Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:


“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason."

—Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80s






(Here's an amusing article on how often and pervasively this quote has been misquoted and rewritten to suit various agendas; also, the internet and urban legends.)








( Illustrated version. )


Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:


"It is no more surprising to be born twice than to be born once; everything in nature is resurrection."

—Voltaire, as quoted by Lady Caithness



One of the reasons I like searching for attributions—besides being anal and wanting to get things right—is that you learn such interesting stuff along the way. This quote, for instance. I can't find any proof that Voltaire said it or wrote it. He might have, but I can't find the reference. The reference I used from Lady Caithness (aka Countess Caithness, aka Marie Sinclair Caithness) is the oldest I've found, from her book, Old Truths in a New Light, or, An Earnest Endeavour to Reconcile Material Science with Spiritual Science, and with Scripture. She published this in 1874, though, far too late for her to be quoting from personal knowledge. Her precise quotation:

Voltaire said it was not more surprising to be born twice, than to be born once. "Il n'est pas plus surprenant de naître deux fois qu'une; tout est resurrection dans la nature."

However, Voltaire did say in The Philosophical Dictionary under "Metempsychosis":

Is it not very natural that all the metamorphoses with which the world is covered should have made people imagine in the Orient, where everything has been imagined, that our souls passed from one body to another? An almost imperceptible speck becomes a worm, this worm becomes a butterfly; an acorn transforms itself into an oak; an egg into a bird; water becomes cloud and thunder; wood is changed into fire and ash; everything in nature appears, in fine, metamorphosed. Soon people attributed to souls, which were regarded as light figures, what they saw in more gross bodies. The idea of metempsychosis is perhaps the most ancient dogma of the known universe, and it still reigns in a large part of India and China.

(BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008)

Which doesn't strike me as unsympathetic to the notion of reincarnation, but certainly doesn't prove he's a proponent. And I can see where alternate versions of this quote got their inspiration. Some have Voltaire saying, "The doctrine of metempsychosis is, above all, neither absurd nor useless. It is no more surprising to be born twice than to be born once; everything in nature is resurrection." You can almost see someone reading The Philosophical Dictionary and fiddling with the quote to make it sound more legit or give more credence to their cause. I've never been of the school who believes that "because some famous guy believes in something it must be true," but people do seem to like bolstering their philosophy with the philosophy of Great Minds.

Or, I could just be a cynic.

But not too much of a cynic, because I think it's a very romantic notion that the Prince of the Enlightenment entertained the notion of reincarnation. So romantic and appealing that I can't help using it myself. So, quote him if it strikes your fancy—and unless proven wrong.




( Illustrated version. )





Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:


"A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner."

—Jean de la Bruyère (1645-1696)



This quote has been widely—and incorrectly, I believe—attributed to Sir Francis Bacon (and in at least one case, Kevin Bacon). I know for a fact that Sir Francis Bacon said about bachelors:

"Certainly the best work, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men." (Essays, Civil and Moral, Ch. VIII, Of Marriage and Single Life)

(But even this isn't as cut and dried as this excerpted quote would make it sound.)

Since this quote and the Bruyère quote appeared side by side in at least two prominent quote books, I think that may be where the misattribution arose. Alas, I can't find a source for the Bruyère quote. As always, if anyone out there knows the source of this unsourced quote, I'd love to hear from you.



( Illustrated version. )

Random quote of the day:


"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."

—Solomon Short (excerpt from A Matter for Men by David Gerrold)


(This quote is widely attributed on the interdweeb to Frank Lloyd Wright. I guess at some point someone decided he had more wuffie than one of Mr. Gerrold's "friends." Which is why, boys and girls, I always try to verify quotes before posting them. Which is not to say I don't get caught now and again with a bogus quote, but yanno.)


( Illustrated verification. )