Tag Archives: quotations

Much to Hope from the Flowers

Posted on April 27, 2016 by smellincoffee

(Wild Roses, Rick Hansen) Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. … Continue reading →

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Dawn of Battle

Posted on April 19, 2016 by smellincoffee

Four hundred years before, near a village called Azincourt, an English army had waited to do battle with the French, and on that October night it had rained and rained and the sky had echoed with thunder. It had been … Continue reading →

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Dickens’ Descent of Desertion

Posted on April 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

“…the great paradox of morality is that the very vilest sort of fault is exactly the most easy kind. We read in books and ballads about the wild fellow who might kill a man or smoke opium, but who would … Continue reading →

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When Gourmands Write Fiction

Posted on March 30, 2016 by smellincoffee

I rejoiced in the Burgundy. How can I describe it? The Pathetic Fallacy resounds in all our praise of wine. For centuries every language has been strained to define its beauty, and has produced only wild conceits or the stock … Continue reading →

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And now, the News

Posted on March 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

There seem to be very few reasons not to despair of the human race. If asked why it has decided to tell us all this, and is driving us more than a little made as a result, the news will … Continue reading →

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Words worth Reading

Posted on March 17, 2016 by smellincoffee

From A Literary History of Ireland: “Of all the tribes of the Celts, and indeed of all their neighbours in the west of Europe, the children of Milesius have been at once blessed and cursed beyond their fellows, for on … Continue reading →

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Onward to the Edge

Posted on February 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

“Science is like a hungry furnace that must be fed logs from the forests of ignorance that surround us. In the process, the clearing we call knowledge expands, but the more it expands, the longer its perimeter and the more … Continue reading →

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Loose Tweets Fry Gunships

Posted on January 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

“‘Is a badge on Foursquare or a check-in worth your life?’ That question, now commonly asked by the U.S. Army of its soldiers, is not rhetorical when even terrorists are taking advantage of geo-tagged data. For instance, when American military … Continue reading →

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A Ghostly Watch and Wait: A Reading

Posted on November 5, 2014 by smellincoffee

“The most hideous scenes of all, however, were enacted in St. Sophia. Matins were already in progress when the beserk conquerors were heard approaching. Immediately the great bronze doors were closed, but the Turks soon smashed their way in. The … Continue reading →

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A Reading on the Eve of Destruction

Posted on October 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

We know no spectacle in human history more instinct with pathos than that of these twelve million men, busy with the cares, hopes and joys of daily life, working in their fields or mills, or seated these summer evenings by … Continue reading →

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