Perspectives on Ideas. May 7, 2007

Note: A bold-face statement at the conclusion of a quote is my attempt to express a wordy or convoluted quote in plain English.

Facts
Facts xvii J.W. Krutch: “Actually we already have more facts than we know how to interpret or how to use wisely.” Eiseley, The Immense Journey

Facts vs. commentaries 44 Isaac Bashevis Singer: …while facts never become obsolete or stale, commentaries always do. Plimpton, ed. The Writer’s Chapbook

Fads
Fad 427 ...one of your damned new versions of old humbug....” George Eliot, Middlemarch.

Fads 140 The burden [cost] of quackery has never been properly estimated. Mencken, Minority Report.

Failure
Failure 182 I love the lost ones, the failures of the world. Eiseley, The Star Thrower

Failure 64 In recent years, Microsoft deliberately hired a few managers with experience in failing companies...bound to have failures in the future, and I want people here who have proved they can do well in tough situations. Gates, The Road Ahead.

Failure 278 But no one can doubt that failure in Cuba in 1961 contributed to success in Cuba in 1962. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days [The failure at the Bay of Pigs led to success in the Cuban Missile Crisis.]

Failure 125 F. Scott Fitzgerald on his play The Vegetable: People left their seats and walked out, people rustled their programs and talked audibly in bored impatient whispers…but the actors struggled heroically on. F. Scott Fitzgerald on Writing. [The experience of a play’s failure.]

Failure 129 I never blame failure—there are too many complicated situations in life—but I am absolutely merciless toward lack of effort. F. Scott Fitzgerald on Writing.

Failure 213 …what could be sadder than so much ardent labor all in vain? George Eliot, Middlemarch. [Nothing is sadder than expending so much effort only to fail.]

Failure 242 [After losing the election to Douglas]: …he [Lincoln] joked: he was like the boy who stubbed his toe, “It hurt too bad to laugh, and he was too big to cry.” [Note: used by Adlai Stevenson in his concession speech after losing to Dwight Eisenhower in the presidential election of 1952.] Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years

Failure 242 [After losing the election to Douglas, he almost fell while walking]: “It’s a slip and not a fall.” Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years

Failure success 311 It was the failures who had always won, but by the time they won they had come to be called successes. Eiseley, The Star Thrower.


Faith
Faith 399 The faith that stands on authority is not faith. Emerson, The Over-Soul. [Faith compelled by authority is not faith.]

Faith, Reason, Judgment 23 JFK: ...faith in man’s ability...reason and judgment...is our best and our only hope in the world today. Sorenson, Kennedy

Faith, Understanding 28 According to the ancient exhortations of the saints and doctors of the church, the Christian “believes in order to understand”; but he is also called “to understand in order to believe.” Pope John Paul II, Threshold [Christians believe in order to understand, but they must understand in order to believe.]