Reading Clippings

En ce qui concerne les nazis, mon nez n’hésita pas. Il était inutile de se fatiguer à parler pour savoir lesquels de leurs prétendus buts et intentions valaient une discussion, ou du moins présentaient une “justification historique”, étant donné l’odeur qu’exhalait l’ensemble. Histoire d’un Allemand. Sebastian Haffner

Non, tout compte fait, ce gouvernement n’était pas un motif d’inquiétude. […]. Le lendemain, il s’avéra que ce pronostic était aussi celui de la presse intelligente. Il est curieux que la lecture en paraissent encore convaincante aujourd’hui, alors que l’on sait ce qui s’est passé. Comment les choses ont-elles pu prendre un cours aussi différent ? Histoire d’un Allemand - Sebastian Haffner

MAXIMUM HAPPY IMAGINATION “… CALLED SINGULARITY SINGLES,” Kat Potente is saying. She’s wearing the same red and yellow BAM! T-shirt from before, which means (a) she slept in it, (b) she owns several identical T-shirts, or (c) she’s a cartoon character—all of which are appealing alternatives. Robin Sloan - Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore

I cannot help feeling, Phaedrus, [says Socrates] that writing is unfortunately like painting; for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life, and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence… You would imagine that they had intelligence, but if you want to know anything and put a question to one of them, the speakers always gives one unvarying answer. Plato, reported by James Gleick, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood

It has not yet become obvious to me that there is no real problem. I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem. Richard Feynman, about quantum physics - Speech at MIT in 1981

Peter Landsberg wrote its obituary this way: “Maxwell’s demon died at the age of 62 (when a paper by Leó Szilárd appeared), but it continues to haunt the castles of physics as a restless and lovable poltergeist”. James Gleick - The Information

Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth. An Enemy of the People, 1882 - Henrik Ibsen

Take care to look wisdom in every feature; speak but little, and let it be impossible that little should be understood; let every hint, every shrug be carefully calculated to give the hearers a wonderful opinion of your learning and experience. In your half-heard and mysterious conversation with your medical inferior, do not forget to drop a few observations upon “the animal oeconomy”, “circulation of the blood”, “acrimony”, “the non-naturals”, “stricture upon the parts”, “acute pain”, “inflammatory heat”, “nervous irritability”, and those technical traps that fascinate the hearers, and renders the patient yours adlibitum. William Taplin - AEsculapian Labyrinth