Quote Only Thread

[Allegro]

The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another. …Some of these situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others: but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardour which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice.… [Refer Google Books.]

[Allegro]

Jazz is the most astounding spontaneous musical event to take place anywhere since the Reformation. [Refer.] [Virgil Thomson]

[Jeff]

The shadow which our technological civilization casts is that of Lilith, 'the Maid of Desolation' who dances in the ruins of cities. Now that we have made a single polluted city of the entire world, she is preparing to dance in the ruins of our planetary megalopolis. When man will not deal with Isis, through the path of initiation, he must deal with Lilith. The coming years will be an explanation of this ancient myth.

[brainpanhandler]

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

[Allegro]

Now, it is true that the nature of society is to create, among its citizens, an illusion of safety; but it is also absolutely true that the safety is always necessarily an illusion. Artists are here to disturb the peace.[Wikipedia][Wikiquote]

[Gouda]

I'm all for moderation, but sometimes it seems
Moderation itself can be a kind of extreme

~ Andrew Bird

[Simulist]

From here:

"We must keep the people busy with political antagonisms. We'll therefore speed up the question of reform [of tariffs within] the Democratic Party; and we'll put the spotlight on the question of protection ...[for] the Republican Party. By dividing the electorate this way, we'll be able to have them spend their energies at struggling amongst themselves on questions that, for us, have no importance whatsoever."

United States Bankers magazine, 1892

Thanks to Bruce Dazzling.

[The Consul]

If you want to know where I stand on the issues, I’ll tell you after you give away your toaster.

- Dr. Igor Shitpansky

[vanlose kid]

Agreed. Sounds to me like someone who thinks "peak oil" means running out of oil. That's not even what peak oil is about. When you have corporations looking for a profit, who in the fuck do you think is going to drill a well of heavy crude to not make any money? NOBODY.
The oil is there, the profit is not, hence peak oil.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/puttin ... est-bubble

*

[vanlose kid]

“And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think the following rule would be found generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon—so long as there is no answer to it— gives claws to the weak.”

-- George Orwell.

*

[Allegro]

This world is divided roughly into three kinds of nations: those that spend lots of money to keep their weight down; those whose people eat to live; and those whose people don’t know where their next meal is coming from. [Refer Google Books.]

[Bruce Dazzling]

By definition, Empire is a bloody, barbaric, murderous, endlessly cruel business. That is the business Obama wanted to run, and now he does.

~ Arthur Silber

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/20 ... ained.html

[barracuda]

There ain't no answer. There ain't gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That's the answer.

- Gertrude Stein

[justdrew]

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

[justdrew]

Spoiler:Perhaps you are wondering what my intentions were with you and Manuela, placing you in one of our experiment rooms. Will you believe me if I tell you I had no intentions at all? Except to help you.
As you saw, the building behind your rooms had been vacated. Some time ago we were forced to transfer our activities to a more out-of-the-way place. We must take great care. Besides, our economic resources are limited. We are financed entirely by private means.
I'm not a monster, Abel. What you have seen are the first faltering steps of a necessary and logical development. I know you have told Inspector Bauer of your experiences. I also know that justice, represented by the plodding inspector, has begun to move, slow and creaking. He'll be here soon with his police and his rusty guns. But in a few moments, I'll bite on this cyanide capsule. I did consider burning the archives and destroying the results of our work, but it seemed too melodramatic. The law will confiscate our results and then file them. In a few years, science will ask for the documents and will continue our experiments on a gigantic scale.
We are ahead of our time, Abel. We are to be sacrificed. It's only logical.
In a day or two, maybe even tomorrow, the national units in South Germany will attempt a revolt led by an incredible scatterbrain called Adolf Hitler. It will be a colossal fiasco. Herr Hitler lacks intellectual capacity and method. He doesn't realize what tremendous forces he is about to conjure up. He will be swept away like a withered leaf the day the storm breaks. Look at that picture. Look at all those people. They are incapable of a revolution. They are far too humiliated, too afraid, too downtrodden. But in ten years... By then... the 10-year-olds will be 20, the 15-year-olds will be 25. To the hatred inherited from their parents, they will add their own idealism and impatience. Someone will step forward and put their unspoken feelings into words. Someone will promise a future. Someone will make demands. Someone will talk of greatness and sacrifice. The young and inexperienced will give their courage and their faith to the tired and the uncertain. And then there will be a revolution, and our world will go down in blood and fire.
In ten years, no more, those people will create a new society unequaled in world history. The old society was based on extremely romantic ideas of man's goodness. It was all very complicated since the ideas didn't match the reality. The new society will be based on a realistic assessment of man's potentials and limitations. Man is a malformation, a perversity of nature. That is where our experiments come in. We deal with the basic construction and reshape it. We set the productive forces free and control the destructive ones. We exterminate what is inferior and increase what is useful.
I always liked you and Manuela. She showed an affection for me which I hope was sincerely meant. Against my better judgment, I tried to help you. Comic, isn't it, Abel?
One day you can tell all this to anyone who is willing to listen. No one will believe you despite the fact that anyone who makes the slightest effort can see what is waiting in the future.
It's like a serpent's egg. Through the thin membranes, you can clearly discern the already perfect reptile.

Professor Veregus final speech in Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg (1977)

thanks to RI I found the film, something someone else posted recently made me think of this speech, since I was able to extract it from the subtitles... here it is.