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Quote festival, part 6Back to forum Thibault de Vassal (2009-08-04) Quote festival, part 6 Maybe this is time to start a new quote fest, what do you think ? :) As a reminder, you're encouraged to post your own quotes about anything, but do not forget that you may enter the FICGS quotes file then ;) "Always remember: He will blunder for sure, but he may play like a genius as well." Nick Burrows (2009-08-05 13:13:03) quotes "Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend." - Bruce Lee "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."-Mark Twain No one should allow his mind to be a vehicle for others to use; He who does not direct his own mind lacks mastery. Ono who is looking for a reward is smaller than the reward; One who has renounced a thing has risen above it. So long as one has a longing to obtain any particular object, one cannot go further than that object. - Hazrat Inayat Khan Be who you are, and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. -Dr. Seuss Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. - Frank Outlaw Thibault de Vassal (2009-08-05 17:16:53) Bruce Lee quotes I did not know the quotes by Bruce Lee, so I looked for more :) Among the best I found : "Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier." "The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be traded and conceptualized and squeezed into a pattern of systems." "Knowledge will give you power, but character respect." http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee Don Groves (2009-08-10 22:56:13) One for the file "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." -- US General Douglas MacArthur Nick Burrows (2009-08-10 23:58:37) automatic weapons The pen is mightier than the sword, just as the printing press is mightier than automatic weapons! Daniel Parmet (2009-08-11 20:08:24) Quotes! The following 11 quotes are all by me: 1- "Experiences are the keys to life." 2- "Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet." 3- "If you expect nothing then the following will happen: either 1) you will receive nothing and thus can be happy your expectations were met or 2) You will receive something and thus be happy you have received something. And.... Happiness ensues..." 4- "Step up and face your fear or you will never be what you should be." 5- "A mistake is only a mistake if you let it happen twice. Otherwise it is a learning experience. your experience." 6- "Life is painting a picture over many years with different paints and tools." 7- ""Horney concluded that love was at least a temporary escape from all her anxiety and insecurity" - Karen Horney Does anyone else think that someoe named 'Horney' shouldn't be talking about love?" 8- "Take each event in a singularity and say if time passes will any of this matter?" 9- "Plans are ideas that never come to fruition." 10- "You should only get upset about the little things cause you have no control over the big things." 11- "Causing another problem without fixing the initial problem just makes the initial problem worse as time continues" The following are classic quotes: 11- "If you lose the game you should win the analysis!" 12- "Every passing minute is a chance to turn it all around." - Vanilla Sky 13- "Life is pain my dear and anyone who says otherwise is selling something." - Princess Bride 14- "The 7ps: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance" - U.S. Military 15- "Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink!" - Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner 16- "You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea cause you forget the good idea has limits" - Warren Buffet 17- "Teach a child to be polite and courteous and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway." 18- "Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone." 19- "There is no tomorrow without the pains and pleasures of today" - Gabriel 20- "If life weren't this complicated, it would be nowhere near as fun. Why? WHY NOT!" - Catch-22 21- "When you've done things right people won't know you've done anything at all." - Futurama 22- "The right perception of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other." - Kafka's the trial 23- "the Trausi follow the normal practices of Thracians in general, except in one particular- their behaviour, namely, on the occasion of a birth or a death. When a baby is born the family sits round and mourns at the thought of the sufferings the infant must endure now that it has entered the world, and goes through the whole catalogue of human sorrows; but when somebody dies, they bury him with merriment and rejoicing, and point out how happy he now is and how many miseries he has at last escaped." -Herodotus Viv 24- "When a Persian herald demanded the surrender of arms, the king shouted back 'come here to get them'; and when he had seen that he was surrounded, he commanded his men to have a good breakfast since their dinner would be served in hell." - Herodotus 25- "I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it" 26- "Why, we don't even know what living means now, what it is, and what it is called? Leave us alone without books and we shall be lost and in confusion at once. We shall not know what to join on to, what to cling to, what to love and what to hate, what to respect and what to despise." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky Notes from the Underground 27- "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams 28- "Nobody is always a winner and anyone who says otherwise either is a liar or doesn't play poker." 29- “The darkness immutable tranquility holds sway.” - Jun’ichiro Tanizaki 30- “People who are constantly asking 'why' are like tourists who stand in front of a building reading Baedeker and are so busy reading the history of its construction, etc., that they are prevented from seeing the building.” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 31- “Either move or be moved.” - Ezra Pound 32- "The real meditation is the meditation of one's identity..... You try finding out why you're you and not somebody else. And who in the blazes are you anyhow??" - Ezra Pound. 33- “The image is more than an idea. It is a vortex or cluster of fused ideas and is endowed with energy.” - Ezra Pound 34- “The thought working its way towards the light.” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 35- “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” - Ansel Adams 36- “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” - Ansel Adams 37- "Wanting to think is one thing; having a talent for thinking is another." - Ludwig Wittgenstein 38- “Philosophers use a language that is already deformed as though by shoes that are too tight” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 39- “Nothing is more important for teaching us to understand the concepts we have than constructing fictitious ones” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 40- “don’t for heaven’s sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 41- “In a conversation: One person throws a ball; the other does not know: whether he is supposed to throw it back, or throw it to a third person, or leave it on the ground, or pick it up and put it in his pocket, etc” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 42- “I really do think with my pen, because my head often knows nothing about what my hand is writing” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 43- “What I am writing here may be feeble stuff; well, then I am just not capable of bringing the big, important thing to light. But hidden in these feeble remarks are great prospects.” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 44- “I ask countless irrelevant questions. If only I can succeed in hacking my way through this forest!” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 45- “Even to have expressed a false thought boldly and clearly is already to have gained a great deal” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 46- “Don’t concern yourself with what, presumably no one but you grasps!” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 47- “when you are philosophizing you have to descend into primeval chaos and feel at home there” - Ludwig Wittgenstein 48- "You cannot step into the same river twice." - Heraclitus 49- "Eternity is a child playing, playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child." - Heraclitus 50- "Nothing endures but change." - Heraclitus 51- "For a guest remembers all his days the hospitable man who showed him kindness." - Odyssey Book 15 Line 75 52- "Watching [GM Nigel] Short peruse the photos of young women, I had a fanciful notion that the development of specialized skills and character traits in early childhood is like a country fair in which you are alotted a fixed number of tickets to spend on the various concessions. This particular fixed number of tickets to spend on the various concessions. This particular fair is of short duration and happens only once in a lifetime. Nigel took the chess roller-coaster a dozen times, and rode the honesty ride twice, and so he had insufficient tickets left to take the Train Beyond Adolescence more than a stop or two. I myself missed the athletic concession, and I should have ridden -damn it- the chess coaster three or four times." - King's Gambit: A Son, A Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman page335 53- “I don’t know, but I do know with great precision why nobody else knows either.” - John H. Cochrane 54- "One must have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star." - Friedrich Nietsche 55- "I created chaos on the chess board and my strength lay in finding hidden harmonies. I always cultivated being at peace in chaos. manifest your unique character on the chess board." - Josh Waitzkin 56- "Leave numbers behind and ride the wave of the game." - Josh Waitzkin 57- "The weakness of an artist is dogma." - Josh Waitzkin 58- "Everything i've learned, i've eventually unlearned. I spend more time unlearning than learning. You must challenge your own micro thought constructs." - Josh Waitzkin 59- "It is like a tunnel, the deeper you get into the more you see there is to learn." - Josh Waitzkin 60- "Your emotions are there for a reason. Observe their ripple." - Josh Waitzkin 61- "The same mold, teachers have learned a certain way. great teachers should listen first." - Josh Waitzkin 62- "Change from psychology and technical errors, transition from opening prep to first middlegame decision or tactical to strategical." - Josh Waitzkin 63- "There is some part about any discipline that should appeal to any person." - Josh Waitzkin 64- "Identify thematic connections by breaking down the walls between different disciplines." - Josh Waitzkin 65- "You know your country is dying when you have to make a distinction between what is moral and ethical, and what is legal." - John de Armond 66- "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell 67- "When you stop learning you start dying." - Scott Adams 68- "If you could buy some people for what they are worth, and sell them for what they "think" they are worth, there would always be a profit margin." 69- "Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about." 70- "Life is too short to waste time hating anyone." 71- "When in doubt, just take the next small step." 72- "When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer." 73- "Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?" - Ellis 74- "If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back." 75- "Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need." 76- "There are three sides to every story: your side, their side and the truth." - Bablyon 5 77- "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." - Japanese Proverb My apologies if some of the classics are in the ficgs quote file already as I just keep my own (and pull quotes from everywhere). I tried to cull out the duplicates. Rodolfo d Ettorre (2009-08-12 04:33:35) More Quotes I life is a school, a funeral must be a graduation ceremony. Thibault de Vassal (2009-08-12 16:03:30) Good quotes ! Hi Daniel, thanks for the quotes ! I particularly like this one from you : "Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet." :o) Nick Burrows (2009-08-14 14:50:13) more quotes Don't know who the first 2 are by... 'I would rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal labotomy'! 'Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy' 'Life is the sum of all your choices' - Albert Camus 'Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first.' - Mark Twain 'An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.' - Ghandi 'In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular.' ~ Kathy Norris Daniel Parmet (2009-08-14 21:41:34) quotes welcome :) "War is the child of passion, passion is the child of narcissism and narcissism is the child. (...) Another game ? (Thibault de Vassal)" I thought it was War (Ares) & Love (Aphrodite) had the child Peace (Harmonia) who married Prince Cademus where the infamous golden apple was thrown that started the Trojan War. So War & Love found Peace through Marriage that started a War. Full circle! Alex Savu (2009-08-28 09:44:40) A favorite The heaviest burden a man can carry is an empty pocket. Don Groves (2009-09-01 08:49:32) One more... "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." -- US General George S. Patton Thibault de Vassal (2009-10-20 22:49:37) Quotes added Finally, the quotes have been added to the FICGS quotes file ! Thank you ! Nick Burrows (2009-11-05 19:25:35) a quote "Luck is the residue of design" - John Milton Philip Roe (2009-11-06 03:54:51) Luck is the residue of design Nick, I did not know that one. It is quite splendid and I thank you for it. But it may not be Milton. I tried to look it up and quotation sites attribute it to a poem of his called "At a Vacation Exercise in the College" However, it does not occur there, and the Yale book of quotation credits someone called Branch Rickey in Sporting News, Feb 21 1946. A rather different source. See http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/quotes-uncovered-who-worried-about-events/ Lazaro Munoz (2009-11-06 05:14:51) Minims I had this great little book on "Minims". Now minims is the opposite of maxims. Mimins make statements that are obvious, but funny. eg: "No man has ever achieved immortality in his own life time." "There are more things in heaven and earth than practically anywhere else." "The early worm gets eaten by the bird." Does anyone have this book? (I have long since lost my copy) And remember any of the other minims. Lazaro Munoz (2009-11-06 05:33:55) More Minims I found the authors web page http://www.tweller.com/minims/ reconnected to some of my other favorites: "A pencil with no point needs no eraser." "An apple a day makes 365 apples are a year" Nick Burrows (2009-11-06 06:56:01) "At a Vacation Exercise in the College" Hi Phillip. I had a look around also, many sources site the quote as being wrongly attributed to the baseball player Branch Rickey. The poem itself was written in Latin & English, then finished with lines of prose which are usually not published. The quote is said to come from this prose and not the main body of the poem. Philip Roe (2009-11-06 08:46:48) Milton Scholarship Nick, So you've dug deeper than I have. Fascinating. I would certainly like to see it in context. Phil Nick Burrows (2009-11-06 23:43:33) some more 'Never risk one's whole fortune unless supported by one's entire army' 'No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution' - Niccolo Machiavelli 'He who defends everything defends nothing' - Frederick the Great 'Fortune favours the audacious' - Desiderius Erasmus Don Groves (2009-11-22 08:17:52) Another from Pascal "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." -- Blaise Pascal Iouri Basiliev (2009-11-22 22:34:28) Quote festival, part 6 Two beer, or not two beer? October fest, Munchen :) Scott Nichols (2009-11-29 02:46:06) Albert Einstein Man is reluctant to give credit for intelligence to anyone, except his enemies. Scott Nichols (2009-12-05 22:43:42) Another... "A belief is an idea the mind possesses, an idea that possesses the mind." (Robert Oxden Bolton) Scott Nichols (2009-12-22 00:35:57) A couple more... Control your own destiny or someone else will. (Jack Welch) --- He who is a good ruler must first have been ruled. (Aristotle) Luc-Olivier Leclerc (2009-12-22 17:59:10) The best one @( Locking firmely the window serve nothing, only small thiefs pass there, the big thiefs, enter trought the front door )@ Luc-Olivier Leclerc.. So, how it is that ? Thibault de Vassal (2009-12-22 21:21:14) Good ones... .. and so true. Luc-Olivier Leclerc (2009-12-23 21:05:17) A second ( Player are not good because, they find tactics, it si about the way to find the position in which those tactics are hidden. ) Scott Nichols (2010-01-02 20:58:21) In Harm's Way (from the movie) "All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be someplace else." (John Wayne) Don Groves (2010-01-08 07:41:14) Quote festival, part 6 This is truly beautiful: "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." -- Maya Angelou Don Groves (2010-01-08 07:44:35) Quote festival, part 6 And so is this: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant but has forgotten the gift." -- Albert Einstein Don Burden (2010-01-14 18:45:42) Quote festival, part 6 Ah, beer! The cause of, and the solution to, all of life's problems. Homer Simpson. Thibault de Vassal (2010-01-14 19:57:37) Simpsons Very good quote & idea :) I'll find some more from the Simpsons! Nick Burrows (2010-01-14 20:27:42) Simpsons "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try." "I want to share something with you: The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here." Dan Rotaru (2010-01-19 00:42:44) Quote festival, part 6 "Over-the-board chess is the favorite of mortals, correspondence chess is the favorite of the gods." - Eduard Dyckhoff Nick Burrows (2010-01-19 01:58:46) Quote festival, part 6 "Over-the-board chess is the favorite of mortals, correspondence chess is the favorite number crunching robots who've lost their souls." Don Groves (2010-01-19 05:49:05) Quote festival, part 6 :-) Daniel Parmet (2010-01-19 20:24:55) Quote festival, part 6 Simpsons - "Do you know these so called Volunteers don't even get paid!" Daniel Parmet (2010-01-22 21:44:09) Quote festival, part 6 Check out this beauty: "Excelling at chess has long been considered a symbol of more general intelligence. That is an incorrect assumption in my view, as pleasant as it might be. But for the purposes of argument and investigation, chess is, in Russkin-Gutman's words, "an unparalleled laboratory, since both the learning process and the degree of ability obtained can be objectified and quantified, providing an excellent comparative framework on which to use rigorous analytical techniques.""-Kasparov Aliyu Bori (2010-01-24 04:21:17) Quote festival, part 6 I dont move my porns as a sacrifice cos they are not officers, i move my porns cos i anticipate them to be officers. Thibault de Vassal (2010-01-26 11:20:57) Quote festival, part 6 FICGS quotes file updated, thanks everyone :) Let's continue! Scott Nichols (2010-01-28 00:43:15) Quote festival, part 6 "Not all who wander are lost." JRR Tolkien. Don Groves (2010-01-28 05:46:37) Quote festival, part 6 One of my favorites, Scott. Glad to see you quoted it correctly. I've seen too many bumper stickers that say, "All who wander are not lost." Totally different meaning... Don Groves (2010-01-28 05:47:33) Quote festival, part 6 Isn't it time for a fresh quote thread. This is starting to require too much scrolling... Daniel Parmet (2010-01-29 15:52:43) Quote festival, part 6 "Chess is stupid. I'm a war historian. You never have all the facts in life or real war as in chess. Napoleon didn't waste his time on chess. Napoleon knew luck was more important than any genius. Chess hasn't been played since IBM solved it back in 2000 when Kas- err Karm I mean Kapov couldn't... beat it. No human has ever even drawn a computer since that match when chess was solved." - Dave Daring Scott Nichols (2010-01-30 02:02:34) Quote festival, part 6 Chess wasn't "solved", anymore than the mysteries of the universe are "solved". Obviously, Dave Daring doesn't play chess. All that happened was that a human lost to a computer at the game of chess. Did we think when calculators came out way back when, and could out calculate humans that mathematics was "solved"? Don Groves (2010-01-30 05:08:14) Quote festival, part 6 Chess can only be "solved" by discovering a line that leads to a win by black or a draw by white from the first move. Hopefully, this will never happen. Daniel Parmet (2010-01-30 06:03:13) Quote festival, part 6 you guys are missing the humor though! Scott Nichols (2010-06-01 21:31:34) Quote festival, part 6 The world is a bad place, a bad place, a terrible place to live. Oh, but I don't want to die. (the Marmalade) Thibault de Vassal (2010-06-01 22:36:23) Quote festival, part 6 "The Marmalade" ?? what's that ? :) Scott Nichols (2010-06-02 15:52:20) Quote festival, part 6 A Scottish band from the 70's, :) Scott Nichols (2010-06-02 15:54:52) Quote festival, part 6 From a song called "Reflections", check out video on Youtube, just search for Marmalade. Thibault de Vassal (2010-08-12 11:46:58) Quote festival, part 6 A few ones more? :) "Correspondence chess is not all about chess, it is about life as well." I would be surprised if noone said this one before... Steve Vollmer (2010-08-14 23:15:15) Quote festival, part 6 Luck is the residue of design. My quote Don Groves (2010-08-16 06:55:23) Quote festival, part 6 Steve -- Branch Rickey beat you to it ;-) http://www.famousquotesabout.com/quotation/Luck-is-the-residue-of-design Philip Roe (2010-08-16 08:45:30) Quote festival, part 6 Not to mention John Milton. See posts above. Steve Vollmer (2010-08-16 11:59:20) Quote festival, part 6 Sir Frances Galton: Men who leave their mark on the world are very often those who, being gifted and full of nervous power, are at the same time haunted and driven by a dominant idea, and are therefore within a measurable distance of insanity Sebastian Boehme (2010-08-17 17:38:05) Quote festival, part 6 Johann W. v. Goethe: "Chess is the touchstone of the intellect." It may already be included, but nevertheless. ;-) Jay Melquiades (2010-08-17 20:08:43) Quote festival, part 6 to err is human to forgive...FORGET ABOUT IT!!! Phil Cook (2010-08-22 02:59:44) Quote festival, part 6 If you can't find a way out,look for a way in. Rodolfo d Ettorre (2010-08-22 15:07:08) Quote festival, part 6 From a French movie, Roman de gare: "A good murder is better than a bad divorce" Dedicated to all happily married chess playes :-) Daniel Parmet (2010-08-27 09:42:06) Quote festival, part 6 -Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience. -Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. -We live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police. -The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list. -If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong. -Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. -Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason. -Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't. -I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted pay checks. -A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it. -A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. -God must love stupid people. He made SO many. -The sole purpose of a child's middle name, is so he can tell when he's really in trouble. -The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas! -You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. Don Groves (2010-08-28 04:21:08) Quote festival, part 6 Daniel: Are those your own quotes? Darn good if they are. Don Groves (2010-08-28 04:22:40) Quote festival, part 6 Q: What's the difference between a mystic and a schizophrenic? A: A mystic knows who not to talk to. Daniel Parmet (2010-08-30 07:59:57) Quote festival, part 6 Darn good quotes even if they aren't mine! Sorry, I can't claim authorship of them though I liked them hence I repeated them. You can scroll up for some of mine. Here is my grandfather's favorite quote. "You live on through your good deeds and those that people that remember and cherish those memories" - Jim Wolf Daniel Parmet (2010-09-12 03:58:09) Quote festival, part 6 http://www.chessquotes.com/ Daniel Parmet (2010-09-14 00:15:47) Quote festival, part 6 Modern chess is too concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it, checkmate ends the game. - Nigel Short Paul Valle (2010-09-19 01:13:11) Alchemy Thanks Mr. Munoz. That tip was much appreciated. "An apple a day makes 365 apples are a year". That's straight in on my top 10 list! I will add my own quote: "A major breakthrough in Alchemy! I've turned Gold into Led!" (After losing a winning position) kind regards, Paul Daniel Parmet (2010-09-20 02:13:33) Quote festival, part 6 "He who tries to defend everything actually defends nothing" Frederick the Great Daniel Parmet (2010-09-21 04:23:11) Quote festival, part 6 "The high road is always easy to find, just not always easy to take." --Patricia Potyka “You can't do anything about the wind, but you can always adjust the sails." --Dr. Bob Chope "It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong." --Henry Longfellow “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." --Wayne Dyer “The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.” --Voltaire Don Groves (2010-09-23 01:17:24) Quote festival, part 6 "The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.” -- Voltaire Who decides who has reason and who doesn't? And why is it that so many who claim to have it *cannot* seem to get along with those they claim don't have it? Reason without wisdom is just a fool trying to prove the unprovable. Daniel Parmet (2010-09-23 07:34:24) Quote festival, part 6 Why I understand your comment is just meant as an attack on me. I think you're better off putting that attack in the appropriate thread instead of trying to derail this one. Don Groves (2010-09-23 07:52:01) Quote festival, part 6 My comment was intended as a general comment about Voltaire's quote which you published in *this* thread. It was in no way aimed at any individual. Don Groves (2010-09-23 07:57:36) Quote festival, part 6 If I was "attacking" anything it's the idea that reason is the greatest human achievement. There are a great many important things in life that are unreasonable. Daniel Parmet (2010-09-23 07:59:05) Quote festival, part 6 Then I apologize. I like the Voltaire quote but like most things Voltaire says, I think its dripping with sardonic flavor (if you have read Candide). The problem in my mind is that reason comes and goes with all people. No one seems to always possess reason or common sense. The problem philosophically speaking can be addressed in any number of ways. Skeptically, you can ask if one could EVER claim to have reason. Etymologically, as you have done, one can pose the question of whether you can ever have reason. And the third problem, which consequently solves the 2nd problem, is linguistically. Here, you might look to someone like Wittgenstein who would ask the question of whether you need to specifically define the concept. Can you leave the concept open ended where it merely attempts to address a relative issue we can all pretend to agree on. In this case, you will notice that this is how language actually operates except when people like to get overly serious or detail oriented. For example, if someone says "that is reasonable" you would know what they MEANT whether you agreed with them or not. It does not need to be laboriously defined that said action, thought or word was in fact the exact embodiment of "reason." Daniel Parmet (2010-09-23 08:00:01) Quote festival, part 6 sorry that should say whether you can ever have a DEFINITION of reason. Daniel Parmet (2010-09-23 08:01:14) Quote festival, part 6 I actually heard one of the worst quotes ever tonight. One of my professors said JP Morgan said, "I don't even know what the 7 wonders of the world are. I just know if there was an 8th wonder of the world it would be compounding interest." Don Groves (2010-09-23 08:07:10) Quote festival, part 6 Seems like we agree then. There are things that can be reasoned about and there are other things that cannot. Part of wisdom is knowing which is which. And, as Wittgenstein said, that which we cannot reason about we should not speak of at all -- at least in a reasonable way. That's what metaphor, paradox, and parable are for. We may not be able to define certain things rationally, but we can hint at them. Don Groves (2010-09-23 08:09:22) Quote festival, part 6 I think the JP Morgans of today would add fractional reserve banking as the 9th wonder. Scott Nichols (2010-09-24 15:02:59) Quote festival, part 6 "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much." (Oscar Wilde) Don Groves (2010-09-24 20:36:32) Quote festival, part 6 I always get a chuckle out of that one, Scott :-) Daniel Parmet (2010-09-27 21:38:34) Quote festival, part 6 "The beginning is the most important part of the work" - Plato "Nothing is more unpleasant than virtuous person with a mean mind" Walter Bagehot "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie "Necessity never made a good bargain" Benjamin Franklin "Good People are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know" William Saroyan "In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it." - Robert Heinlein "A satirist is a man who discovers unpleasant things about himself and then says them about other people." Peter McArthur
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