“Also, a general question: Does anyone actually like that “12 Days of Christmas”” song? I mean, aside from the drunkenly bellowing “Five GOLDEN RINGS!!!” part. Every time it comes on, I cringe knowing it’s going to be on for six or seven minutes of enforced jollity. It’s like the “Stairway to Heaven” of Christmas carols, the one whose original charm has entirely rubbed off and has managed stick in the canon simply by sheer barnacle-like tenacity. Dump it, I say!”
–John Scalzi
Tag: quotes Page 5 of 6
And when we come to think of it, goodness is uneventful. It does not flash, it grows. It is deep, quiet, and very simple. It passes not with oratory, it is commonly foreign to riches, nor does it often sit in the places of the mighty; but may be felt in the touch of a friendly hand or the look of a kindly eye.
–David Grayson
You can live three days without bread–without poetry, never…you need
art.
Art is an infinitely precious good, a draught both refreshing and
cheering which restores the stomach and the mind to the natural
equilibrium of the ideal. You understand its function , you gentlemen of
the bourgeoisie–whether lawgivers or businessmen–when the seventh or
eighth hour strikes and you bend your tired head towards the embers of
your hearth or the cushions of your armchair. That is the time when a
keener desire and a more active reverie would refresh you after your
daily labors.
–Charles Baudelaire “To the Bourgeois” – The Salon of 1846 (1846)
I found this in rain_luong‘s journal. Like him, I’ve always been proud of my political leanings, and have grown quite annoyed at the tendency for “liberal” to be a dirty word in modern political discourse. While I consider myself to be a moderate pragmatist if I must be pidgeonholed, I’m not ashamed to say that when in doubt, I err towards the liberal side of the center line.
If your workplace is safe; if your children go to school rather than being forced into labor; if you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a forty-hour week and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights–you can thank liberals. If your food is not poisoned and your water is drinkable–you can thank liberals. If your parents are eligible for Medicare and Social Security, so they can grow old in dignity without bankrupting your family–you can thank liberals. If our rivers are getting cleaner and our air isn’t black with pollution; if our wilderness is protected and our countryside is still green–you can thank liberals. If people of all races can share the same public facilities; if everyone has the right to vote; if couples fall in love and marry regardless of race; if we have finally begun to transcend a segregated society–you can thank liberals. Progressive innovations like those and so many others were achieved by long, difficult struggles against entrenched power. What defined conservatism, and conservatives, was their opposition to every one of those advances. The country we know and love today was built by those victories for liberalism–with the support of the American people.
–Joe Conason
Right on.
“Indeed, none of the accumulated data within the song even remotely leads to the conclusion that it’s a small world after all. At best, it concludes that it’s a world of indeterminate emotional states, rooted in a communal impulse.”
–John Scalzi
In repsonse to someone who said “Make up your mind: you either support America or you support Saddam.”
“You either support the U.S. Constitution or you support Bush. Make up your
mind.”
–Dan Kimmel
From an interview at CNN:
“Into what? I retired at 21 or whenever I decided to become a musician. What do I retire into? Accounting. I will retire into accounting, maybe.”
–David Bowie, asked if he ever thinks of retiring
Singer-songwriter Janis Ian weighs in on the subject of music sharing on the Internet:
“I don’t pretend to be an expert on intellectual property law, but I do know one thing. If a music industry executive claims I should agree with their agenda because it will make me more money, I put my hand on my wallet…and check it after they leave, just to make sure nothing’s missing.”
http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html
Found in Neil Gaiman’s webjournal:
“May your 2002 be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t to forget make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in 2002, you surprise yourself.”
I like that.
“The effects which follow too constant and intense a concentration upon evil are always disastrous. Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better, but leave it either as it was, or sometimes even perceptibly worse than it was, before the crusade began. By thinking primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions, to create occasions for evil to manifest itself.”
Aldous Huxley
The Devils of Loudun