Weekend Wisdom


Borrowed considerations for my weekend of reading and reflection:

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke

I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves. ~E.M. Forster

What people seek in thrillers is the spectacle of man’s efficacy: of his ability to fight for his values and to achieve them. What they see is a condensed, simplified pattern, reduced to its essentials: a man fighting for a vital goal—overcoming one obstacle after another—facing terrible dangers and risks—persisting through an excruciating struggle—and winning. ~Ayn Rand

Comments

Kelly Elmore said…
I LOVE the E.M. Forster quote. I have found that very true in my own life. My first reaction to Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Anthem was "Good books." It was only rereading later on that they changed my life.

E.M. Forster says the things I feel but cannot verbalize.
February 27, 2010 at 5:32 PM
Lynne said…
I thought it was interesting too. I'm going to have to consider it more regarding my own reading. I suppose there is nothing in his quote that rules out reading something for the first time that you would consider life changing, but those are few.

I loved the quotes you pulled from Howard's End. Sadly, I'm only on chapter 5, but I did just finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so all in all, not a bad reading weekend so far. Now for the reflection.
February 27, 2010 at 5:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plainsies, Clapsies

A ball bouncing game from my youth instructed the player to throw the ball up ( plainsies ), throw it up and clap ( clapsies ) throw it up and roll your hands ( roll the ball ) and touch your shoulders ( tabapsies ). In trying to locate the rest of the ball bouncing chant, I found out not only is my “tabapsies” a mondegreen , but also the motion – touching your shoulders – isn’t even the correct movement! You are supposed to clap your hands behind your back and say “ to backsies .”  Yeah. That makes much more sense. Being only slightly deflated by this discovery, I will still share my exciting news.  In an attempt to counteract the stretching of my wrist from doing front squats two days in a row, I pulled out the tabapsies motion this morning.  This, in itself, is not newsworthy.  However, I grabbed both shoulders with all five fingers!!! Again, not exciting unless you know that when I was nine years-old, I broke my left elbow doing a running cartwheel; the repai
Read more

Memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution

Image
In preparation for celebrating the 222nd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787, here are a few videos that I hope will inspire you to at least memorize the brief, but powerful Preamble. First, here is my first attempt at video editing with the bare bones Windows Movie Maker (no ability to step through frame by frame with sound, or ability to mark stops before cutting). My daughters are reading the Preamble to the Constitution from the little book I carry in my purse. They can recite it by heart, but it I thought it would be a little different (and a little less exposed) if they did it this way. Let's not even talk about the 20 takes due to laughter. If you knew it as a child, don't worry, it'll come back to you as Barney shows in this video. Finally, a little treat for my sci-fi loving friends. And if memorizing and reciting The Preamble in creative ways leaves you wanting more, you can find out which Founding Father you&#
Read more

Objectivist Round Up #153

Welcome to this 153 rd  issue of the Objectivist Round Up, a  blog carnival  of posts written by individuals who are advocates of Objectivism : the philosophy developed and defined by Ayn Rand . If you are new to Ayn Rand and would like to discover more about her "philosophy for living on earth", I recommend you read her two great novels, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead . If you know her novels, I recommend her non-fiction starting with The Virtue of Selfishness , and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal . The Ayn Rand Institute and the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights provide relevant information and commentary. Following, in the order in which they were received, are the posts for this Objectivist Round Up. John Drake presents Value dense gardening posted at Try Reason! , saying, “I'm all about getting the most bang for the buck in all my activities - that includes gardening. Picking veggies for the garden is all about finding the greatest value with the l
Read more