Monthly Archives: February 2012

The world is flat

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat. –Stuart Chase quoted in S. I. Hayakawa’s Language in Thought and Action (1952) Response: I think it is amazing that as humans we live within huge realms of knowledge, … Continue reading →

Posted in Imagination, Learning, Life, Science | Leave a comment

Human thought is not a firework

Posted on February 28, 2012 by

Human thought is not a firework, ever shooting off fresh forms and shapes as it burns; it is a tree, growing very slowly — you can watch it long and see no movement — very silently, unnoticed. –Jerome K. Jerome … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Imagination, Learning, Life, Simplicity | Leave a comment

We notice

Posted on February 24, 2012 by

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it. – Niel Gaiman “Where do you get your … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity, Imagination, Individuality, Learning | Leave a comment

We should be uneasy

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

“My mission in life is to make everybody as uneasy as possible. I think we should all be as uneasy as possible, because that’s what the world is like.” –Edward Gorey, Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey (2002) Response: … Continue reading →

Posted in Fear, freedom, Happiness, Imagination, Life | Leave a comment

It flows along forever

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

Where Go the Boats? Dark brown is the river, Golden is the sand. It flows along for ever, With trees on either hand. Green leaves a-floating, Castles of the foam, Boats of mine a-boating– Where will all come home? On … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Imagination, Individuality, People | 1 Comment

Shakles of time

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew each other. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic. – Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1980) Response: I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Carl Sagan, Change, Culture, Diversity, Humanity, Learning, Life | 1 Comment

Inconveniences of liberty

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it. –Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Archibald Stuart,(1791) Response: What does it mean to live in a “free” country or be … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, freedom, Humanity, Individuality | Leave a comment

Live without knowing

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

Some people say, “How can you live without knowing?” I do not know what they mean. I always live without knowing. That is easy. How you get to know is what I want to know. –Richard Feynman,The Meaning of It … Continue reading →

Posted in Imagination, Learning, Life, Science, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The whole truth

Posted on February 16, 2012 by

Jack: That, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple. Algernon: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility! – Oscar Wilde, … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity, Humanity, Imagination, Individuality, Memory, Simplicity, Truth | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

You never know

Posted on February 16, 2012 by

You can never do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. –Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men (1850) Response: We make our time and our choices. Sometimes, afterwords, I might look back and … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Death, Friendship, Life, Nature, People | Leave a comment