Quote Digest

[Radical_Dreamer]

From Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly:

But success SHALL crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determine heart and resolved will of man?

In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.

[Sajainta]

I love that novel.  Here's another quote from Frankenstein:

My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, when theirs are failing. Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little, that I am wavering in my resolutions. I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking. It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which I am preparing to depart. My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus. But I must finish.

[Mr Bekkler]

It also gives the people squabbling a taste of their own preposterity(it's a word now).

A wonderful word, you magnanimous smith! Seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed this sentence.

[Lord J Esq]

From Zelda 2 that I was playing earlier tonight:

If all else fails use fire.

The whole game is quotable for its bad but often correct grammar.

[Lord J Esq]

Following a good soak in Zelda 2 dialogue, I think I've cracked the code to writing pithy, enigmatic fortune cookies. Just write very simple, literal ideas out in short form, rearrange the sentence components to somewhere between "Normal" and "Yoda," and omit the occasional article. Here are a few tries, with a Zelda-inspired one for starters:

"In dark places use candle to light the way."

"Find important objects underfoot."

"Here and there discover enjoyment."

"Your attorney works hard to bring you good news."

"Do not allow cat and dog to be unsupervised together."

"To help flowers grow use the hose."

"Pedestrians know what motorists choose to ignore."

"The grasshopper does not sing what will happen next."

"Do not look away in frustrated silence."

"The cookie is only a guide to fortune. Like the moonlight it has little to say but will show you what is already in reach."

[Truthordeal]

"A delayed game will be good eventually; a bad game will be bad forever." - Shigeru Miyamoto.

[tushantin]

Toiling,---rejoicing,---sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

[Lord J Esq]

If triangles had a God, He'd have three sides.

~ Yiddish proverb

[Thought]

Are you saying that Trinitarians are really triangles in disguise?!

The labours of men of genius, no matter how erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.

[Katie Skyye]

Are you saying that Trinitarians are really triangles in disguise?!

[Syna]

So much love for Frankenstein. It has such an crucial place in the Romantic corpus.

I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed.

[Lord J Esq]

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

~ Alexander Pope

[Thought]

A wise man will not       overweening be,
        and stake too much on his strength;
when the mighty are met       to match their strength,
        'twill be found that first is no one.
~The Havamal

[Sajainta]

The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.

[tushantin]

The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.