Eleanor Roosevelt observed, “The Marines I have met around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marines.”
A friend of Grant's once took the President to a golf course in the hope of encouraging him to take up the game. After watching a beginner hack the grass around the tee for several minutes without touching the ball, Grant remarked: "That does look like very good exercise. But what is the little white ball for?"
Nope. They're usually too busy finding something/someone to eat, a way to avoid being eaten, or someone/something to copulate with. They're too busy to start sulking. As the late Sir Terry Pratchett observed: Natural selection saw to it that professional heroes who, at a crucial moment, tended to ask themselves questions like "What is my purpose in life?" very quickly lacked both. ― Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times
Lyberte or fredome is a moche swete thynge / as Esope reherceth by this fable / of a wulf and of a dogge whiche by aduenture mette to gyder / wherfore the wulf demaunded of the dogge / wherof arte thow so fatte and so playsaunt / And the dogge ansuerd to hym / I haue wel kepte my lordes hows / & haue barked after the theues whiche came in the hows of my mayster / wherfore he and his meyny gyue to me plente of good mete / wherof I am fatte and playsaunt / and the wulf sayd thenne to hym / It is wel sayd my broder / Certaynly syth thow arte so wel atte thyn ease and farest so wel I haue grete desyre to dwelle with the / to thende that thow & I make but one dyner / wel sayd the dogge / come on with me yf thow wylt be as wel at thyn ease as I am / and haue thou no doubte of no thynge / The wulf wente with the dogge / and as they wente by the way / the wulf beheld the dogges neck / whiche was al bare of here / and demaunded of the dogge / My broder why is thy neck so shauen / And the dogge ansuerd / it is by cause of my grete coler of yron / to whiche dayly I am fasted / And at nyght I am vnbound for to kepe the hows the better / Thenne sayd the wulf to the dogge / This I myster ne nede not / For I that am in lyberte / wylle not be put in no subiection / And therfor for to fylle my bely / I wylle not be subget / yf thou be acustommed for to be bound / contynue thow in hit / and I shalle lyue as I am wonte and acustomed / therfore there is no rychesse gretter / than lyberte / For lyberte is better than alle the gold of the world / 3.15. Of the wulf and of the dogge --- Caxton, 1484, translation of Aesop's Fables
All right. English is not my first language, but even I understood that (after a little effort). Just don't ask me to translate this ... Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning! Or, in other words ... LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won! Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes, from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore, awing the earls. Since erst he lay friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him: for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve, till before him the folk, both far and near, who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate, gave him gifts: a good king he! (Bonus points if you know what this is)
Thanks. I once had a kitty named Beowulf. He was a giant of a cat, and gentle as, um, a kitten. Had one named Hrothgar, too.
That gives me an idea for a limerick ... I once had a kitty named Hrothgar (Colossal, but not quite an ogre). Then Beowulf mewed because chicken he chewed; His name was, of course, not like Kroger. (Or something like that. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of words that rhyme exactly with Hrothgar or Beowulf)
One more (sorry, I couldn't resist) ... A Canadian fellow named Peck had snow right up to his neck. When asked if he froze, he replied, "I suppose, but we don't call this cold in Quebec!"
"Our Country, right or wrong...." Have you not perceived that the phrase is an insult to the nation? ...Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time. The republic's life is not in peril. --Mark Twain
In a Sun Valley restaurant, a stranger asked Ernest Hemingway for his autograph. "Thanks, Mr. Hemingway," the pleased visitor said cheerfully when he got the signature. He passed the table again and said, "Hello, Mr. Hemingway." Intoxicated by being so near the great man, the stranger permitted himself another walk past, this time calling out, "Hi, Ernest!" Further giddied by Hemingway's acknowledging nod, the man made one final pass, this time calling, "Hello, Papa!" Hemingway lowered his beard and raised his arms. "Hellooo!" he roared. "And goodbyyyye!"
There is angry murmuring when right is dragged off, Wherever the bribe eaters choose, As they give their crooked verdicts. Beware of this, Lords, And keep your judgements straight. A man fashions ill for himself Who fashions ill for another. The all-seeing eye of Zeus Sees the kind of justice the community has within it. --- Works and Days, Hesiod
Uh, I like this -- but why does the link lead to a thread called "If Russia wins"? (And why is the thread non-existent?) I'm confused.
Oh! Um -- but it tells me (and I quote): "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action." *shrug* I'm sure there's a good reason that I can't see this thread. Oh well. Here's a story about Lena Horne (1917-2010), the singer and entertainer. (Al Duckett, a freelance journalist during World War II, recounts the following story about Lena Horne): "She had been sent to a camp in the south to entertain the troops. She was scheduled to do a performance for the white troops and a separate performance for the black troops and the German prisoners of war. When I was in the service in Fort Dix, the German prisoners would be in the mess line with black troops and you'd have a separate line for white troops. Lena entertained the blacks and the German prisoners and then she left."
A member is unable to access the Debate Room until they have been a member for 90 days and have made 100 posts.
Ah, right. I've made 300+ posts, but have only been here 5 weeks. Guess I have to wait another 7 weeks. Oh, well. *puts his feet up, hums "The Girl from Ipanema", waits for the clock to start running faster and the calendar leaves to fly off the wall (like they do in the movies)* And since we were discussing Churchill in the other thread - here's another anecdote about him: George Bernard Shaw sent Churchill a note inviting him to the first night performance of Saint Joan. He enclosed two tickets, "One for yourself and one for a friend -- if you have one." Expressing his regret at being unable to attend, Churchill replied, asking if it would be possible to have tickets for the second night -- "if there is one."
"Two cheeks of the same backside" --- George Galloway on Labour and the Tories, at his winning stump speech this morning He is a nasty piece of work, of course, just an excellent rhetorician: "An unverifiable story records that [Galloway] once asked Donald Dewar, the late Scottish Secretary and First Minister, why people took such an instant dislike to him. “Because it saves time, George,” replied Donald." --- Telegraph
Here's one from Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), US statesman, chief author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and 3rd US President (1801-09). The code of discipline at the University of Virginia was at first very lax, as Jefferson trusted that the students would take their studies seriously. This trust proved misplaced, and the misbehavior of the students culminated in a riot in which the professors who tried to restore order were attacked with bricks and canes. The following day a meeting was held between the university's board of visitors, of which Jefferson was of course a member, and the defiant students. Jefferson began by saying, "This is one of the most painful events of my life," was overcome by emotion, and burst into tears. No amount of oratory or scolding could have had such an extraordinary effect. Another member of the board took over the meeting and asked the rioters to come forward and give their names. Nearly every one of them did so. As one of the students said afterwards, "It was not Mr. Jefferson's words, but his tears."
"[W]hen once you have taken the Impossible into your calculations, its possibilities become practically limitless." Saki (H.H. Munro), "The Peace of Mowsle Barton", in The Short Stories of Saki
Here's one from Rudyard Joseph Kipling (1865-1936), British poet and short-story teller, born in India; most famous for "The Jungle Book" and his poem "If". A newspaper to which Kipling subscribed published by mistake an announcement of his death. Kipling wrote at once to the editor: "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
