Category Archives: quotations

The book as a squarish chunk of hot smoking conscience

Posted on November 1, 2019 by smellincoffee

In autumn of 2017, The New Criterion published an article about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “cathedrals“, his Gulag Archipelago and a series of epic ‘novels’ known as the Red Wheel series. I delayed posting this until I was finished with the trilogy, … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Turn off, tune out, and drop in

Posted on October 30, 2019 by smellincoffee

“If we had a motto, it might be the opposite of the one I heard in the 1960s telling us to ‘turn on, tune in, and drop out’. Our slogan could urge the world to turn off (virtual reality), tune … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | 3 Comments

The dance of nature

Posted on September 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

So to be crystal clear: everything out there is influencing the evolution of everything else. The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their … Continue reading →

Posted in history, quotations, science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Stoic advice on overcoming anger

Posted on August 31, 2019 by smellincoffee

In the last couple of weeks I’ve  read a few books on nonviolence communication and  conflict management (How To Be Your Own Bodyguard; Verbal Judo (re-read); and How to Survive Aggressive People).    Tonight, in a similar vein,  I encountered a … Continue reading →

Posted in history, quotations | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Perspective from Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Posted on July 25, 2019 by smellincoffee

I recently finished Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a slim little volume introducing readers to relativity (special and general), quantum mechanics, particle physics, heat, time, and our place in the universe.   As it’s less than a hundred pages I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Buddhist cyberpunk?

Posted on May 30, 2019 by smellincoffee

“As a child I’d believed there was an essential person, a sort of core personality around which the surface factors could evolve and change without damaging the integrity of who you were. Later, I started to see that this was … Continue reading →

Posted in General, quotations | Tagged , | 4 Comments

The measure of a man

Posted on February 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

I am presently reading Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton, and in it he quotes a bit from Michel de Montaigne which is worth sharing. “A man have have a great suite of attendants, a beautiful palace, great influence and a … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | 2 Comments

The book as a squarish chunk of hot smoking conscience

Posted on November 30, 2018 by smellincoffee

In autumn of 2017, The New Criterion published an article about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “cathedrals“, his Gulag Archipelago and a series of epic ‘novels’ known as the Red Wheel series. I delayed posting this until I was finished with the trilogy, … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

And now, the News (2)

Posted on August 10, 2018 by smellincoffee

Back when I read Alain de Botton’s The News: A  User’s Manual, I shared an excerpt from it.  While poking through my draft posts I found another quotation I’d jotted down that remains worth sharing. Herein lies a central paradox … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Quotes from "Brave New World Revisited"

Posted on July 25, 2018 by smellincoffee

These are selected quotations from  Brave New World Revisited. “In the course of evolution nature has gone to endless trouble to see that every individual is unlike every other individual. […] Physically and mentally, each one of us is unique. … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations | Tagged | 2 Comments