Category Archives: Quotes of Note

“Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader’s imagination as the characters in their books. Nor did they seem to think one had done them a … Continue reading →

“Miss Brodie was easily the equal of both sisters together, she was the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle and they were only the squares on the other two sides.” – Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean … Continue reading →

“Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it. For them there is no winter food problem. They have fires and warm clothes. The winter cannot hurt them and therefore … Continue reading →

Throughout Guns, Germs, and Steel author Jared Diamond makes the point over and over that we shouldn’t judge “primitive” people as being unintelligent simply because they don’t possess the same knowledge database that we have.  In the example below Diamond … Continue reading →

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at … Continue reading →