indeed much easier to describe what is not humor than what is. Addison, 3/10/1711. The Spectator.

Déjà vu
Déjà vu 612 Natasha glanced at her, and at the crack in the pantry door, and it seemed to her that she remembered the light falling through that crack once before, and Sonya passing with a glass in her hand. Tolstoi, War and Peace.

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