Sunday, July 25, 2010

today's quotes

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
           -- Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

I suspect this is actually true.


A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
           -- Henry David Thoreau

A very interesting observation.

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.
           -- Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson

There's something to this. I wonder if stretching the mind is more painful than we suspect?


Lies are like children: they're hard work, but it's worth it because the future depends on them.
           -- Pam Davis, House M.D., It's A Wonderful Lie, 2008

Pretty sardonic, but funny.

7 comments:

Bronislaus Janulis / Framewright said...

Nice selection of quotes!

Bron

Ray said...

Mark Twain said: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Laurence J Peter said: " Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car."

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your two cents, Bron. Where would we be without your genius comments?

Bronislaus Janulis / Framewright said...

Well, in less words, I was nice to someone, and you, wordy as usual, prove you're a jackass.

Anonymous said...

See what I mean, everyone? Genius!

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Yeah, I wouldn't have noticed you were a jackass if the genius hadn't explained it to me. :-P

Some of us can be "slow" like that. We only notice unpleasant things like mean people when they hit us in the face.

Anonymous said...

Bron's got the edge on pretentiousness.