#cat

Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil. ↗

— Niccolò Machiavelli

#power #wisdom-in-war #nature

As regards moral courage, then, it is not so much that the public schools support it feebly, as that they suppress it firmly. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#homeschool #homeschooling #learning #courage

Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend, the cold, obscure shelter where moult the wings which will bear it farther than suns and stars. He who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from travelling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions. "In the morning, — solitude;" said Pythagoras; that Nature may speak to the imagination, as she does never in company, and that her favorite may make acquaintance with those divine strengths which disclose themselves to serious and abstracted thought. 'Tis very certain that Plato, Plotinus, Archimedes, Hermes, Newton, Milton, Wordsworth, did not live in a crowd, but descended into it from time to time as benefactors: and the wise instructor will press this point of securing to the young soul in the disposition of time and the arrangements of living, periods and habits of solitude. ↗

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

#genius #learning #solitude #education

My name is Two Dogs Wink While Chewing. It’s not an Indian name, nor one that reflects my cat-loving nature. 
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#dogs #love

Oromis - What is the most important mental tool a person can possess? Eragon - Detrrmination. Oromis - [...] no. I meant the tool most necessary to choose the best course of action in any given situation. Determination is as common among men who are dull and foolish as it is among those who are brilliant intellects [...] Eragon - Wisdom, wisdom is the most important for a person to possess. Oromis- A fair guess, but, again, no. the answer is logic. Or, to put it another way, the ability to reason analytically.Applied properly it can overcome any lack of wisdom, which one only gains through age and experience. Eragon - yes but isn't having a good heart more important than logic. pure logic can lead you to conclusions that are ethically wrong, whereas if you are moral and righteous, that will ensure you don't act shamefully. Oromis - you confuse the issue. All I wanted to know isq what is the most useful 'tool'ma person can have [...] I agree that it is important to be of a virtous nature, but I would also conted that if you had to choose between giving a man a noble disposition or teaching him to think clearly, you'd do better to teach him to think clearly. Too many problems in this world are caused by men with noble dispositions and clouded minds. ↗

— Christopher Paolini

#age

Zoos are becoming facsimiles - or perhaps caricatures - of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all. ↗

— Michael J. Fox

#caricatures #habitat #how #natural #nature

The nature of the universe probably depends heavily on who is the actual protagonist. Lately I've been suspecting it's one of my cats. ↗

— Wil McCarthy

#nature-of-things #point-of-view #protagonists #universe #nature

...at dawn, the grains of sleep turn to floating black spots, then out of focus the world tilts, and the cat scratches at the door... ↗

— John Geddes

#dawn #nature #poetry #sleep #the-world

Tyrion felt the heat rise in him. “It was not my dagger,” he insisted. “How many times must I swear to that? Lady Stark, whatever you may believe of me, I am not a stupid man. Only a fool would arm a common footpad with his own blade.” Just for a moment, he thought he saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes, but what she said was, “Why would Petyr lie to me?” “Why does a bear shit in the woods?” he demanded. “Because it is his nature. Lying comes as easily as breathing to a man like Littlefinger. You ought to know that, you of all people. ↗

— George R.R. Martin

#tyrion-lannister #nature

Press conference [on the movie Carrington] yielded the usual crop of daftness. I've been asked if I related personally to Carrington's tortured relationship with sex and replied that no, not really, I'd had a very pleasant time since I was fifteen. This elicited very disapproving copy from the Brits ... No wonder people think we don't have sex in England. ↗

— Emma Thompson

#dora-carrington #expectations #identification #inhibitions #morality