Great Quotes III: Source and Context are Key

[Kyriakos]

Pretty correct, in the 'truth is beauty/only beauty is real' connection. One cannot understand something if it is itself not connected to a truth, since truth is inevitably the only thing which keeps expanding despite how much you deepen your focus on it.
Seen from another side: anything which ends somewhere... is a false dead-end.

 

[Tigranes]

Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it!
-- Attributed to Thomas Beecham in reference to the performance of a female cello soloist

 

[Tahuti]

"For what is meant by saying that a government ought to educate the people? Why should they be educated? What is the education for? Clearly, to fit the people for social life — to make them good citizens. And who is to say what are good citizens? The government: there is no other judge. And who is to say how these good citizens may be made? The government: there is no other judge. Hence the proposition is convertible into this — a government ought to mold children into good citizens…. It must first form for itself a definite conception of a pattern citizen; and, having done this, must elaborate such system of discipline as seems best calculated to produce citizens after that pattern. This system of discipline it is bound to enforce to the uttermost. For if it does otherwise, it allows men to become different from what in its judgment they should become, and therefore fails in that duty it is charged to fulfill."

-Herbert Spencer

 

[Kyriakos]

Quod est ante pedes nemo spectat, caeli scrutantur plagas (No one regards what is before his feet when searching out the regions of the sky).

About the story (in Plato) that Thales of Miletos was walking without looking in front of him due to staring at the sky for calculations, and fell into a well

 

[gay_Aleks]

Philosophers die in amusing deaths. Wells, syphilis, all that. That's why you should look down your feet, and especially near your dick.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Hm, and to think you weren't the one who just got a big red governing continuum...

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Seems like a sensible analysis and foreign policy recommendation to me.
"Are we encircling China as a precaution in case of military conflict? Or are we wooing china to start a Cold War and bankrupt it like Soviet Union?
China has a different mindset. China is establishing relations with democratic as well as oppressive regimes in search for natural resources and does not want to pass judgment on their method of governance. Its relations are mostly limited to economic ties.
China is a different breed and will not take bait ofcold war , because historically China is neither interested in expansionism nor spreading of any ideology. China will continue to arm itself to leave no doubt that any ill designs on China’s sovereignty will be ill affordable. Despite territorial disputes with neighbors, China’s main focus is economy and trade with its neighboring countries. Today Vietnam’s main trading partner is China and trade is increasing 20 % per year. In 2013 it rose to $ 60 billion. China will not follow the course of old Soviet Union
There is an inherent danger of misunderstandings in developing our military ties with countries surrounding China. These countries counting on American help, may start a war with China over territorial dispute, and that can lead to a bigger war which neither country can afford. We are already involved in many military conflicts. We are doing some of the things which made Soviet Union bankrupt. China is more focused on economic future than anything else, and that is where our focus should be. "
-FS, comment on "U.S.-India Ties Grow Stronger, and China Takes It in Stride", New York Times

 

[Kyriakos]

[...]τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους λανθάνει ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ποιοῦσιν ὅκωσπερ ὁκόσα εὕδοντες ἐπιλανθάνονται.
(As for those other people: they have no sense of what they do when they are awake, in the same way that they forget what they did while they were dreaming)

 

[Traitorfish]

Not a great quote in the usual sense, but I was doing some research for school and almost sprayed a mouthful of coffee over my notes, so I had to share:

“Col. Fleming that lived at the Big Lick, was at the Battle of the Point and was shot through the body, so that a silk handkerchief could be drawn through him.”

- James Wade to John D. Shane, 1840s.

Like... what? That's where your mind goes, you crazy pioneer man?

 

[Gori the Grey]

^Now if he'd added the word "unbloodied," then we'd have a great quote.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Was he also at the battle at the Trident?

Spoiler :

yeah, i mean MAD KING

 

[Lohrenswald]

To what end was the handkerchief drawing supposed to serve?

 

[Traitorfish]

I have no idea whatsoever. Was this a contemporary expression I've never heard before? Is he reporting on an experiment they actually carried out? Did he just have a serious case of weird-brain? Impossible to say.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Perhaps when they were stitching up his wound, the doctor managed to fit in a handkerchief? And then the other guy decided to add a bit of flair and fluff to the story?

 

[Traitorfish]

That might be the best guess.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Does said letter give any clues if he lived or did he die?

 

[Traitorfish]

Not sure, but I'm presuming he died? It's an old pioneer guy recalling a battle with the Shawnee about fifty years earlier, so he's inconsistent on a lot of the details.

 

[gay_Aleks]

"Russia and the United States are at war. Missiles have been fired by both sides. Washington and Moscow are in flames. Details on these and other stories in just a moment, but first, this word about hair care."
— George Carlin

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

 

[gay_Aleks]

Hmm. I remember some Australian politician/newsman or whatever who just trashed opposition. Can't remember his name, but he really hated some Minister of Treasury, calling him incapable and all that.