A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Men and Gods
The gods have ordained that men bear the burden of life while the gods feel no affliction.
Men and gods 214 Achilles: This is the way/ the gods ordained the destiny of men,/ to bear such burden in our lives, while they/ feel no affliction. Homer, Iliad.
Men and Women
In Jane Austen’ time, men only read newspapers because women were not free to express their opinions.
Men and women 510 The inclusion of newspapers in the male catalog [of activities in the time of Jane Austen] is significant; women were not allowed to express an opinion on politics. Austen, Emma
In the days of Jane Austen, men’s opinions of the weather were valued.
Men and women 510 I think the weather was another subject on which only masculine opinion was valued [in the days of Jane Austen]. Austen, Emma
I don’t want you for a friend; I want to possess you, own you.
Men and women 354 George Gerry: I don’t want you for my friend, but for my own to keep and to have. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Enthroning women is a big part of men’s lives.
Men and women 212 The remote worship of a woman throned out of their reach plays a great part in men’s lives…. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Mental State
He let his mind passively accept impressions, then exerted himself to organize and catalog them. Mental state 126 Edward at length retired, his mind agitated by a variety of new and conflicting feelings, which detained him from rest for some time, in that not unpleasing state of mind in which fancy takes the helm, and the soul rather drifts passively along with the rapid and confused tide of reflections than exerts itself to encounter, systematize, or examine them. Sir Walter Scott, Waverley.
He tried to remember every word she had used with the looks and gestures enforcing them, but he was still in a state of uncertainty.
Mental state 152 He taxed his memory to recall every word she had used, with the appropriate looks and gestures which had enforced them, and ended by finding himself in the same state of uncertainty. Sir Walter Scott, Waverley.
Mercy
You don’t need mercy, so you don’t know how to have it.
Mercy 117 Kenyon to Hilda: You need no mercy, and therefore know not how to show any. Hawthorne, The Marble Faun.
Metaphor
She was a feather, not a plummet, floating, not dragging.
Metaphor 168 The delight in Nicole’s face—to be a feather again instead of a plummet, to float and not to drag. Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night.
The city below looked like a necklace of lights.
Metaphor 175 Two thousand feet below she saw the necklace and bracelet of lights that were Montreux and Vevey…. Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night.
A crab-like retreat....
Metaphor 275 …a crab-like retreat toward the nearest door. Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night.
He did not know that the party was over.
Metaphor 181 Probably it [a car over at Gatsby’s] was some final guest who had been away at the ends of the earth and didn’t know that the party was over. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
His legs were parenthetical.
Metaphor 382 …with parenthetical legs…. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
I know how far I can sail her and when to stop so as not to be wrecked on the shore.
Metaphor 311 I know just how far to sail with her and when to stop, if I don’t want to get wrecked on a lee shore. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
I guess I will have to steer a straight course and speak directly to the point.
Metaphor 348 “Dear me,” [the Captain] grumbled at last, “I shall have to steer a straight course” [i.e., speak directly to the point]. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Quotes: Meditation. Meetings. Melancholy. Memories.
A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Meditation
Water and meditation are wedded forever.
Meditation 341 Melville and Ishmael: “Yes, as everyone knows…meditation and water are wedded for ever.” Mellow, Hawthorne in His Times.
Meetings
Meetings are great fun if you have nothing else to do.
Meetings 132 Douglas Dillon on Eisenhower cabinet meetings: Great fun if you didn’t have anything to do. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days
JFK held cabinet meetings infrequently and only because “I suppose we should.”
Meetings 317 ...with few exceptions, he [Kennedy] held Cabinet meetings only because “I suppose we should--it’s been several weeks since the last one,” and with few exceptions these meetings bored him. Sorenson, Kennedy
He would replay the meeting, repeating what everyone said, telling what was meant and why it was said.
Meetings 363 [McNaughton would] replay the meeting…not just what each person had said, but what he meant when he said it and why he was saying it. Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest.
The infectious coughs that always occur in meetings.
Meetings 458 ...and the cough which always seizes an assembly, when anything particular is going to be done, having been duly performed.... Dickens, Pickwick.
Melancholy
I am a gloomy gazer on the world to which I have no relation.
Melancholy 166 Johnson: I have…seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life, without any direction, or fixed point of view; a gloomy gazer on the world to which I had little relation. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.
Memories
Summer memories.
Memories 140 The thought of Deephaven will always bring to us our long quiet summer days, and reading aloud on the rocks by the sea, the fresh salt air, and the glory of the sunsets; the wail of the Sunday psalm-singing at church, the yellow lichens that grew over the trees, the houses, and the stone walls; our boating and wanderings ashore; our importance as members of society, and how kind every one was to us both. Sarah Orne Jewett, Deephaven.
Memories of home on the battle front.
Memories 230 He [Rostov] gazed at the snow flakes fluttering above the fire and thought of winter at home in Russia, the warm bright house, his soft fur coat, the swiftly-gliding sledge, his healthy body, and all the love and affection of his family. Tolstoi, War and Peace.
If you keep remembering things, you will begin to remember what happened before you were born.
Memories 616 ‘Do you know,’ said Natasha, ‘…that when one goes on and on recalling memories, in the end one begins to remember what happened before one was in the world?’ Tolstoi, War and Peace.
American soldiers grew homesick when a metaphor or memory entered their consciousness.
Memory 5 Americans away from home, from the home where they wanted to be and where their wives and sweethearts and parents wanted them—felt their guts twist any day when they were surprised by a metaphor or a memory, one they had almost suppressed. Blum, V Was for Victory
The world is impatient with precision, setting memories aside, callously forgetful of what had been done.
Memory vii Peter Gay: ...the world is...impatient with precision, anxious to set memories aside, callous, heartlessly forgetful. Bracher, The German Dictatorship.
What we remember are emotions, impressions, illusions, images and characters, the elements of fiction.
Memory 24 John Hersey: The things we remember for longer periods are emotions and impressions and illusions and images and characters: the elements of fiction. Hull, ed. The Writer’s Book.
Memory is the mortal enemy of peace of mind.
Memory 271 Cardenio: O memory, mortal enemy of peace of mind! Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote of La Mancha. Part One: 1605.
My memory is good if someone owes me, but bad if I owe someone.
Memory 115 Socrates: Is your memory good?/ Strepsiades: Very good if someone owes me, very bad, /Alas, if I owe someone. Aristophanes, Clouds.
Meditation
Water and meditation are wedded forever.
Meditation 341 Melville and Ishmael: “Yes, as everyone knows…meditation and water are wedded for ever.” Mellow, Hawthorne in His Times.
Meetings
Meetings are great fun if you have nothing else to do.
Meetings 132 Douglas Dillon on Eisenhower cabinet meetings: Great fun if you didn’t have anything to do. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days
JFK held cabinet meetings infrequently and only because “I suppose we should.”
Meetings 317 ...with few exceptions, he [Kennedy] held Cabinet meetings only because “I suppose we should--it’s been several weeks since the last one,” and with few exceptions these meetings bored him. Sorenson, Kennedy
He would replay the meeting, repeating what everyone said, telling what was meant and why it was said.
Meetings 363 [McNaughton would] replay the meeting…not just what each person had said, but what he meant when he said it and why he was saying it. Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest.
The infectious coughs that always occur in meetings.
Meetings 458 ...and the cough which always seizes an assembly, when anything particular is going to be done, having been duly performed.... Dickens, Pickwick.
Melancholy
I am a gloomy gazer on the world to which I have no relation.
Melancholy 166 Johnson: I have…seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life, without any direction, or fixed point of view; a gloomy gazer on the world to which I had little relation. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.
Memories
Summer memories.
Memories 140 The thought of Deephaven will always bring to us our long quiet summer days, and reading aloud on the rocks by the sea, the fresh salt air, and the glory of the sunsets; the wail of the Sunday psalm-singing at church, the yellow lichens that grew over the trees, the houses, and the stone walls; our boating and wanderings ashore; our importance as members of society, and how kind every one was to us both. Sarah Orne Jewett, Deephaven.
Memories of home on the battle front.
Memories 230 He [Rostov] gazed at the snow flakes fluttering above the fire and thought of winter at home in Russia, the warm bright house, his soft fur coat, the swiftly-gliding sledge, his healthy body, and all the love and affection of his family. Tolstoi, War and Peace.
If you keep remembering things, you will begin to remember what happened before you were born.
Memories 616 ‘Do you know,’ said Natasha, ‘…that when one goes on and on recalling memories, in the end one begins to remember what happened before one was in the world?’ Tolstoi, War and Peace.
American soldiers grew homesick when a metaphor or memory entered their consciousness.
Memory 5 Americans away from home, from the home where they wanted to be and where their wives and sweethearts and parents wanted them—felt their guts twist any day when they were surprised by a metaphor or a memory, one they had almost suppressed. Blum, V Was for Victory
The world is impatient with precision, setting memories aside, callously forgetful of what had been done.
Memory vii Peter Gay: ...the world is...impatient with precision, anxious to set memories aside, callous, heartlessly forgetful. Bracher, The German Dictatorship.
What we remember are emotions, impressions, illusions, images and characters, the elements of fiction.
Memory 24 John Hersey: The things we remember for longer periods are emotions and impressions and illusions and images and characters: the elements of fiction. Hull, ed. The Writer’s Book.
Memory is the mortal enemy of peace of mind.
Memory 271 Cardenio: O memory, mortal enemy of peace of mind! Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote of La Mancha. Part One: 1605.
My memory is good if someone owes me, but bad if I owe someone.
Memory 115 Socrates: Is your memory good?/ Strepsiades: Very good if someone owes me, very bad, /Alas, if I owe someone. Aristophanes, Clouds.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Quotes: Medicine.
A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Medicine
Dr. “Grave-face.”
Medicine 438 Rosamond: Very well, Dr. Grave-face, I will declare in future that I dote on skeletons, and body snatchers, and bits of things in phials, and quarrels with everybody, that ends in your dying miserably. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
When young, Hawthorne’s wife submitted heroically to the medical profession.
Medicine 7 Lizzie Peabody recalled her sister’s heroic submission to the medical profession. Mellow, Hawthorne in His Times.
Medicines in Colonial America interfered less with the patients’ recovery than those in Europe.
Medicine 214 The common medical treatments here [colonial America] did not cure any more effectively than those administered in the Old World, but they probably interfered less with the patient’s recovery. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Medical guides were common in Colonial Virginia libraries.
Medicine 217 It is not surprising to find medical guides for laymen among the commonest books in Virginia libraries: Every Man his own Doctor, or, The Poor Planter’s Physician (1734) attained vast popularity by prescribing “plain and easy means for persons to cure themselves of all, or most of the distempers, incident to the climate, and with very little charge, the medicines being chiefly of the growth and production of this country.” Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Jefferson to physicians: Don’t interrupt Mother Nature’s work in healing.
Medicine 218 Jefferson (1807) was eloquent against the presumptuous dogmatism of the physicians: Having been so often a witness to the salutary efforts which nature makes to re-establish the disordered functions, he [the wise physician] should rather trust to their action, than hazard the interruption of that, and a greater derangement of the system, by conjectural experiments on a machine so complicated and so unknown as the human body and a subject so sacred as human life. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
One physician told Jefferson that he used mostly bread pills, drops of colored water and powders made of hickory ashes.
Medicine 218 Jefferson (1807): One of the most successful physicians I have ever known, has assured me, that he used more bread pills, drops of colored water, and powders of hickory ashes, than of all other medicines put together. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Jefferson noted changing fads in medicine.
Medicine 218 Jefferson (1807) on fads in medicine: I have lived myself to see the disciples of Hoffman, Boerhaave, Stahl, Cullen, Brown, succeed one another like the shifting figures of a magic lantern and their fancies, like the dresses of the annual doll-babies from Paris, becoming, from their novelty, the vogue of the day, and yielding to the next novelty their ephemeral flavor. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Common sense often cured more effectively than academic learning.
Medicine 219 [Dr. David Ramsay] ...boasted of the success of amateur doctors whose common sense was accomplishing what academic learning had found difficult or impossible: “The pride of science is sometimes humbled on seeing and hearing the many cures that are wrought by these pupils of experience, who, without theory of system, by observation and practice acquire a dexterity in curing common diseases.” Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Mather was more interested in remedies than causes of diseases.
Medicine 223 Mather’s “Angels of Bethseda”...showed...less interest... in the “causes” than in the remedies of diseases...illustrated the vagaries of learned doctors by their contradictory prescriptions for the consumption. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
When a man has a fit, you can tell me all kinds of things about possible causes, but you have not the sense to loosen the man’s collar and tie.
Medicine 236 Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes: Here is a man fallen in a fit; you can tell me all about the eight surfaces of the two processes of the palate-bone, but you have not had the sense to loosen that man’s neck-cloth, and the old women are calling you a fool. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Colonial doctors were good at diagnosis, but not so good at curing.
Medicine 71 Neither could there be any question that, although the specialist in internal medicine could make an accurate diagnosis of the symptoms, there was no corresponding body of knowledge of the cure. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).
Nature is the best medicine.
Medicine 71 The greatest medicine is nature. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).
He repeated the same tranquilizing formulas, a dose of verbal bromides.
Medicine 242 …had to repeat the same tranquilizing formulas…all I can do is give her a dose of verbal bromides. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).
Doctors are beautiful diagnosers, but have no idea how to cure.
Medicine 579 I’ve tried all the medical faculty: They can diagnose beautifully, they have the whole of your disease at their finger-tips, but they’ve no idea how to cure you. Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
You may die, but you’ll know very clearly what you are dying of.
Medicine 580 There was an enthusiastic little [medical] student here, “you may die,’ said he, ‘but you’ll know perfectly what disease you are dying of.’ Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
When his wife had breast cancer, he coped by reading scientific articles about the disease.
Medicine 205 I coped with my great anxiety [about his wife’s breast cancer] by reading scientific articles about the disease and the various [forms] of treatment. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
A hundred years from now, medical science might look on chemotherapy as it looks now on blood letting two centuries ago.
Medicine 205 I wonder whether a hundred years from now medical science might not look upon chemotherapy [as a treatment for cancer] as it does now upon the medical blood-letting of the eighteenth century. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Doctors today cannot even tell the patient what is wrong with him because the language to describe it is incomprehensible.
Medicine 45 There is simply no way for his [the patient's] physician to tell him just what is the matter with him, for all the concepts on which the explanation must be based, and even most of its terms, are incomprehensible to him. Mencken, Minority Report.
Nature cures.
Medicine 217 It is nature that does it [cures] after all, and diseases are oftener effects of illness than causes. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Young doctors have to follow their textbook learning until they have the experience to observe and think for themselves.
Medicine 217 But the young practitioners must follow the text-books a while until they have had enough experience to open their eyes to observe and have learned to think for themselves. [RFS: Like using the basal to teach reading.] Jewett, A Country Doctor.
The deceptions of character fall away in the face of pain and death.
Medicine 364 The decorations and deceptions of character must fall away before the great realities of pain and death. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Why did he live so long? Ignorance of medicine.
Medicine 241 A Lacedemonian was asked what had made him live so long in good health: “Ignorance of medicine,” he replied. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
All medicines are harmful to us.
Medicine 248 Moreover, their authors hold that there is no medicine that has not something hurtful in it; and if even those which are useful to us do in some measure harm us, what must those do that are totally misapplied to us? Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Medicines that are more harmful than the disease they are supposed to treat.
Medicine 564 I hate remedies that are more troublesome than the disease itself. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Nature knows her business better than doctors do.
Medicine 567 [Of curing diseases]: Let us leave it a little up to Nature; she knows her business better than we do. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
A homeopathic doctor uses medicine sparingly.
Medicine 667 A doctor was sent for, who, being homeopathic, gave me as much medicine…as would have lain on the point of a needle. Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance.
In spite of the doctors’ treatments, he recovered.
Medicine 1306 He had what the doctors termed ‘bilious fever,’ but in spite of the fact that they treated him, bled him and made him swallow drugs—he recovered. Tolstoi, War and Peace
Reading about diseases makes me feel as if I have them.
Medicine 75 I no sooner began to peruse books of this nature [medical books] but I found my pulse was irregular, and scarce ever read the account of any disease that I did not fancy myself afflicted with it. Addison, 3/29/1711. The Spectator.
Health care is the new name for the profession of medicine.
Medicine 81 …health care has become the new name for medicine [and] health care delivery is what doctors now do…. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
We’re not very good at preventing disease and preserving health.
Medicine 82 We are really not all that good at preventing disease or preserving health—not yet anyway. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
We fail to notice our good health most of the time.
Medicine 83 Meanwhile, we are paying too little attention, and respect, to the built-in durability and sheer power of the human organism…the absolute marvel of good health that is the real lot of most of us, most of the time. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Most things get better by themselves.
Medicine 85 The great secret, known to internists and learned early in marriage by internists’ wives, but still hidden from the general public, is that most things get better by themselves. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Here’s a lady lying on the floor waiting for reviving by some scientific invention.
Medicine 674 Mr. Weller: Here’s a wenerable old lady a lyin’ on the carpet waitin’ for dissection, or galwinism, or some other rewivin’ and scientific inwention. Dickens, Pickwick.
Level I of medical care: helps patient cope with diseases that are not well understood.
Medicine1 32 Medical care levels1: “Supportive therapy”--tides patients over through diseases that are not, by and large, understood... [by]simply providing reassurance [and]...only the very best of doctors are good at coping with this kind of defeat. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Level II of medical care: “halfway technology”—things done to deal with disease and postpone death.
Medicine2 32 Medical care levels2: “Halfway technology”--the kinds of things that must be done after the fact...to make up for disease...to postpone death...the kind of thing that one must continue to do until there is a genuine understanding of the mechanisms involved in disease. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Level III of medical care: comes from genuine understanding of the disease and is usually inexpensive, simple and easy to deliver.
Medicine3 35 Medical care levels3: ...comes as the result of a genuine understanding of disease mechanisms, and when it becomes available, it is relatively inexpensive, relatively simple, and relatively easy to deliver. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Medicine
Dr. “Grave-face.”
Medicine 438 Rosamond: Very well, Dr. Grave-face, I will declare in future that I dote on skeletons, and body snatchers, and bits of things in phials, and quarrels with everybody, that ends in your dying miserably. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
When young, Hawthorne’s wife submitted heroically to the medical profession.
Medicine 7 Lizzie Peabody recalled her sister’s heroic submission to the medical profession. Mellow, Hawthorne in His Times.
Medicines in Colonial America interfered less with the patients’ recovery than those in Europe.
Medicine 214 The common medical treatments here [colonial America] did not cure any more effectively than those administered in the Old World, but they probably interfered less with the patient’s recovery. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Medical guides were common in Colonial Virginia libraries.
Medicine 217 It is not surprising to find medical guides for laymen among the commonest books in Virginia libraries: Every Man his own Doctor, or, The Poor Planter’s Physician (1734) attained vast popularity by prescribing “plain and easy means for persons to cure themselves of all, or most of the distempers, incident to the climate, and with very little charge, the medicines being chiefly of the growth and production of this country.” Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Jefferson to physicians: Don’t interrupt Mother Nature’s work in healing.
Medicine 218 Jefferson (1807) was eloquent against the presumptuous dogmatism of the physicians: Having been so often a witness to the salutary efforts which nature makes to re-establish the disordered functions, he [the wise physician] should rather trust to their action, than hazard the interruption of that, and a greater derangement of the system, by conjectural experiments on a machine so complicated and so unknown as the human body and a subject so sacred as human life. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
One physician told Jefferson that he used mostly bread pills, drops of colored water and powders made of hickory ashes.
Medicine 218 Jefferson (1807): One of the most successful physicians I have ever known, has assured me, that he used more bread pills, drops of colored water, and powders of hickory ashes, than of all other medicines put together. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Jefferson noted changing fads in medicine.
Medicine 218 Jefferson (1807) on fads in medicine: I have lived myself to see the disciples of Hoffman, Boerhaave, Stahl, Cullen, Brown, succeed one another like the shifting figures of a magic lantern and their fancies, like the dresses of the annual doll-babies from Paris, becoming, from their novelty, the vogue of the day, and yielding to the next novelty their ephemeral flavor. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Common sense often cured more effectively than academic learning.
Medicine 219 [Dr. David Ramsay] ...boasted of the success of amateur doctors whose common sense was accomplishing what academic learning had found difficult or impossible: “The pride of science is sometimes humbled on seeing and hearing the many cures that are wrought by these pupils of experience, who, without theory of system, by observation and practice acquire a dexterity in curing common diseases.” Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Mather was more interested in remedies than causes of diseases.
Medicine 223 Mather’s “Angels of Bethseda”...showed...less interest... in the “causes” than in the remedies of diseases...illustrated the vagaries of learned doctors by their contradictory prescriptions for the consumption. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
When a man has a fit, you can tell me all kinds of things about possible causes, but you have not the sense to loosen the man’s collar and tie.
Medicine 236 Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes: Here is a man fallen in a fit; you can tell me all about the eight surfaces of the two processes of the palate-bone, but you have not had the sense to loosen that man’s neck-cloth, and the old women are calling you a fool. Boorstin, The Americans: Colonial Experience
Colonial doctors were good at diagnosis, but not so good at curing.
Medicine 71 Neither could there be any question that, although the specialist in internal medicine could make an accurate diagnosis of the symptoms, there was no corresponding body of knowledge of the cure. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).
Nature is the best medicine.
Medicine 71 The greatest medicine is nature. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).
He repeated the same tranquilizing formulas, a dose of verbal bromides.
Medicine 242 …had to repeat the same tranquilizing formulas…all I can do is give her a dose of verbal bromides. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).
Doctors are beautiful diagnosers, but have no idea how to cure.
Medicine 579 I’ve tried all the medical faculty: They can diagnose beautifully, they have the whole of your disease at their finger-tips, but they’ve no idea how to cure you. Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
You may die, but you’ll know very clearly what you are dying of.
Medicine 580 There was an enthusiastic little [medical] student here, “you may die,’ said he, ‘but you’ll know perfectly what disease you are dying of.’ Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
When his wife had breast cancer, he coped by reading scientific articles about the disease.
Medicine 205 I coped with my great anxiety [about his wife’s breast cancer] by reading scientific articles about the disease and the various [forms] of treatment. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
A hundred years from now, medical science might look on chemotherapy as it looks now on blood letting two centuries ago.
Medicine 205 I wonder whether a hundred years from now medical science might not look upon chemotherapy [as a treatment for cancer] as it does now upon the medical blood-letting of the eighteenth century. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Doctors today cannot even tell the patient what is wrong with him because the language to describe it is incomprehensible.
Medicine 45 There is simply no way for his [the patient's] physician to tell him just what is the matter with him, for all the concepts on which the explanation must be based, and even most of its terms, are incomprehensible to him. Mencken, Minority Report.
Nature cures.
Medicine 217 It is nature that does it [cures] after all, and diseases are oftener effects of illness than causes. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Young doctors have to follow their textbook learning until they have the experience to observe and think for themselves.
Medicine 217 But the young practitioners must follow the text-books a while until they have had enough experience to open their eyes to observe and have learned to think for themselves. [RFS: Like using the basal to teach reading.] Jewett, A Country Doctor.
The deceptions of character fall away in the face of pain and death.
Medicine 364 The decorations and deceptions of character must fall away before the great realities of pain and death. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Why did he live so long? Ignorance of medicine.
Medicine 241 A Lacedemonian was asked what had made him live so long in good health: “Ignorance of medicine,” he replied. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
All medicines are harmful to us.
Medicine 248 Moreover, their authors hold that there is no medicine that has not something hurtful in it; and if even those which are useful to us do in some measure harm us, what must those do that are totally misapplied to us? Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Medicines that are more harmful than the disease they are supposed to treat.
Medicine 564 I hate remedies that are more troublesome than the disease itself. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Nature knows her business better than doctors do.
Medicine 567 [Of curing diseases]: Let us leave it a little up to Nature; she knows her business better than we do. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
A homeopathic doctor uses medicine sparingly.
Medicine 667 A doctor was sent for, who, being homeopathic, gave me as much medicine…as would have lain on the point of a needle. Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance.
In spite of the doctors’ treatments, he recovered.
Medicine 1306 He had what the doctors termed ‘bilious fever,’ but in spite of the fact that they treated him, bled him and made him swallow drugs—he recovered. Tolstoi, War and Peace
Reading about diseases makes me feel as if I have them.
Medicine 75 I no sooner began to peruse books of this nature [medical books] but I found my pulse was irregular, and scarce ever read the account of any disease that I did not fancy myself afflicted with it. Addison, 3/29/1711. The Spectator.
Health care is the new name for the profession of medicine.
Medicine 81 …health care has become the new name for medicine [and] health care delivery is what doctors now do…. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
We’re not very good at preventing disease and preserving health.
Medicine 82 We are really not all that good at preventing disease or preserving health—not yet anyway. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
We fail to notice our good health most of the time.
Medicine 83 Meanwhile, we are paying too little attention, and respect, to the built-in durability and sheer power of the human organism…the absolute marvel of good health that is the real lot of most of us, most of the time. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Most things get better by themselves.
Medicine 85 The great secret, known to internists and learned early in marriage by internists’ wives, but still hidden from the general public, is that most things get better by themselves. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Here’s a lady lying on the floor waiting for reviving by some scientific invention.
Medicine 674 Mr. Weller: Here’s a wenerable old lady a lyin’ on the carpet waitin’ for dissection, or galwinism, or some other rewivin’ and scientific inwention. Dickens, Pickwick.
Level I of medical care: helps patient cope with diseases that are not well understood.
Medicine1 32 Medical care levels1: “Supportive therapy”--tides patients over through diseases that are not, by and large, understood... [by]simply providing reassurance [and]...only the very best of doctors are good at coping with this kind of defeat. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Level II of medical care: “halfway technology”—things done to deal with disease and postpone death.
Medicine2 32 Medical care levels2: “Halfway technology”--the kinds of things that must be done after the fact...to make up for disease...to postpone death...the kind of thing that one must continue to do until there is a genuine understanding of the mechanisms involved in disease. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Level III of medical care: comes from genuine understanding of the disease and is usually inexpensive, simple and easy to deliver.
Medicine3 35 Medical care levels3: ...comes as the result of a genuine understanding of disease mechanisms, and when it becomes available, it is relatively inexpensive, relatively simple, and relatively easy to deliver. L. Thomas, Lives of a Cell.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Quotes: Mathematics. Maturity. Media.
A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in fold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Mathematics
Mathematics: Proposition that if something is true of something, it is also true of something else.
Mathematics 480 Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then such and such another proposition is true of that thing...essential not to discuss whether the first proposition is really true and...what the anything is of which it is supposed to be true. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell.
Maturity
Maturity consists of the realization that there are things that cannot be understood.
Maturity 294 Kierkegaard: Maturity consists in the discovery that “there comes a critical moment where everything is reversed, after which the point becomes to understand more and more that there is something which cannot be understood.” Eiseley, The Star Thrower
Maturity means understanding that imitation is suicide, that one must understand oneself as an individual, for better or worse.
Maturity 259 There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction...that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.... Emerson, Self-Reliance.
Maturity means understanding that one is responsible for the consequences of one’s actions.
Maturity 563 Natasha’s thought after Andrei’s proposal: Can it be true that there can be no more playing with life, that now I am grown up, that now a responsibility lies on me for my every word and action? Tolstoi, War and Peace.
Maturity means recognizing that what is, is, and accepting our place in it.
Maturity 162 Albert Schweitzer: The great progress in the evolution of life is that a moment arrives when we see what lies around us, comprehend what is, and accept our place in it. Anderson, The Schweitzer Album.
Media
The function of WWII movies was to build morale, i.e., education, inspiration and confidence.
Media 25 “The wartime function of the movies…is to build morale, and morale is…education…inspiration…confidence.” Hollywood Writers Mobilization for Defense. Blum, V Was for Victory
If I had done it the way the movies do it, I’d have hit her with the back of my hand across the face.
Media 30 At last both were out of the quivering apartment--the vibration of the door I had slammed after them still rang in my every nerve, a poor substitute for the backhand slap with which I ought to have hit her across the cheekbone according to the rules of the movies. Nabokov, Lolita.
Reporters seek the lurid and the sensational because it sells newspapers, rather than to report factually and educate readers.
Media 157 Too many reporters think the search for the lurid and the sensational is their job, and in some selfish sense it is—after all, it catches the eye of the editors, and increasingly editors are being asked by publishers to sell more papers rather than simply report factually on events or educate their readers. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
To make the TV news, it must be reduced to 30 seconds.
Media 159 Write a thoughtful analysis of the American predicament and it will be reduced to thirty seconds, if it makes the TV news at all. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Newspapers, radio and TV give their audience what their market research people tell them the audience wants.
Media 160 Newspapers and radio and television networks are in the business of making money…not so much intellectually opposed to intelligent political coverage as they are aware of the importance…of pandering to what their market-research gurus tell them the public wants—and buys. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Panel discussions discuss violence on TV followed by shows full of violence.
Media 160 …television’s attitude toward violence yields panel discussions and public-service ads decrying it, followed by programs full of violent acts. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Local TV news: If it bleeds it leads; if it thinks, it stinks.
Media 160 The dual credo of local television news seems to be: “If it bleeds, it leads; if it thinks, it stinks.” Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
TV news rarely uplifts the human spirit.
Media 161 Rarely does [television news] make the human spirit soar. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
TV news makes America look worse than it is.
Media 161 America isn’t as bad as it looks on the television news. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Money is to be made by giving the TV audience what it likes.
Media 170 Frank O’Connor: The real trouble is, the moment you get a mass audience, commercial interests become involved…”There’s big money in this…we’ve got to consider what the audiences like.” Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.
In writing for the media, you cannot offend Catholics, Jews, the Salvation Army or the mayors of cities.
Media 170 Frank O’Connor on writing for the media: “Now you mustn’t offend the Catholics, you mustn’t offend the Jews, you mustn’t offend the Salvation Army, you mustn’t offend the mayors of cities.” Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.
The camera is a limited instrument of expression compared to the pen.
Media 217 A. Moravia: The camera is a less complete instrument of expression than the pen, even in the hands of an Eisenstein. Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.
German reporting in WWII stressed the bravery of groups rather than of individuals.
Media war 71 German reporting stressed the bravery of military groups rather than individual soldiers. Blum, V Was for Victory
Mathematics
Mathematics: Proposition that if something is true of something, it is also true of something else.
Mathematics 480 Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then such and such another proposition is true of that thing...essential not to discuss whether the first proposition is really true and...what the anything is of which it is supposed to be true. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell.
Maturity
Maturity consists of the realization that there are things that cannot be understood.
Maturity 294 Kierkegaard: Maturity consists in the discovery that “there comes a critical moment where everything is reversed, after which the point becomes to understand more and more that there is something which cannot be understood.” Eiseley, The Star Thrower
Maturity means understanding that imitation is suicide, that one must understand oneself as an individual, for better or worse.
Maturity 259 There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction...that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.... Emerson, Self-Reliance.
Maturity means understanding that one is responsible for the consequences of one’s actions.
Maturity 563 Natasha’s thought after Andrei’s proposal: Can it be true that there can be no more playing with life, that now I am grown up, that now a responsibility lies on me for my every word and action? Tolstoi, War and Peace.
Maturity means recognizing that what is, is, and accepting our place in it.
Maturity 162 Albert Schweitzer: The great progress in the evolution of life is that a moment arrives when we see what lies around us, comprehend what is, and accept our place in it. Anderson, The Schweitzer Album.
Media
The function of WWII movies was to build morale, i.e., education, inspiration and confidence.
Media 25 “The wartime function of the movies…is to build morale, and morale is…education…inspiration…confidence.” Hollywood Writers Mobilization for Defense. Blum, V Was for Victory
If I had done it the way the movies do it, I’d have hit her with the back of my hand across the face.
Media 30 At last both were out of the quivering apartment--the vibration of the door I had slammed after them still rang in my every nerve, a poor substitute for the backhand slap with which I ought to have hit her across the cheekbone according to the rules of the movies. Nabokov, Lolita.
Reporters seek the lurid and the sensational because it sells newspapers, rather than to report factually and educate readers.
Media 157 Too many reporters think the search for the lurid and the sensational is their job, and in some selfish sense it is—after all, it catches the eye of the editors, and increasingly editors are being asked by publishers to sell more papers rather than simply report factually on events or educate their readers. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
To make the TV news, it must be reduced to 30 seconds.
Media 159 Write a thoughtful analysis of the American predicament and it will be reduced to thirty seconds, if it makes the TV news at all. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Newspapers, radio and TV give their audience what their market research people tell them the audience wants.
Media 160 Newspapers and radio and television networks are in the business of making money…not so much intellectually opposed to intelligent political coverage as they are aware of the importance…of pandering to what their market-research gurus tell them the public wants—and buys. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Panel discussions discuss violence on TV followed by shows full of violence.
Media 160 …television’s attitude toward violence yields panel discussions and public-service ads decrying it, followed by programs full of violent acts. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Local TV news: If it bleeds it leads; if it thinks, it stinks.
Media 160 The dual credo of local television news seems to be: “If it bleeds, it leads; if it thinks, it stinks.” Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
TV news rarely uplifts the human spirit.
Media 161 Rarely does [television news] make the human spirit soar. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
TV news makes America look worse than it is.
Media 161 America isn’t as bad as it looks on the television news. Bradley, Time Present, Time Past.
Money is to be made by giving the TV audience what it likes.
Media 170 Frank O’Connor: The real trouble is, the moment you get a mass audience, commercial interests become involved…”There’s big money in this…we’ve got to consider what the audiences like.” Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.
In writing for the media, you cannot offend Catholics, Jews, the Salvation Army or the mayors of cities.
Media 170 Frank O’Connor on writing for the media: “Now you mustn’t offend the Catholics, you mustn’t offend the Jews, you mustn’t offend the Salvation Army, you mustn’t offend the mayors of cities.” Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.
The camera is a limited instrument of expression compared to the pen.
Media 217 A. Moravia: The camera is a less complete instrument of expression than the pen, even in the hands of an Eisenstein. Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.
German reporting in WWII stressed the bravery of groups rather than of individuals.
Media war 71 German reporting stressed the bravery of military groups rather than individual soldiers. Blum, V Was for Victory
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Quotes: Martin Luther King. Martyr. Mask. Mass Movements.
A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Martin Luther King
My dream is that the sons of slaves and slave owners will join in brotherhood.
Martin Luther King 887 MLK: “I have a dream that on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.” Schlesinger, A Thousand Days
Martyr
The martyr sacrifices his life to prove his worth.
Martyr 88 He sacrifices his life to prove his worth. Hoffer, The True Believer
He who enjoys learning from his experience is not likely to accept the idea of martyrdom because that will be the end of his experience.
Martyrdom 82 He who is free to draw conclusions from his individual experience and observation is not usually hospitable to the idea of martyrdom. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mask
He masks his personality with dull composure to prevent people from seeing his personality.
Mask 1060 …the mask of dull composure…to attempt throwing a cloud over our transparency. Hawthorne, The Marble Faun.
Mass movements
Mass movements: readiness to die; desire for united action; fanaticism; enthusiasm; fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; blind faith; single-hearted allegiance.
Mass movements xxvii All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die…a proclivity for united action…breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance…are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity…demand blind faith and single hearted allegiance. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements provide hope for the future while depriving their followers of enjoyment of the present.
Mass movements 15 Mass movements are usually accused of doping their followers with hope of the future while cheating them of the enjoyment of the present. Hoffer, The True Believer
Stop a mass movement by substituting another mass movement.
Mass movements 19 …stopping a mass movement is often a matter of substituting one movement for another. Hoffer, The True Believer
Offer a chance for action and a new beginning to stop the rise and spread of mass movements.
Mass movements 20 In general, any arrangement which…offers chances for action and new beginnings tends to counteract the rise and spread of mass movements. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements depend on their followers’ desire for united action and self sacrifice.
Mass movements 61 The vigor of a mass movement stems from the propensity of its followers for united action and self-sacrifice. Hoffer, The True Believer
Processions, parades, rituals and ceremonials cause participants and spectators to get out of themselves.
Mass movements 71 There is no doubt that in staging its processions, parades, rituals and ceremonials, a mass movement touches a responsive chord in every heart…an exhilaration and getting out of one’s skin in both participants and spectators. Hoffer, The True Believer
The True Believer takes his facts from some kind of “Holy Writ,” Not from his experience.
Mass movements 82 The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements “deindividualize” and therefore dehumanize.
Mass movements 105 The deindividualization which is a prerequisite for thorough integration and selfless dedication is also, to a considerable extent, a process of dehumanization. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements prefer coercion to persuasion.
Mass movements 113 It also seems that, where a mass movement can either persuade or coerce, it usually chooses the latter. Hoffer, The True Believer
The True Believer feels that he is in possession of the one and only truth, that one is backed by an irresistible and inevitable power, that one’s opponent is evil incarnate and must be crushed, that one must selflessly be devoted to duty: the qualifications for ruthless action.
Mass movements 126 To be in possession of the one and only truth and never doubt one’s righteousness; to feel that one is backed by a mysterious power whether it be God, destiny or the law of history; to be convinced that one’s opponents are the incarnation of evil and must be crushed; to exult in self-denial and devotion to duty--these are admirable qualifications for resolute and ruthless action in any field. Hoffer, The True Believer
Preparation for mass movements is started by speakers and writers; hatching the movement requires fanatics; and consolidation is accomplished by practical men of action.
Mass movements 138 What the classification attempts to suggest is that the readying of the ground for a mass movement is done best by men whose chief claim to excellence is their skill in the use of the spoken or written word; that the hatching of an actual movement requires the temperament and the talents of the fanatic; and that the final consolidation of the movement is largely the work of practical men of action. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements are instruments of power for the successful and opiates for the frustrated.
Mass movements 161 Thus in the end . . . the movement is an instrument of power for the successful and an opiate for the frustrated. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements destroy the present in their preoccupation with the future.
Mass movements92 The mass movement comes to destroy the present…in its preoccupation…with the future. Hoffer, The True Believer
Martin Luther King
My dream is that the sons of slaves and slave owners will join in brotherhood.
Martin Luther King 887 MLK: “I have a dream that on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.” Schlesinger, A Thousand Days
Martyr
The martyr sacrifices his life to prove his worth.
Martyr 88 He sacrifices his life to prove his worth. Hoffer, The True Believer
He who enjoys learning from his experience is not likely to accept the idea of martyrdom because that will be the end of his experience.
Martyrdom 82 He who is free to draw conclusions from his individual experience and observation is not usually hospitable to the idea of martyrdom. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mask
He masks his personality with dull composure to prevent people from seeing his personality.
Mask 1060 …the mask of dull composure…to attempt throwing a cloud over our transparency. Hawthorne, The Marble Faun.
Mass movements
Mass movements: readiness to die; desire for united action; fanaticism; enthusiasm; fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; blind faith; single-hearted allegiance.
Mass movements xxvii All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die…a proclivity for united action…breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance…are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity…demand blind faith and single hearted allegiance. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements provide hope for the future while depriving their followers of enjoyment of the present.
Mass movements 15 Mass movements are usually accused of doping their followers with hope of the future while cheating them of the enjoyment of the present. Hoffer, The True Believer
Stop a mass movement by substituting another mass movement.
Mass movements 19 …stopping a mass movement is often a matter of substituting one movement for another. Hoffer, The True Believer
Offer a chance for action and a new beginning to stop the rise and spread of mass movements.
Mass movements 20 In general, any arrangement which…offers chances for action and new beginnings tends to counteract the rise and spread of mass movements. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements depend on their followers’ desire for united action and self sacrifice.
Mass movements 61 The vigor of a mass movement stems from the propensity of its followers for united action and self-sacrifice. Hoffer, The True Believer
Processions, parades, rituals and ceremonials cause participants and spectators to get out of themselves.
Mass movements 71 There is no doubt that in staging its processions, parades, rituals and ceremonials, a mass movement touches a responsive chord in every heart…an exhilaration and getting out of one’s skin in both participants and spectators. Hoffer, The True Believer
The True Believer takes his facts from some kind of “Holy Writ,” Not from his experience.
Mass movements 82 The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements “deindividualize” and therefore dehumanize.
Mass movements 105 The deindividualization which is a prerequisite for thorough integration and selfless dedication is also, to a considerable extent, a process of dehumanization. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements prefer coercion to persuasion.
Mass movements 113 It also seems that, where a mass movement can either persuade or coerce, it usually chooses the latter. Hoffer, The True Believer
The True Believer feels that he is in possession of the one and only truth, that one is backed by an irresistible and inevitable power, that one’s opponent is evil incarnate and must be crushed, that one must selflessly be devoted to duty: the qualifications for ruthless action.
Mass movements 126 To be in possession of the one and only truth and never doubt one’s righteousness; to feel that one is backed by a mysterious power whether it be God, destiny or the law of history; to be convinced that one’s opponents are the incarnation of evil and must be crushed; to exult in self-denial and devotion to duty--these are admirable qualifications for resolute and ruthless action in any field. Hoffer, The True Believer
Preparation for mass movements is started by speakers and writers; hatching the movement requires fanatics; and consolidation is accomplished by practical men of action.
Mass movements 138 What the classification attempts to suggest is that the readying of the ground for a mass movement is done best by men whose chief claim to excellence is their skill in the use of the spoken or written word; that the hatching of an actual movement requires the temperament and the talents of the fanatic; and that the final consolidation of the movement is largely the work of practical men of action. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements are instruments of power for the successful and opiates for the frustrated.
Mass movements 161 Thus in the end . . . the movement is an instrument of power for the successful and an opiate for the frustrated. Hoffer, The True Believer
Mass movements destroy the present in their preoccupation with the future.
Mass movements92 The mass movement comes to destroy the present…in its preoccupation…with the future. Hoffer, The True Believer
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Quotes: Marriage.
A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Marriage
Husbands sometimes hate their wives because of the wrongs the husbands have done to them.
Marriage 334 I have been vexed to see husbands hate their wives only because they themselves do them wrong. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
In Egypt, men stay home and the wives work.
Marriage 99 Oedipus: [of his sons] For there [Egypt] the men sit at home and weave while their wives go out to win the daily bread. Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus.
A single man with a fortune must need a wife.
Marriage 3 It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
In Jane Austen’s time, marriage was the only escape from poverty and chance for happiness for a woman with little money.
Marriage 122 Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her [Charlotte Lucas’s] object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
For women, marriage is a chance for a new purpose in life, a new future and a new identity.
Marriage 56 Marriage has for women many equivalents of joining a mass movement …offers a new purpose in life, a new future, and a new identity (a new name). Hoffer, The True Believer
If a woman doubts when asked to marry, she should say no.
Marriage 52 Emma: I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him; if she can hesitate as to ‘Yes,’ she ought to say ‘No’ directly...but do not imagine that I want to influence you. Austen, Emma
A woman should not marry just because he has asked her, likes her and can write a tolerable letter.
Marriage 54 Emma: A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked, or because he is attached to her, and can write a tolerable letter. Austen, Emma
Why should he marry when he has his farm, sheep, library and manages his entire parish?
Marriage 225 Why should he [Mr. Knightley] marry?--He’s as happy as possible by himself; with his farm, and his sheep, and his library, and all the parish to manage. Austen, Emma
If a man chooses a wife when young, 23, it is usually a mistake.
Marriage 428 Mr. Knightley: So early in life—at three and twenty—a period when, if a man chooses a wife, he generally chooses ill. Austen, Emma
In spite of the doubts of all those who witnessed the ceremony, the union was perfectly happy.
Marriage 484 But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union. Austen, Emma
He sat in front of the fire with a handkerchief over his head, his feet on the fender and drinking his end-of-the-day wine.
Marriage 355 “Indeed, my love, he paid Teresa very great attention”…said Mrs. Malderton, addressing her spouse, who, after the fatigues of the day in the city was sitting with a silk handkerchief over his head, and his feet on the fender, drinking his port…. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Marriage will put an end to whatever dreams you have.
Marriage 548 You [ladies] have but a very few years to be young and handsome in the eyes of the world; and as few months to be so in the eyes of a husband…for I hope you do not still dream of charms and raptures, which marriage ever did, and ever will, put a sudden end to. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Being married and alone with each other much of the time would suggest that people could learn to get along together, but one runs into many contradictory couples.
Marriage 568 One would suppose that two people who are to pass their whole lives together, and must necessarily be very often alone with each other, could find little pleasure in mutual contradictions; and yet what is more common than a contradictory couple? Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Married couples almost always argue about trifles.
Marriage 571 [The contradictory couple] …never quarrel except about trifles. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
While eating the pudding, he nudged his friend to notice the child’s eyes, chin, nose, hair, figure, calves, mouth or head.
Marriage 575 [The couple who dote on their children]: While the pudding is being disposed of, Mr. and Mrs. Whiffler look on with beaming countenance, and Mr. Whiffler nudging his friend Saunders, begs him to take notice of Tom’s eyes, or Dick’s chin, or Ned’s nose, or Mary Anne’s hair, or Emily’s figure, or little Bob’s calves, or Fanny’s mouth, or Carry’s head as the case may be. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Married couples call each other “dearest” and “darling,” etc.
Marriage 581 The plausible gentleman calls his wife “darling” and the plausible lady addresses him as “dearest” …if it be Mr. and Mrs. Bobtail Widger, Mrs. Widger is “Lavinia, darling,” and Mr. Widger is “Bobtail, dearest.” Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Marriage without love means love without marriage.
Marriage 64 Medieval marriages were entirely a matter of property, and, as everybody knows, marriage without love means love without marriage. Clark, Civilization.
Marriage is arduous communism.
Marriage 8 …the arduous communism of marriage…. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle.
Marriage is for the perpetuation of the species, not for the pleasure of the individual.
Marriage 319 Schopenhauer : …no unions are so unhappy as…love marriages—and precisely for the reason that their aim is the perpetuation of the species, and not the pleasure of the individual. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.
If you marry for love, you will live in sorrow.
Marriage 319 Schopenhauer : Spanish proverb: He who marries from love must live in sorrow. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.
Marriage is disillusioning and eventually destroys love.
Marriage 319 Schopenhauer : …marriage is the attrition of love, and must be disillusioning. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.
Marriage fulfills women and empties men.
Marriage 433 Nietzsche: Marriage...fulfillment of the woman and its narrowing and emptying of the man. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Nietzsche.
The astonishing thing about marriage is that many endure.
Marriage 3 The really astounding thing about marriage is not that it so often goes to smash, but that it so often endures. Mencken, Minority Report.
Marriage is a natural condition that allows men to have careers and forbids women to have careers.
Marriage 329 Nan: Of course I know being married isn’t a trade: It is a natural condition of life, which permits a man to follow certain public careers and forbids them to a woman. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Being a wife will deprive me of the opportunity to do what nature fitted me for.
Marriage 351 351 Nan: If I had heard he [George Gerry] had gone to the other side of the world for years and years, I should be glad now and not sorry; but I can look forward and see something a thousand times better than being his wife, and living here in Dunport keeping his house, and trying to forget all that nature fitted me to do. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
I will always be your friend, but if I married you, I will eventually seem to be your enemy.
Marriage 354 Nan to George Gerry: I will always be your friend, but if I married you I might seem by and by to be your enemy. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
I could not marry and give my whole self; there are other things I want to do.
Marriage 355 Nan: But something tells me all the time that I could not marry the whole of myself as most women can; there is a great share of my life which could not have its way, and could only hide itself and be sorry. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Marriage is miserable when the only conversation concerns whether the meat should be boiled or roasted and probably a dispute about that.
Marriage 394 Johnson: It [marriage] was a miserable thing when the conversation could only be such as whether the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a dispute about that. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.
Marriages would be happier if they were arranged by the Lord Chancellor who would consider the character and the circumstances and if the parties had nothing to say in the matter.
Marriage 627 Johnson: I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of the characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.
He expected his wife to be uncritical and in awe of him; in fact he saw her as a spy.
Marriage 195 And this cruel outward accuser was there in the shape of a wife—nay, of a young bride, who, instead of observing his abundant pen scratches and amplitude of paper with the uncritical awe of an elegant-minded canary-bird, seemed to present herself as a spy watching everything with a malign power of inference. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
She was his wife, but also the personification of critics of unappreciated authors.
Marriage 195 Dorothea was not only his wife: she was a personification of that shallow world which surrounds the ill-appreciated or desponding author. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Young, inexperienced people may think of marriage as a perpetual holiday, but it soon turns into a work day.
Marriage 248 Young folks may get fond of each other before they know what life is, and they may think it all holiday if they can only get together; but it soon turns into working day…. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Going on a honeymoon is nonsense; they get tired of each other and can’t comfortably argue as they would at home.
Marriage 267 Mrs. Cadwallader says it is nonsense, people going on a long journey when they are married…says they get tired to death of each other and can’t quarrel comfortably as they would at home. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
It’s not a marriage; it’s a virgin-sacrifice.
Marriage 347 Ladislaw on Dorothea’s marriage to Casaubon: “It is the most horrible of virgin-sacrifices.” George Eliot, Middlemarch.
The young creature who had worshipped him before marriage had become a critic.
Marriage 402 Poor Mr. Casaubon! This suffering was the harder to bear because it seemed like a betrayal: the young creature who had worshipped him with perfect trust had quickly turned into the critical wife; and early instances of criticism and resentment had made an impression which no tenderness and submission afterwards could remove. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Men want a perfect woman who will reverence her husband’s mind.
Marriage 555 ...marking how far he had traveled from his old dreamland, in which Rosamond Vincy appeared to be that perfect piece of womanhood who would reverence her husband’s mind.... George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Marriage demands self-suppression and tolerance.
Marriage 716 716 …for Rosamond’s discontent in her marriage was due to the conditions of marriage itself, to its demand for self-suppression and tolerance…. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
He called his wife his basil because it was a plant that flourished on a murdered man’s brains.
Marriage 792 [Lydgate] had once called her [Rosamond] his basil plant; and when she asked for an explanation, said that basil was a plant which had flourished wonderfully on a murdered man’s brains [to which] Rosamond had a placid but strong answer[:] Why then had he chosen her…pity he had not had Mrs. Ladislaw, whom he was always praising, and placing above her…conversation ended with the advantage on Rosamond’s side. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Whether you marry or not you will repent it.
Marriage 331 Socrates, when asked whether it was better to take or not to take a wife, replied, “Whichever a man does, he will repent it.” Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Marriage cures love.
Marriage 334 I have seen in my time…love shamefully and dishonorably cured by marriage. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
The Senate gave a man permission to kill himself to free himself from his squally wife.
Marriage 355 The Senate of Marseilles was right to grant the request of the man who asked permission to kill himself so that he might be delivered from his squally wife. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
A happy marriage consists of a blind wife and a deaf husband.
Marriage 355 That was, to my mind, an understanding fellow who said that a happy marriage was formed of a blind wife and a deaf husband. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Browning and Elizabeth Barrett symbolize both individuality and union.
Marriage 953 …Harriet Hosmer’s clasped hands of Browning and his wife symbolizing the individuality and heroic union of two poetic lives. Hawthorne, The Marble Faun.
Don’t marry until you have accomplished all you are capable of doing and until you see your intended as she really is or you will make a terrible mistake.
Marriage 30 …don’t marry until you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of doing, and until you cease to love the woman of your choice and see her plainly, as she really is; or else you will be making a cruel and irreparable mistake. Tolstoi, War and Peace.
I would never marry anyone who would be block-headed enough to marry me.
Marriage 111 Lincoln: I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying; and for this reason; I can never be satisfied with any one who would block-head enough to have me. Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years
Marriage is the process of going through so much to learn so little.
Marriage 372 “Wen you’re a married man, Samival, you’ll understand a good many things as you don’t understand now; but vether it’s worth while goin’ through so much, to learn so little...is a matter of taste...I rayther think it isn’t.” Dickens, Pickwick.
Marriage
Husbands sometimes hate their wives because of the wrongs the husbands have done to them.
Marriage 334 I have been vexed to see husbands hate their wives only because they themselves do them wrong. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
In Egypt, men stay home and the wives work.
Marriage 99 Oedipus: [of his sons] For there [Egypt] the men sit at home and weave while their wives go out to win the daily bread. Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus.
A single man with a fortune must need a wife.
Marriage 3 It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
In Jane Austen’s time, marriage was the only escape from poverty and chance for happiness for a woman with little money.
Marriage 122 Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her [Charlotte Lucas’s] object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
For women, marriage is a chance for a new purpose in life, a new future and a new identity.
Marriage 56 Marriage has for women many equivalents of joining a mass movement …offers a new purpose in life, a new future, and a new identity (a new name). Hoffer, The True Believer
If a woman doubts when asked to marry, she should say no.
Marriage 52 Emma: I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him; if she can hesitate as to ‘Yes,’ she ought to say ‘No’ directly...but do not imagine that I want to influence you. Austen, Emma
A woman should not marry just because he has asked her, likes her and can write a tolerable letter.
Marriage 54 Emma: A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked, or because he is attached to her, and can write a tolerable letter. Austen, Emma
Why should he marry when he has his farm, sheep, library and manages his entire parish?
Marriage 225 Why should he [Mr. Knightley] marry?--He’s as happy as possible by himself; with his farm, and his sheep, and his library, and all the parish to manage. Austen, Emma
If a man chooses a wife when young, 23, it is usually a mistake.
Marriage 428 Mr. Knightley: So early in life—at three and twenty—a period when, if a man chooses a wife, he generally chooses ill. Austen, Emma
In spite of the doubts of all those who witnessed the ceremony, the union was perfectly happy.
Marriage 484 But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union. Austen, Emma
He sat in front of the fire with a handkerchief over his head, his feet on the fender and drinking his end-of-the-day wine.
Marriage 355 “Indeed, my love, he paid Teresa very great attention”…said Mrs. Malderton, addressing her spouse, who, after the fatigues of the day in the city was sitting with a silk handkerchief over his head, and his feet on the fender, drinking his port…. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Marriage will put an end to whatever dreams you have.
Marriage 548 You [ladies] have but a very few years to be young and handsome in the eyes of the world; and as few months to be so in the eyes of a husband…for I hope you do not still dream of charms and raptures, which marriage ever did, and ever will, put a sudden end to. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Being married and alone with each other much of the time would suggest that people could learn to get along together, but one runs into many contradictory couples.
Marriage 568 One would suppose that two people who are to pass their whole lives together, and must necessarily be very often alone with each other, could find little pleasure in mutual contradictions; and yet what is more common than a contradictory couple? Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Married couples almost always argue about trifles.
Marriage 571 [The contradictory couple] …never quarrel except about trifles. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
While eating the pudding, he nudged his friend to notice the child’s eyes, chin, nose, hair, figure, calves, mouth or head.
Marriage 575 [The couple who dote on their children]: While the pudding is being disposed of, Mr. and Mrs. Whiffler look on with beaming countenance, and Mr. Whiffler nudging his friend Saunders, begs him to take notice of Tom’s eyes, or Dick’s chin, or Ned’s nose, or Mary Anne’s hair, or Emily’s figure, or little Bob’s calves, or Fanny’s mouth, or Carry’s head as the case may be. Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Married couples call each other “dearest” and “darling,” etc.
Marriage 581 The plausible gentleman calls his wife “darling” and the plausible lady addresses him as “dearest” …if it be Mr. and Mrs. Bobtail Widger, Mrs. Widger is “Lavinia, darling,” and Mr. Widger is “Bobtail, dearest.” Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
Marriage without love means love without marriage.
Marriage 64 Medieval marriages were entirely a matter of property, and, as everybody knows, marriage without love means love without marriage. Clark, Civilization.
Marriage is arduous communism.
Marriage 8 …the arduous communism of marriage…. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Aristotle.
Marriage is for the perpetuation of the species, not for the pleasure of the individual.
Marriage 319 Schopenhauer : …no unions are so unhappy as…love marriages—and precisely for the reason that their aim is the perpetuation of the species, and not the pleasure of the individual. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.
If you marry for love, you will live in sorrow.
Marriage 319 Schopenhauer : Spanish proverb: He who marries from love must live in sorrow. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.
Marriage is disillusioning and eventually destroys love.
Marriage 319 Schopenhauer : …marriage is the attrition of love, and must be disillusioning. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Schopenhauer.
Marriage fulfills women and empties men.
Marriage 433 Nietzsche: Marriage...fulfillment of the woman and its narrowing and emptying of the man. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Nietzsche.
The astonishing thing about marriage is that many endure.
Marriage 3 The really astounding thing about marriage is not that it so often goes to smash, but that it so often endures. Mencken, Minority Report.
Marriage is a natural condition that allows men to have careers and forbids women to have careers.
Marriage 329 Nan: Of course I know being married isn’t a trade: It is a natural condition of life, which permits a man to follow certain public careers and forbids them to a woman. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Being a wife will deprive me of the opportunity to do what nature fitted me for.
Marriage 351 351 Nan: If I had heard he [George Gerry] had gone to the other side of the world for years and years, I should be glad now and not sorry; but I can look forward and see something a thousand times better than being his wife, and living here in Dunport keeping his house, and trying to forget all that nature fitted me to do. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
I will always be your friend, but if I married you, I will eventually seem to be your enemy.
Marriage 354 Nan to George Gerry: I will always be your friend, but if I married you I might seem by and by to be your enemy. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
I could not marry and give my whole self; there are other things I want to do.
Marriage 355 Nan: But something tells me all the time that I could not marry the whole of myself as most women can; there is a great share of my life which could not have its way, and could only hide itself and be sorry. Jewett, A Country Doctor.
Marriage is miserable when the only conversation concerns whether the meat should be boiled or roasted and probably a dispute about that.
Marriage 394 Johnson: It [marriage] was a miserable thing when the conversation could only be such as whether the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a dispute about that. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.
Marriages would be happier if they were arranged by the Lord Chancellor who would consider the character and the circumstances and if the parties had nothing to say in the matter.
Marriage 627 Johnson: I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of the characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter. Boswell, Life of Johnson, Vol. 1.
He expected his wife to be uncritical and in awe of him; in fact he saw her as a spy.
Marriage 195 And this cruel outward accuser was there in the shape of a wife—nay, of a young bride, who, instead of observing his abundant pen scratches and amplitude of paper with the uncritical awe of an elegant-minded canary-bird, seemed to present herself as a spy watching everything with a malign power of inference. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
She was his wife, but also the personification of critics of unappreciated authors.
Marriage 195 Dorothea was not only his wife: she was a personification of that shallow world which surrounds the ill-appreciated or desponding author. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Young, inexperienced people may think of marriage as a perpetual holiday, but it soon turns into a work day.
Marriage 248 Young folks may get fond of each other before they know what life is, and they may think it all holiday if they can only get together; but it soon turns into working day…. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Going on a honeymoon is nonsense; they get tired of each other and can’t comfortably argue as they would at home.
Marriage 267 Mrs. Cadwallader says it is nonsense, people going on a long journey when they are married…says they get tired to death of each other and can’t quarrel comfortably as they would at home. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
It’s not a marriage; it’s a virgin-sacrifice.
Marriage 347 Ladislaw on Dorothea’s marriage to Casaubon: “It is the most horrible of virgin-sacrifices.” George Eliot, Middlemarch.
The young creature who had worshipped him before marriage had become a critic.
Marriage 402 Poor Mr. Casaubon! This suffering was the harder to bear because it seemed like a betrayal: the young creature who had worshipped him with perfect trust had quickly turned into the critical wife; and early instances of criticism and resentment had made an impression which no tenderness and submission afterwards could remove. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Men want a perfect woman who will reverence her husband’s mind.
Marriage 555 ...marking how far he had traveled from his old dreamland, in which Rosamond Vincy appeared to be that perfect piece of womanhood who would reverence her husband’s mind.... George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Marriage demands self-suppression and tolerance.
Marriage 716 716 …for Rosamond’s discontent in her marriage was due to the conditions of marriage itself, to its demand for self-suppression and tolerance…. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
He called his wife his basil because it was a plant that flourished on a murdered man’s brains.
Marriage 792 [Lydgate] had once called her [Rosamond] his basil plant; and when she asked for an explanation, said that basil was a plant which had flourished wonderfully on a murdered man’s brains [to which] Rosamond had a placid but strong answer[:] Why then had he chosen her…pity he had not had Mrs. Ladislaw, whom he was always praising, and placing above her…conversation ended with the advantage on Rosamond’s side. George Eliot, Middlemarch.
Whether you marry or not you will repent it.
Marriage 331 Socrates, when asked whether it was better to take or not to take a wife, replied, “Whichever a man does, he will repent it.” Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Marriage cures love.
Marriage 334 I have seen in my time…love shamefully and dishonorably cured by marriage. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
The Senate gave a man permission to kill himself to free himself from his squally wife.
Marriage 355 The Senate of Marseilles was right to grant the request of the man who asked permission to kill himself so that he might be delivered from his squally wife. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
A happy marriage consists of a blind wife and a deaf husband.
Marriage 355 That was, to my mind, an understanding fellow who said that a happy marriage was formed of a blind wife and a deaf husband. Montaigne, Selected Essays.
Browning and Elizabeth Barrett symbolize both individuality and union.
Marriage 953 …Harriet Hosmer’s clasped hands of Browning and his wife symbolizing the individuality and heroic union of two poetic lives. Hawthorne, The Marble Faun.
Don’t marry until you have accomplished all you are capable of doing and until you see your intended as she really is or you will make a terrible mistake.
Marriage 30 …don’t marry until you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of doing, and until you cease to love the woman of your choice and see her plainly, as she really is; or else you will be making a cruel and irreparable mistake. Tolstoi, War and Peace.
I would never marry anyone who would be block-headed enough to marry me.
Marriage 111 Lincoln: I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying; and for this reason; I can never be satisfied with any one who would block-head enough to have me. Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years
Marriage is the process of going through so much to learn so little.
Marriage 372 “Wen you’re a married man, Samival, you’ll understand a good many things as you don’t understand now; but vether it’s worth while goin’ through so much, to learn so little...is a matter of taste...I rayther think it isn’t.” Dickens, Pickwick.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Quotes: Manners. Marching.
A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.
Manners
Distinguishing between “ease” and “elegance” in behavior.
Manners 270 She [Emma] would not be in a hurry to find fault [with Mrs. Elton], but she suspected that there was no elegance;--ease, but not elegance. Austen, Emma
Good manners depend on the good manners of others.
Manners 1044 Fine manners need the support of fine manners in others. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
Self-reliance is the basis for good manners.
Manners 1046 The basis of good manners is self-reliance. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
People who lack self-possession are painful to behold.
Manners 1046 Those who are not self-possessed, obtrude and pain us. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
Good manners take time; haste is vulgar.
Manners 1046 Manners require time, as nothing is more vulgar than haste. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
He had the manners of a tolerably trained bear.
Manners 656 As for external polish, or mere courtesy of manner, he never possessed more than a tolerably educated bear. Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance.
Marching
Marching diverts thoughts, kills thought and eliminates individuality.
Marching 126 Hermann Rauschming: “Marching diverts men’s thoughts; marching kills thought; marching makes an end of individuality.” Hoffer, The True Believer
Manners
Distinguishing between “ease” and “elegance” in behavior.
Manners 270 She [Emma] would not be in a hurry to find fault [with Mrs. Elton], but she suspected that there was no elegance;--ease, but not elegance. Austen, Emma
Good manners depend on the good manners of others.
Manners 1044 Fine manners need the support of fine manners in others. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
Self-reliance is the basis for good manners.
Manners 1046 The basis of good manners is self-reliance. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
People who lack self-possession are painful to behold.
Manners 1046 Those who are not self-possessed, obtrude and pain us. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
Good manners take time; haste is vulgar.
Manners 1046 Manners require time, as nothing is more vulgar than haste. Emerson, The Conduct of Life: Behavior.
He had the manners of a tolerably trained bear.
Manners 656 As for external polish, or mere courtesy of manner, he never possessed more than a tolerably educated bear. Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance.
Marching
Marching diverts thoughts, kills thought and eliminates individuality.
Marching 126 Hermann Rauschming: “Marching diverts men’s thoughts; marching kills thought; marching makes an end of individuality.” Hoffer, The True Believer
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