#lit

In religion as in politics it so happens that we have less charity for those who believe half our creed, than for those who deny the whole of it. ↗

— Charles Caleb Colton

#charity #creed #deny #half #happens

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#complaisance #faith #freedom #neither #nor

Like it or not, philosophy or intellectual activity in ancient China was distinguished from manual labor, and thus philosophical texts were not only political in nature (because they normally addressed the issue of good government and social order) but also “esoteric.” They were not meant to contribute to general education, but to be studied only by a small fraction of the population, i.e., by those who had access to learning and power. If we want to understand the Laozi historically, we have to accept this context and thus also the fact that, as a philosophical treatise, it did not attempt to be generally accessible. It was originally a text for the few—and it clearly shows. ↗

— Hans-Georg Moeller

#elitism #education

I think the thing that has made it possible for me to write personal songs and sing them year after year is the sensibility for good writing. Just opening your veins all over the paper is not necessarily going to be interesting. I wanted to speak to people. ↗

— Shawn Colvin

#going #good #good writing #i #i think

I printed a list of Irish names from the Internet and my husband, Dave, saw Finley on the list. I really liked it but didn't want to scare Dave off with my enthusiasm. So I used a little reverse psychology and let him think it was his idea. ↗

— Holly Marie Combs

#enthusiasm #finley #him #his #husband

The most meaningful engine of change, powerful enough to confront corporate power, may be not so much environmental quality, as the economic development and growth associated with the effort to improve it. ↗

— Barry Commoner

#change #confront #corporate #development #economic

We also own a little boat and I'm like a kid with it. I take off early in the morning, fishing rod in tow, and just drift about the ocean all day. ↗

— Perry Como

#all day #also #boat #day #drift

Each honest calling, each walk of life, has its own elite, its own aristocracy based on excellence of performance. ↗

— James Bryant Conant

#based #calling #each #elite #excellence

I know a little more about Kinsey than I know about sex because that is his subject not mine. ↗

— Bill Condon

#because #his #i #kinsey #know

I set our house on fire when I was a little child playing with lighters. Boy, did I burn the place down! ↗

— Flavor Flav

#burn #child #did #down #fire