By way of a continuation of my earlier post [A-B] on Bartletts familiar quotations, here is the next section. I seem to be more inclined towards the ideas of certain authors, rather than picking up on individual insights from across the spectrum of writers who have been collected in this slim volume. This might speak more to my own interests than the actual value of the ideas which I am glossing over as it seems that the authors who have retained some name recognition are the ones I have charged with the greatest value.
Some of these quotes spoke to me because of their elegance and their relevance to other sources I am engaged with, for example Burke’s “What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue” which reminds me of Jungian Archetypes which are said to all have shadows that embody their darker nature. Others speak to a deep understanding of the human condition such as Butler’s “The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none” which reminds me of the Dunning-Kruger effect whereby one could be unaware of their lack of competence with a given task. And lastly, Dionysius’ “Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.”
And with that said, I bid you adieu.
Edmund Burke [1729-1791]
I am convinced that we have a delight, and no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others. ~On the Sublime and Beautiful
There is however a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. ~Observations…
The march of the human mind is slow.
What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue
Samuel Butler [1835-1902]
In old age we live under the shadow of death, which, like a sword of Damocles, may descend at any moment, but we have found life to be an affair of being rather frightened than hurt that we have become like the people who live under Vesuvius, and chance it without much misgiving.
The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises ~Notebooks. Lord, what is man for?
The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore. ~The fair heaven
Thomas Carlyle [1795-1881]
True humour springs not more from the head than the heart: it is not contempt, its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper ~Richter
For all right judgment of any man or thing, it is useful, nay essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.
Of all outward evils obscurity is perhaps in itself the least
Silence is deep as eternity; speech is as shallow as time. ~Sir Walter Scott
Nothing that was worthy in the past departs; no truth or goodness realized by man ever dies, or can die; but is all still here, and recognized or not, lives and works through endless changes.
Be not the slave of words
The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none
Lewis Caroll [1832-1898]
“When I use a word“ Humpty-Dumpty said, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
G K Chesterton [1874-1936]
Nothing sublimely artistic has ever arisen out of mere art, any more than anything essentially reasonable has ever arisen out of pure reason. There must always be a rich moral soil for any great aesthetic growth. ~A defence of nonsense
Thomas De Quincy [1785-1859]
If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing next he comes to drinking and sabbath breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. ~On Murder
Diogenes Laertius [AD 200]
The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, “the dream of a walking man.” ~Aristotle
Dionysius [430-367BC]
Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent