“It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
—adage
January 2011
52 posts
“Maybe you spend your whole life panicked about death, and mortality, and when it happens, to you, or around you, you just fucking deal with it, naturally.”
—Uncle Fishbits
“I don’t want to believe. I want to know.”
—Carl Sagan
“Missionary work, aka going to beautiful, far off places & poisoning existing cultures with a flawed & dangerous world view”
—Uncle Fishbits
“I’ve always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it’s a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don’t do much giggling.”
—Hunter S. Thompson
“A word to the wise is infuriating.”
—Hunter S. Thompson
“Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in the mirror.”
— Kahlil Gibran
“From King Lear: “Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! Why dost thou lash that whore?… Thou hotly lust’st to use her in that kind, for which thou whip’st her.” This is why, whenever I hear some bigmouth in Washington or the Christian heartland banging on about the evils of sodomy or whatever, I mentally enter his name in my notebook and contentedly set my watch. Sooner rather than later, he will be discovered down on his weary and well-worn old knees in some dreary motel or latrine, with an expired Visa card, having tried to pay well over the odds to be peed upon by some Apache transvestite.”
—Christopher Hitchens
“Evil is the root of all evil. Money is just a biproduct. It’s a symptom.”
—Uncle Fishbits
“If you have never yourself had the experience of feeling that you are yoked to the great steam engine of history, then allow me to inform you that the conviction is a very intoxicating one.”
—Christopher Hitchens
“Old Man: You paint the wall. You make it look beautiful.
Banksy: Thanks.
Old Man: We don’t want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall, go home.” —At the Segregation Wall in Palestine with Banksy
Banksy: Thanks.
Old Man: We don’t want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall, go home.” —At the Segregation Wall in Palestine with Banksy
“We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.”
—Banksy
“We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.”
—Banksy
“A wall has always been the best place to publish your work.”
—Banksy
“A wall has always been the best place to publish your work.”
—Banksy
“I have given the evidence to the best of my ability. We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system - with all these exalted powers - Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”
— - Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 1871
“I have given the evidence to the best of my ability. We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system - with all these exalted powers - Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”
— - Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 1871
“One of the characteristics that sets man apart from all the other animals (and animal he indubitably is) is a need for knowledge for its own sake. Many animals are curious, but in them curiosity is a facet of adaptation. Man has a hunger to know. And to many a man, being endowed with the capacity to know, he has a duty to know. All knowledge, however small, however irrelevant to progress and well being, is a part of the whole. It is of this the scientist partakes. To know the fly is to share a bit in the sublimity of Knowledge. That is the challenge and joy of essence.”
— - Vincent Dethier,
“One of the characteristics that sets man apart from all the other animals (and animal he indubitably is) is a need for knowledge for its own sake. Many animals are curious, but in them curiosity is a facet of adaptation. Man has a hunger to know. And to many a man, being endowed with the capacity to know, he has a duty to know. All knowledge, however small, however irrelevant to progress and well being, is a part of the whole. It is of this the scientist partakes. To know the fly is to share a bit in the sublimity of Knowledge. That is the challenge and joy of essence.”
— - Vincent Dethier,
“I’ve been caught, so to speak - like someone who was given something wonderful when he was a child, and he’s always looking for it again. I’m always looking, like a child, for the wonders I know I ‘m going to find - maybe not every time, but every once in awhile.”
— Richard Feynman
“I’ve been caught, so to speak - like someone who was given something wonderful when he was a child, and he’s always looking for it again. I’m always looking, like a child, for the wonders I know I ‘m going to find - maybe not every time, but every once in awhile.”
— Richard Feynman
FACT OF THE DAY: Most of the laugh tracks you hear on television were recorded in the 1950s, which means a lot of the people you hear laughing are dead.
“Science is founded on the conviction that experience, effort, and reason are valid; magic on the belief that hope cannot fail nor desire deceive.”
— - Branislaw Malinowski, Magic, Science, and Religion (1948
“Science is founded on the conviction that experience, effort, and reason are valid; magic on the belief that hope cannot fail nor desire deceive.”
— - Branislaw Malinowski, Magic, Science, and Religion (1948
“
I just go idle, off grid. It’s much more mature, I believe, to let a lonely account fester in non content generating oblivion, rather than to be some reactionary with some e-fatwah to condemn …..damned ….site …..to …….HELL! Or whatever.
If that makes sense. I am more of a fence sitter, and doubt myself a lot. So anything I think I would quit? You know I’ll be back. Anything I tell myself I can’t do has me rebelling unanimously.
” —Fishbits
“
I just go idle, off grid. It’s much more mature, I believe, to let a lonely account fester in non content generating oblivion, rather than to be some reactionary with some e-fatwah to condemn …..damned ….site …..to …….HELL! Or whatever.
If that makes sense. I am more of a fence sitter, and doubt myself a lot. So anything I think I would quit? You know I’ll be back. Anything I tell myself I can’t do has me rebelling unanimously.
” —Fishbits
“
Quis custodiet
ipsos custodes.
“Who will watch the watchers”
” — Latin Proverb
“
Quis custodiet
ipsos custodes.
“Who will watch the watchers”
” — Latin Proverb
“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”
— C.G. Jung; Memories, Dreams, Reflections
“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”
— C.G. Jung; Memories, Dreams, Reflections
“The discussion about gun control we need to have isn’t about responsible gun owners involved in the conversation, it’s about all the people that make responsible gun ownership in the United States an impossibly dangerous paradox.”
—Uncle Fishbits
“Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster,
and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
“Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster,
and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.
— Albert Einstein” —
— Albert Einstein” —
“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.
— Albert Einstein” —
— Albert Einstein” —
“Real life is messy, inconsistent, and it’s seldom when anything ever really gets resolved. It’s taken me a long time to realize that.”
— Hollis Mason
“Real life is messy, inconsistent, and it’s seldom when anything ever really gets resolved. It’s taken me a long time to realize that.”
— Hollis Mason
“This was my country and it may be yet,
But something came between it and the sun.” — Edmund Blunden (attributed)
But something came between it and the sun.” — Edmund Blunden (attributed)
“This was my country and it may be yet,
But something came between it and the sun.” — Edmund Blunden (attributed)
But something came between it and the sun.” — Edmund Blunden (attributed)
“If there isn’t a picture of you nude, or in a compromising situation, on the internet, just …… wait.”
—Uncle Fishbits
“Q: If the Russians and Germany both attack Poland again, who do you shoot first?
A: The Germans. Business before pleasure.” —Polish joke (interchangeable)
A: The Germans. Business before pleasure.” —Polish joke (interchangeable)
“Q: If the Russians and Germany both attack Poland again, who do you shoot first?
A: The Germans. Business before pleasure.” —Polish joke (interchangeable)
A: The Germans. Business before pleasure.” —Polish joke (interchangeable)
“Today I want to puke when I hear the word “radical” applied so slothfully and stupidly to Islamist murderers; the most plainly reactionary people in the world.”
— Christopher Hitchens
“Today I want to puke when I hear the word “radical” applied so slothfully and stupidly to Islamist murderers; the most plainly reactionary people in the world.”
— Christopher Hitchens
“It’s the height of bad manners to sleep with somebody less than three times.”
— - Mark Boxer
“It’s the height of bad manners to sleep with somebody less than three times.”
— - Mark Boxer
“Anyone that has any reasonable expectation of privacy shouldn’t turn on a phone or computer. Privacy settings on Facebook are sort of like the seat reclining on airplanes. It’s a perceived value add. You may think it does something and justifies the uncomfortable aspects of the flight, but it’s just there to trick you into thinking you have more comfort than is really available.”
—Uncle Fishbits
