Category Archives: quotations

Quotes from Rick Bragg’s family trilogy

Posted on December 30, 2021 by smellincoffee

ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN’   “I know how silly and paranoid that sounds, especially coming from a man who gets a perverse thrill from taking chances. But it is a common condition of being poor white trash: you are always … Continue reading →

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Thoughts from Philosophy: Who Needs It

Posted on December 22, 2021 by smellincoffee

In early November I finished reading Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand. Her works are so much of one piece that every time I’ve started tinkering with a review I find it repeats some of the same assessments of … Continue reading →

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CS Lewis, a reader’s gift to readers

Posted on November 8, 2021 by smellincoffee

Recently, while slogging through a dull but sometimes promising book, I turned to Lewis for help: relieve me, Jack, from the tedium of Nazi economics! He delivered, though my review will wait until the Lewis-themed week coming up in a … Continue reading →

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Selected quotes from Anti-Politics

Posted on September 22, 2021 by smellincoffee

“Power and authority, as substitutes for performance and rational thought, are the specters that haunt the world today. They are the ghosts of awed and superstitious yesterdays. And politics is their familiar. Politics, throughout time, has been an institutionalized denial … Continue reading →

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Selections from The Unbroken Thread

Posted on September 16, 2021 by smellincoffee

“The great benefit to be derived from reading pre-modern authors is to come to realise that after all we [moderns] might have been mistaken.” – C.F.J. Martin  [C.S. Lewis] argued that instinct, science’s go-to answer to our central question, just … Continue reading →

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Wisdom Wednesday: Stop playing other people’s games

Posted on July 21, 2021 by smellincoffee

“[….] the system will set out honeypots, for people to get trapped in, the system will set out the ideas of retirement, the ideas of the golden years, providing you benefits, providing you a healthy working environment, WHY? Well, because … Continue reading →

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A year in space: some quotes and something completely different

Posted on July 20, 2021 by smellincoffee

Scott Kelly had his brother send him a gorilla suit so he could pull pranks on his coworkers. Pranks look…a little different on the International Space Station. And now, some quotes. The space shuttle, fully fueled with cryogenic liquid, creaked … Continue reading →

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Wisdom Wednesday: The choice is yours

Posted on July 14, 2021 by smellincoffee

As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation—or let your subconscious … Continue reading →

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Wisdom Wednesday: Memento mori

Posted on July 7, 2021 by smellincoffee
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Wednesday Warning

Posted on June 9, 2021 by smellincoffee

I saw an excerpt of this quote in Never a Dull Moment, and when I looked for the full article online, I was amused to find it posted on what was once a big anti-Bush forum: Jim Garrison, Playboy Interview, … Continue reading →

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