The universal object and idol of men of letters is reputation.
You don’t need to cure the lepers to be a faith healer. We’re all of us in my business doing the same work, because what is faith but another story that you tell yourself to feel better?
Will the last person on the planet please turn off the lights?
The dinosaurs never discovered what caused their extinction, either.
We believe we know a great lot, with our instruments and things, but I was old enough then to believe we don’t know half as much as we think we do, and old enough now to believe we never will. Holmes.
The lesson you receive from The Chronicles of Narnia is that reality is not where it’s at, my friend, so get out by any point of egress you can find and get into somewhere better.
Screw the end of the world. The world doesn’t end. Humans aren’t the kind of things that have endings.
We all have days when the world seems too much to bear, and all we want to do is lock ourselves in our room and not come out. It’s an illusion, this idea that a foot of wood and plaster can seal us off from the troubles that beset us, but it’s a comforting illusion, and it resonates.
The comic on the top of the stack catches my eye. Is this the end for Commander Justice? I wish, but of course it isn’t. I flip through the first few pages before tossing the candy-colored propaganda aside. “You really shouldn’t read this crap,” I tell Carl when he finally comes back into the room. “It can’t be doing anything for your confidence.” “I need to keep up with his latest crime-fighting techniques.” “No, you don’t. You need to shoot him in the face.
I remember thinking how easy it was to forget that we live day to day under a shadow. A car accident. A crazy guy with a gun. A brain tumor. You never know. Enjoy the moment.
I see you walking around tunnels With the man I love and I’m like Haiku.
Yes, by your standards I’m an old geezer. When I joined up, we downloaded sprogs on 28.8 baud modems. My 8086 barely had enough processing power to cast even the most simple cantrips. Also, I walked to school uphill both ways without an energy boost sprog. Oh, and our music was better than the crap you kids listen to.
It’s harder than you think for a being of pure scientific evil to hold regular office hours.
Oh, and the uniform. I’ve laid out some stuff for you to wear, and probably you’ll think it’s going too far, but, you know, if you’re into it, it’s traditional where they come from. I know it’s a little skimpy, but we’ll be altering the weather on this planet soon. I do have two-sided tape someplace. And the headpiece is adjustable. Totally one hundred percent optional.
Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other... The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People... they may change their Rulers, and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty... A Constitution of Government once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
Europe, thou great theater of arts, sciences, commerce, war, am I at last permitted to visit thy territories?
The true source of our suffering has been our timidity. We have been afraid to think... Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write... Let it be known that British liberties are not the grants of princes or parliaments.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
Like all financial schemes, the Mississippi Scheme was constructed upon the volatile foundation of confidence. For the public to continue to use the Banque Royale’s banknotes, it had to remain confident that those banknotes would retain and represent their stated face value. And for the public to continue to invest in Mississippi Company shares, it had to remain confident that the prospects of the Mississippi Company justified the market price of the shares.
John Law’s life and his Mississippi Scheme had followed an identical arc of trajectory. Law had been both the maker and breaker of the Mississippi Scheme just as the Mississippi Scheme had been both the maker and breaker of Law.