Out of the habit...

Of blogging. It's difficult to articulate something interesting most days. It's rough, you see. Imagine, if you will, that you were a dog, but you were invited to do something that a dog perhaps does not normally do, for example, play poker.



Now, unless you were masterfully painted in the early 20th century by C.M. Coolidge, you would likely find it quite difficult to hold and fan a hand of cards without opposable thumbs. Also, you would lack the cognitive skills to understand the intricacies of poker hand hierarchy.

Just saying.

At any rate, lately I've been finding it a bit tough to have much to write about aside from how cruddy my life is, and I feel that that is not an appropriate subject for this thing, lest it turn into the typical internet whine-a-thon about "I'm so lonely why can't I meet people" and/or the internet angry whine-a-thon of "Why can't they make a good movie about cowboys in space? I could do it."

No, this level of bush-league punditry is too low for even me to indulge in. And thus I fall silent, for it is better to leave your mouth closed and look a fool then open it and remove all doubt, as Mark Twain purportedly said. It is important to note that this quote has also been attributed to Lincoln, George Eliot, Groucho Marx, Einstein and Silvan Engel.

Interesting note on Silvan Engel. The quote when attributed to Lincoln is usually claimed to be Lincoln quoting this Engel fellow, though other than this quote, I can find no record of Engel's existence. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry.

If he did exist, he left the best legacy ever. He was a man important enough for one of our most famous presidents to quote, yet left no record of his likely flaws behind. Genius.

RJC

Fun quotes for late night amusement.

As I am too lazy to write anything original right now (or all of my energy has gone into the short story I'm currently slogging through), I thought it might be fun to smack up a little list of 10 quotes. In no particular order. Enjoy.

1. Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies. - E. W. Howe

2. They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

3. He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence. - William Blake

4. It's all down to functionality eventually. If you're functional it doesn't matter if you're mad.  - Alan Moore

5. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. - Walter Benjamin

6. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more so in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling - Phillippians 2:12

7. You cut up a thing that's alive and beautiful to find out how it's alive and why it's beautiful, and before you know it, it's neither of those things, and you're standing there with blood on your face and tears in your sight with only the terrible ache of guilt to show for it. - Clive Barker

8. Comedy is not pretty. - Steve Martin

9. Boredom is the root of all evil--the despairing refusal to be one's self. - Søren Kierkegaard

10. National character is only another name for the particular form which the littleness, perversity, and baseness of mankind take in every country. Every nation mocks at other nations, and all are right. - Arthur Schopenhauer

And there you go. I personally believe most of these to be, in a word, TRUE. That is, they accurately represent the way I see the world, and the things that I believe about all manner of subjects. Those subjects making up what is usually roughly described as life. If I had my druthers, I would have all of these tattooed on me. So far I only have part of one. 

RJC