“Nearly every line he penned was an invitation to slumber.”
Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything (about “Geological writer James Hutton”)
“Men have no right to complain that they are naturally feeble and short-lived, or that it is chance and not merit that decides their destiny. On the contrary, reflection will show that nothing exceeds or surpasses the powers with which nature has endowed mankind, and that it is rather energy they lack than strength or length of days.”
Sallust, The Jugurthine War
“We live in strange times. Humans are loose upon the earth.”
Not sure why this of all weeks I quoted myself so often (this one from May 12, 2005) but since I don’t check the attributions while choosing them, only when posting them, we’re both stuck with it.
“Are there still people who don’t understand that if you want to discourage an activity, tax it heavily, and if you want to encourage it, cut its taxes?”
Donald Coxe in Maclean’s September 20, 2004
“acedia – the terrifying condition of not much caring about anything”
A writer whose name I did not record in National Review February 1, 1993
“the saying, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try something else.’”
Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, The Peter Principle (without further attribution)
“The believers in miracles accept them because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles deny them because they have a doctrine against them.”
G.K. Chesterton quoted in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 6 #4 (Jan.-Feb. 2003)
“Boredom would be a relief after the emotion I’m experiencing now.”
Another of mine (hey, use it or lose it) from March 2004.