Quotations

Bruce Sterling, on history

The Browser — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:08:34 +0000

Bruce Sterling, on history

"If futurism is visionary, history is revisionary"

Marc Hanna, on politics

The Browser — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:57:51 +0000

Marc Hanna, on politics

"There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can't remember what the second one is"

Barney Frank, on JP Morgan's $2bn trading loss

The Browser — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:35:49 +0000

Barney Frank, on JP Morgan's $2bn trading loss

"JP Morgan Chase, entirely without any help from the government has lost, in this one set of transactions, five times the amount they claim financial regulation is costing them"

Harry Truman, on negotiating

The Browser — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:10:43 +0000

Harry Truman, on negotiating

"It's amazing what you can achieve if you don't care who gets the credit"

Charles Rosen, on nostalgia

The Browser — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:55:29 +0000

Charles Rosen, on nostalgia

"Nostalgia and freedom are linked concepts. The idea of freedom is usually a vision of a paradise lost"

Peter Singer, on reasoning

The Browser — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:40:41 +0000

Peter Singer, on reasoning

"If we do not understand what an escalator is, we might get on it intending to go a few meters, only to find that once we are on, it is difficult to avoid going all the way to the end. Similarly, once reasoning has got started it is hard to tell where it will stop"

J.L. Borges on poets

The Browser — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:40:19 +0000

J.L. Borges on poets

"When one calls a poet 'Mister', it means Mister So-and-so who has found his way into poetry and has no right to be there"

David Rieff, on democracy

The Browser — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:39:53 +0000

David Rieff, on democracy

"Once one declares that democracy, for all its faults, is the highest form of contemporary political civilisation, one is talking religion, not politics"

Charles de Gaulle, on France

The Browser — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:35:50 +0000

Charles de Gaulle, on France

"How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese?"

Augusten Burroughs, on happiness

The Browser — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:29:38 +0000

Augusten Burroughs, on happiness

"Joy is a fleeting emotion, like a very long sneeze"

Eric Puchner, on parenthood

The Browser — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:50:30 +0000

Eric Puchner, on parenthood

"If someone asked me to prove my undying love for my daughter, I would tell him that I have pretended to be over 50 different Pokémon characters. I have watched an entire Pokémon Advanced Battle DVD, which is essentially like roasting your soul on a spit"

Darryl Pinckney, on black history

The Browser — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:29:34 +0000

Darryl Pinckney, on black history

"Although black people are in the mainstream, black history isn’t, because basic things about the history of being black in America have to be explained again and again"

Venkatesh Rao, on civilisation

The Browser — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:51:24 +0000

Venkatesh Rao, on culture

"Civilisation is the process of turning the incomprehensible into the arbitrary"

Billy Wilder, on screenwriting

The Browser — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:49:01 +0000

Billy Wilder, on screenwriting

"If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act"

Avishai Margalit, on compromise

The Browser — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:45:09 +0000

Avishai Margalit, on compromise

“Ideals tell us what we would like to be, but compromises tell us who we are"

David Graeber, on communism

The Browser — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:33:41 +0000

David Graeber, on communism

"Communism is not some ideal that might exist at some point in the future. It’s the way most of us act with people we really care about all the time"

John Girdwood, on rhetoric

The Browser — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:07:46 +0000

John Girdwood, on rhetoric

"There are three major political languages in America: liberalism, republicanism, and biblical thought"

Tim Parks, on Milan

The Browser — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:31:49 +0000

Tim Parks, on Milan

"There’s always a fine sadness about Milan’s economic power, as if this isn’t quite what Italians would ever want a city to be"

Adam Gopnik, on Nicolas Sarkozy

The Browser — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:02:18 +0000

Adam Gopnik, on Nicolas Sarkozy

"People will forgive a short man with a beautiful wife if he seems sufficiently surprised; Sarkozy seemed merely showy"

Jon Stewart, on Rupert Murdoch

The Browser — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:58:25 +0000

Jon Stewart, on Rupert Murdoch

"My God! This scandal goes all the way to the bottom!"