| Frederick The Monk
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| 540. Wed Oct 22, 2003 11:36 am |
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| Quote: | Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.
R.G.Collingworth
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| Jenny
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| 566. Wed Oct 22, 2003 6:45 pm |
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| Quote: | He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy.
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise. |
My favourite William Blake quotation :-) |
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| Jenny
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| 595. Thu Oct 23, 2003 2:46 pm |
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Just come across this one courtesy of a mutual friend of Jack's and mine on GU. It's from somebody called Isaac of Ninevah, of whom I've never heard but am told he was one of the desert fathers of the early church:
| Quote: | | "Everyman who delights in a multitude of words, even though he says admirable things is empty within. If you love truth be a lover of silence. Silence like the sunlight will illuminate you in God and will deliver you from the phantoms of ignorance." |
And further to the same theme, a lovely quote from Bishop Spong (who presumably makes mincemeat of his theological opponents, but please forget that I ever even thought of that...):
| Quote: | | I do not think that it matters what titles you use for God in your prayers. It only matters as to what these titles mean to you. I am amazed, for example, that Christian prayers seem to assume that God enjoys being flattered. So we call God by a variety of titles: 'Almighty,' 'Most Gracious,' 'All Loving,' 'Most Merciful,' 'Creator of all things,' etc. We also tell God in our prayers what we hope is true about God! "You are more ready to hear than we to pray," or "You are more eager to forgive than we deserve." This, we need to be reminded, is our human language, it is not God's language. It is created out of our needs not out of God's needs. The questions that we never ask are: "What does this language say about us?" That is where our inquiry ought to focus. We are not describing God, even in our prayers, we are defining our needs and giving voice to what we believe are our experiences. |
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| Jenny
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| 604. Thu Oct 23, 2003 4:34 pm |
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The source for this quotation is Frances from this very forum, but it's much too good to let pass unremarked.
| Quote: | | Dignity is like a top hat: wearing it is fine, if uncomfortable, but don't try standing on it. |
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| JumpingJack
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| 644. Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:00 am |
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Yes, Jenny, I've posted elsewhere that Frances' bot mot has already been selected for the (as yet unwritten) QI Dictionary of Quotations (along with most of the postings on this thread...)
scampers off eagerly to start a 'God' thread |
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| JumpingJack
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| 649. Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:15 am |
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Pigs eat acorns, but neither consider the sun that gives them life, nor the influence of the heavens by which they were nourished, nor the very root of the tree from whence they came.
THOMAS TRAHERNE (1637-73) |
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| JumpingJack
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| 658. Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:31 am |
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Love this description of the (newly-invented) steam locomotive:
Sur le taureau de fer, qui fume, souffle et beugle,
L'homme est monté trop tot. Nul ne connait encore
Quels orages en lui porte ce rude aveugle.
ALFRED DE VIGNY (1797-1863) |
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| JumpingJack
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| 742. Sat Oct 25, 2003 8:11 am |
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| Quote: | Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment;
Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment is intuition.
MEVLANA JALAL-UDDIN RUMI (1207-73) |
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| JumpingJack
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| 743. Sat Oct 25, 2003 8:22 am |
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| Quote: | Be ever mindful, throughout the twelve hours of the day, to apply yourselves to the study of the Unthinkable. Time passes like an arrow, never let your minds be disturbed by worldly cares. Ever, be on the lookout.
'Final Instruction' of Zen Master DAITO (1282-1337)
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And a QI motto, to boot. |
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| JumpingJack
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| 744. Sat Oct 25, 2003 8:37 am |
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The best number for a dinner party is two – myself and a damn' good head waiter.
NUBAR GULBENKIAN (1896-1972) |
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| JumpingJack
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| 745. Sat Oct 25, 2003 8:46 am |
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This is horribly reminiscent of someone (can't for the life of me think who)
| Quote: | | You could tell by his conversation which volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica he'd been reading. One day it would be Alps, Andes and Apennines, and the next it would be Himalyas and the Hippocratic Oath. |
(It's actually Bertrand Russell on Aldous Huxley) |
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| JumpingJack
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| 746. Sat Oct 25, 2003 8:50 am |
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| Quote: | | I may be dead from the neck up, but rack my brains as I may, I can't see why a chap should need thirty pages to describe how he turns over in bed before going to sleep |
Marc Humbolt, 1912 (rejecting Proust's Remembrance of Things Past |
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| JumpingJack
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| 747. Sat Oct 25, 2003 8:51 am |
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| Quote: | My face looks like a wedding cake left out in the rain.
WH AUDEN |
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| Flash
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| 758. Sat Oct 25, 2003 1:13 pm |
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| That last one (747 as I like to call it) is interesting - could it be the origin of the line in MacArthur Park: "Someone left the cake out in the rain, I don't think that I can take it, Because it took so long to bake it, And I'll never have that recipe again"? |
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| Jenny
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| 764. Sat Oct 25, 2003 7:02 pm |
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| I started a thread on GU recently with the title 'Lyrics that at the time seemed deep and meaningful but which now look frankly barking' and cited the full lyrics of MacArthur Park in support of this. |
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