January 19, 2015

Good Morning! Here are your daily birthday quotations...

Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857):

“To understand a science it is necessary to know its history.”

and

“Language forms a kind of wealth, which all can make use of at once without causing any diminution of the store, and which thus admits a complete community of enjoyment; for all, freely participating in the general treasure, unconsciously aid in its preservation.”

Lysander Spooner (1808 – 1887):

“A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government.”

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1949):

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”

and

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”

and

“I have great faith in fools - self-confidence my friends will call it.”

and

“There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.”

and

“If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.”

and

“I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.”

Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906):

“I still work with difficulty, but I seem to get along. That is the important thing to me. Sensations form the foundation of my work, and they are imperishable, I think. Moreover, I am getting rid of that devil who, as you know, used to stand behind me and forced me at will to “imitate”; he’s not even dangerous any more”. (one week later, Cézanne died)

Patricia Highsmith (1921 – 1995):

“My New Year’s Eve Toast: to all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace.”

and

“My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.”

Robert MacNeil (1931 - ):

“Television is the soma of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.”

and

“If you love the language, the greatest thing you can do to ensure its survival is not to complain about bad usage but to pass your enthusiasm to a child. Find a child and read to it often the things you admire, not being afraid to read the classics.”

Janis Joplin (1943 – 1970):

“Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got.”

and

“Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers.”

and

“There isn't going to be any turning point. ... There isn't going to be any next-month-it'll-be-better, next fucking year, next fucking life. You don't have any time to wait for. You just got to look around you and say, "So this is it. This is really all there is to it. This little thing." Everybody needing such little things and they can't get them. Everybody needing just a little ... confidence from somebody else and they can't get it. Everybody, everybody fighting to protect their little feelings. Everybody, you know, like reaching out tentatively but drawing back. It's so shallow and seems so ... fucking ... it seems like such a shame. It's so close to being like really right and good and open and amorphous and giving and everything. But it's not. And it ain't gonna be.”

Julian Barnes (1946 - ):

“Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.”

and

“This was another of our fears: that Life wouldn't turn out to be like Literature.”

and

“It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.”

and

“Women were brought up to believe that men were the answer. They weren't. They weren't even one of the questions.”

and

“The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously.”

Edwidge Danticat (1969 - ):

“When you write, it's like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring then unity.”

and

“I also know there are timeless waters, endless seas, and lots of people in this world whose names don't matter to anyone but themselves. I look up at the sky and I see you there.”