His voice was a curious mixture of the rough and the educated so that is was hard to place him - as though neither style seemed quite natural to him, somehow. - The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham.
For women, word play is foreplay. How else would Woody Allen get laid?
Young people today are by default rude, loud, stubborn, and extremely stupid yet for some reason they're proud of it because they think it makes them look 'rebellious' rather than barbaric.
Even admitting for the sake of argument, the possibility of scientific improvements being ever brought to that pass which will enable a gentleman to eat his own head in the event of being so disposed. - My Favourite Dickens Quote (from Oliver Twist)
Monday, 12 July 2010
On Bozo from 'Down And Out In Paris And London' by George Orwell
The son of a bankrupt bookseller, he had gone to work as a house-painter at eighteen, and then served three years in France and India during the war. After the war he had found a house-painting job in Paris, and had stayed there several years. France suited him better than England (he despised the English), and he had been doing well in Paris, saving money, and engaged to a French girl. One day the girl was crushed to death under the wheels of an omnibus. Bozo went on the drink for a week, and then returned to work, rather shaky; the same morning he fell from a stage on which he was working, forty feet on to the pavement, and smashed his right foot to pulp. For some reason he received only sixty pounds compensation. He returned to England, spent his money in looking for jobs, tried hawking books in Middlesex Street market, then tried selling toys from a tray, and finally settled down as a screever. He had lived hand to mouth ever since, half starved throughout the winter, and often sleeping in the spike or on the Embankment.
When I knew him he owned nothing but the clothes he stood up in, and his drawing materials and a few books. The clothes were the usual beggar's rags, but he wore a collar and tie, of which he was rather proud. The collar, a year or more old, was constantly 'going' round the neck, and Bozo used to patch it with bits cut from the tail of his shirt so that the shirt had scarcely any tail left. His damaged leg was getting worse and would probably have to be amputated, and his knees, from kneeling on the stones, had pads of skin on them as thick as boot-soles. There was, clearly, no future for him but beggary and a death in the workhouse.
With all this, he had neither fear, nor regret, nor shame, nor self-pity. He had faced his position, and made a philosophy for himself. Being a beggar, he said, was not his fault, and he refused either to have any compunction about it or to let it trouble him. He was the enemy of society, and quite ready to take to crime if he saw a good opportunity. He refused on principle to be thrifty. In the summer he saved nothing, spending his surplus earnings on drink, as he did not care about women. If he was penniless when winter came on, then society must look after him. He was ready to extract every penny he could from charity, provided that he was not expected to say thank you for it. He avoided religious charities, however, for he said it stuck in his throat to sing hymns for buns. He had various other points of honour; for instance, it was his boast that never in his life, even when starving, had he picked up a cigarette end. He considered himself in a class above the ordinary run of beggars, who, he said, were an abject lot, without even the decency to be ungrateful.
He spoke French passably, and had read some of Zola's novels, all Shakespeare's plays, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, and a number of essays. He could describe his adventures in words that one remembered. For instance, speaking of funerals, he said to me:
'Have you-ever seen a corpse burned? I have, in India. They put the old chap on the fire, and the next moment I almost jumped out of my skin, because he'd started kicking. It was only his muscles contracting in the heat--still, it give me a turn. Well, he wriggled about for a bit like a kipper on hot coals, and then his belly blew up and went off with a bang you could have heard fifty yards away. It fair put me against cremation.'
Or, again, apropos of his accident:
'The doctor says to me, "You fell on one foot, my man. And bloody lucky for you you didn't fall on both feet," he says. "Because if you had of fallen on both feet you'd have shut up like a bloody concertina, and your thigh bones'd be sticking out of your ears!"'
Clearly the phrase was not the doctor's but Bozo's own. He had a gift for phrases. He had managed to keep his brain intact and alert, and so nothing could make him succumb to poverty. He might be ragged and cold, or even starving, but so long as he could read, think, and watch for meteors, he was, as he said, free in his own mind.
He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him), and took a sort of pleasure in thinking that human affairs would never improve. Sometimes, he said, when sleeping on the Embankment, it had consoled him to look up at Mars or Jupiter and think that there were probably Embankment sleepers there. He had a curious theory about this. Life on earth, he said, is harsh because the planet is poor in the necessities of existence. Mars, with its cold climate and scanty water, must be far poorer, and life correspondingly harsher. Whereas on earth you are merely imprisoned for stealing sixpence, on Mars you are probably boiled alive. This thought cheered Bozo, I do not know why. He was a very exceptional man.
When I knew him he owned nothing but the clothes he stood up in, and his drawing materials and a few books. The clothes were the usual beggar's rags, but he wore a collar and tie, of which he was rather proud. The collar, a year or more old, was constantly 'going' round the neck, and Bozo used to patch it with bits cut from the tail of his shirt so that the shirt had scarcely any tail left. His damaged leg was getting worse and would probably have to be amputated, and his knees, from kneeling on the stones, had pads of skin on them as thick as boot-soles. There was, clearly, no future for him but beggary and a death in the workhouse.
With all this, he had neither fear, nor regret, nor shame, nor self-pity. He had faced his position, and made a philosophy for himself. Being a beggar, he said, was not his fault, and he refused either to have any compunction about it or to let it trouble him. He was the enemy of society, and quite ready to take to crime if he saw a good opportunity. He refused on principle to be thrifty. In the summer he saved nothing, spending his surplus earnings on drink, as he did not care about women. If he was penniless when winter came on, then society must look after him. He was ready to extract every penny he could from charity, provided that he was not expected to say thank you for it. He avoided religious charities, however, for he said it stuck in his throat to sing hymns for buns. He had various other points of honour; for instance, it was his boast that never in his life, even when starving, had he picked up a cigarette end. He considered himself in a class above the ordinary run of beggars, who, he said, were an abject lot, without even the decency to be ungrateful.
He spoke French passably, and had read some of Zola's novels, all Shakespeare's plays, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, and a number of essays. He could describe his adventures in words that one remembered. For instance, speaking of funerals, he said to me:
'Have you-ever seen a corpse burned? I have, in India. They put the old chap on the fire, and the next moment I almost jumped out of my skin, because he'd started kicking. It was only his muscles contracting in the heat--still, it give me a turn. Well, he wriggled about for a bit like a kipper on hot coals, and then his belly blew up and went off with a bang you could have heard fifty yards away. It fair put me against cremation.'
Or, again, apropos of his accident:
'The doctor says to me, "You fell on one foot, my man. And bloody lucky for you you didn't fall on both feet," he says. "Because if you had of fallen on both feet you'd have shut up like a bloody concertina, and your thigh bones'd be sticking out of your ears!"'
Clearly the phrase was not the doctor's but Bozo's own. He had a gift for phrases. He had managed to keep his brain intact and alert, and so nothing could make him succumb to poverty. He might be ragged and cold, or even starving, but so long as he could read, think, and watch for meteors, he was, as he said, free in his own mind.
He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him), and took a sort of pleasure in thinking that human affairs would never improve. Sometimes, he said, when sleeping on the Embankment, it had consoled him to look up at Mars or Jupiter and think that there were probably Embankment sleepers there. He had a curious theory about this. Life on earth, he said, is harsh because the planet is poor in the necessities of existence. Mars, with its cold climate and scanty water, must be far poorer, and life correspondingly harsher. Whereas on earth you are merely imprisoned for stealing sixpence, on Mars you are probably boiled alive. This thought cheered Bozo, I do not know why. He was a very exceptional man.
Some More Quotes
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent. - Buddhism Quote
Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone by others. Consider only what by oneself is done or left undone. - Buddhism Quote
Leave as many choices open to yourself as possible. Don’t make decisions unless it is essential and don’t take a path before you need to go anywhere.
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. - From the movie Fight Club, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - Gandalf
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom. - Gandalf
People can excel doing what they love be it physics or art. Genius is often born out of obsession, Hendrix practised, Einstein read. Without scientists we would have no modern society. They push man forward but the same can be said for the common labourer. Our society is dependent on us all and both deserve happiness equally regardless of elitist attitudes or importance of positions. To say one deserves joy more than the other is garbage.
I've been supporting people's work in my own way whenever I can. Money isn't the solution, it's a problem, and we've got to slowly work through it until we can beat the system, and move on.
This reinforces the culture of suspicion, fear and mistrust that underlies a great deal of present-day society. It teaches children that they should regard every adult as a potential murderer or rapist. Phillip Pullman
Things that other people have created but I use to express my individuality. – Stewie Griffin
The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. - Leonardo Da Vinci
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. - Carl W. Buechner
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. - Anonymous (Greek Proverb)
Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened. - Winston Churchill
He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. - Lao Tzu
The happiest person in the world is the one who thinks the most interesting thoughts. - Timothy Dwight.
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together - George Eliot.
Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labour and thought.- Alexander Hamilton.
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognises genius. - Sr Arthur Conan Doyle.
There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. - Christopher Morley
I think Charles Aznavour sums it up best when he says Poverty is not so tough when the sun is out. That’s definitely true!
Men of lofty genius are most active when they are doing the least work. - Leonardo da Vinci
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. - Anon
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. – Aristotle
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive! - Elbert Hubbard
Pay attention to idiots. They show you what not to do.
Success is buried in the garden of failure. – Rick Wakeman
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes - the ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them,quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. - Jack Kerouac
Beginning to see life as it really was, a series of illusions that only the scientists can strip away. I wanted to see this hidden world, to lift the veil and hold the secrets of existence in the palm of my hand. – Young Poisoner’s Handbook
Some Random Quotes
It then very soon became clear that the response of a war against terrorism, initially conceived of in a metaphorical sense, began to be taken increasingly seriously and came to entail waging a real war. - Ulrich Beck
Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination. - Daniel Bell
The intellectual takes as a starting point his self and relates the world to his own sensibilities; the scientist accepts an existing field of knowledge and seeks to map out the unexplored terrain. - Daniel Bell
Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned. – His Holiness the Dalai Lama
As our awareness of this truth awakens, so does our awareness of compassion.
A Buddhist tries to look upon suffering not as something necessarily "bad," but as an opportunity to learn and grow.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. - Confucius
Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination. - Daniel Bell
The intellectual takes as a starting point his self and relates the world to his own sensibilities; the scientist accepts an existing field of knowledge and seeks to map out the unexplored terrain. - Daniel Bell
Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned. – His Holiness the Dalai Lama
As our awareness of this truth awakens, so does our awareness of compassion.
A Buddhist tries to look upon suffering not as something necessarily "bad," but as an opportunity to learn and grow.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. - Confucius
Rise Of The Idiots - Dan Ashcroft
Once, the idiots were just the fools gawping in through the windows. Now they've entered the building. You can hear them everywhere. They use the word "cool". It is their favourite word. The idiot does not think about what it is saying. Thinking is rubbish. And rubbish isn't cool. 'Stuff and shit' is cool. The idiots are self-regarding consumer slaves, oblivious to the paradox of their uniform individuality. They sculpt their hair to casual perfection, they wear their waistbands below their balls, they babble into hand-held twit machines about that cool email of the woman being bummed by a wolf. Their cool friend made it. He's an idiot too. Welcome to the age of stupidity. Hail to the rise of the idiots.
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