Writer, editor, photographer, foodie, rooftop groupie.
1000 SHARDS
Random shards of awesome from all over.
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Tragic words
"Ah, words are poor receipts for what time hath stole away."
- John Clare, "Remembrances", quoted in Christopher Hitchens' recently published memoir, Hitch-22. (Sad to discover that the raffish rogue now has cancer of the oesophagus).
Imperfect truth
Great quote from the novel I'm reading at the moment:Here is a fact: nothing in all civilization has been as productive as ludicrous ambition. Whatever its ills, nothing has created more. Cathedrals, sonatas, encyclopedias: love of God was not behind them, nor love of life. But the love of man to be worshipped by man.
– Gerda Erzberger in The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.
Witty quip on Estonia's likely entry into the EU this year
Heard this on ABC News Radio this morning and it made me me smile.
Westpac's entertaining London-based economist James Shugg likened Estonia's imminent entry into the European Union to "arriving at the party when everyone has passed out and the police have arrived."
Funny quote: never surrender!
Great quote from this Guardian story about New Moore Island in the Sunderbans -- the focus of a decades-long maritime boundary demarcation dispute between India and Bangladesh -- which has now been completely submerged by rising sea levels.
Of the territorial dispute:
... the disappearance of the island does nothing to resolve it, said an official in India's foreign ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on international disputes.
Classy insults through history
I was just forwarded this by email, and thought it worthy of sharing.These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words. The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison."
He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
P.J. O'Rourke on avoiding writing
This is one of my favourite passages of prose about writer's block and procrastination, from the inimitable US political humorist, P.J. O'Rourke.
Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o’clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word “paisly” in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on The New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting—by width—all the interesting articles I’ve cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write.”
— P. J. O’Rourke
The Wit and Wisdom of P. J. O’Rourkevia michaelhyatt.comSalad days
"Going to MacDonald's for a salad is like going to a strip club for a hug."
Quote told by @StirlingBond -
Paul Ryan's Posterous
Writer, editor, photographer, foodie, rooftop groupie.
