Quotation of the day for January 26, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 26, 2019 "An older woman, probably in her late seventies, came in with a bag of books to sell. They were all erotica, and all photographic books from the 1960s. I checked one or two of them and they were reasonably valuable, so I gave her [50 pounds] for them. Just before she left she picked one of the books up and said, 'See if you can work out which of the models in this book is me.'" - Shaun Bythell, from the August 27 entry in his memoir, The Diary Of A Bookseller. Submitted by: Mike Krawchuk Jan. 25, 2019

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Quotation of the day for January 24, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 24, 2019 "The meal opened with a 1975 Diet Pepsi served in a disposable bottle. Although its bouquet was negligible, its distinct metallic aftertaste evoked memories of tin cans one had licked experimentally in the first flush of childhood's curiosity. "To create the balance of tastes so cherished by the epicurean palate, I followed with a pate de fruites de nuts of Georgia, prepared according to my own recipe. A half-inch layer of creamy-style peanut butter is troweled onto a graham cracker, then half a banana is crudely diced and pressed firmly into the peanut butter and cemented in place as it were by a second graham cracker. "The accompanying drink was cold milk served in a wide-brimmed jelly glass. This is essential to proper consumption of the pate, since the entire confection must be dipped into the milk to soften it for eating. In making the presentation to the mouth, one must beware lest the milk-soaked portion of the sandwich fall onto the necktie. Thus, seasoned gourmandisers follow the old maxim of the Breton chefs and "bring the mouth to the jelly glass."" - Russell Baker, from his 1975 essay Francs and Beans. The humourist and writer died Jan. 21, 2019 at the age of 93. [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/18/archives/francs-and-beans.html] Submitted by: Terry Labach Jan. 23, 2019

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Quotation of the day for January 19, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 19, 2019 "At 93, too weak to speak, he still managed to play the piano this morning, later passing away peacefully in the afternoon." - Dina Pearlman, announcing the death of her father Alan Pearlman, a pioneer of music synthesizers. [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/obituaries/alan-r-pearlman-dead.html] Submitted by: Terry Labach Jan. 18, 2019

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Quotation of the day for January 7, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 7, 2019 "Sometimes the ultimate pointlessness of a line of work is so obvious that few involved make much effort to deny it. Most universities in the United Kingdom now have public relations offices with staffs several times larger than would be typical for, say, a bank or an auto manufacturer of roughly the same size. Does Oxford really need to employ a dozen-plus PR specialists to convince the public it's a top-notch university? I'd imagine it would take at least that many PR agents quite a number of years to convince the public Oxford was not a top-notch university, and even then, I suspect the task would prove impossible. Obviously, I am being slightly facetious here: this is not the only thing a PR department does. I'm sure in the case of Oxford much of its day-to-day concerns involve more practical matters such as attracting to the university the children of oil magnates or corrupt politicians from foreign lands who might otherwise have gone to Cambridge." - David Graeber, from his book Bullshit Jobs. Submitted by: Terry Labach Jan. 6, 2019

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Quotation of the day for January 5, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 5, 2019 "Bourdieu had produced, in other words, a discourse entirely in keeping with his time, a time that combined, in the words of the editors, the 'orphaned fervor of denouncing the system with the disenchanted certitude of its perpetuity'." - Jacques Ranciere, from "The Ignorant Schoolmaster". Submitted by: Nora Ishibashi Nov. 5, 2018

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Quotation of the day for January 4, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 4, 2019 "Books are many things: energy shots, life-jackets, flying carpets, alarm clocks, oxygen masks, weapons, salves. Who needs what and when can't be predicted till it happens." - Jeanette Winterson [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/07/jeanette-winterson-books-that-made-me] Submitted by: Kathleen Magone Jan. 2, 2019

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Quotation of the day for January 3, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 3, 2019 "Glass will move as you stand on it, whereas Lego, you'll get one that will sort of stand proud and refuse to go down," says Bell. - Scott Bell, quoted in Smithsonian Magazine, on the problems of walking on Lego. Bell earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest-ever barefoot walk, 250 feet, over hot coals. [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-walking-legos-hurts-more-walking-fire-or-ice-180970784/] Submitted by: David Bergman Nov. 28, 2018

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Quotation of the day for January 1, 2019

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Quotation of the Day for January 1, 2019 "The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of the human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticism of the sober hour. Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites and says yes. It is, in fact, the great exciter of the 'Yes' function in man. It brings its votary from the chill periphery of things to the radiant core. It makes him for the moment one with truth." - William James Submitted by: Terry Labach Jan. 1, 2019

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