to me at least. :

The Riddle of the World

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Whether he thinks to little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself, abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.

-- Alexander Pope [opening of his longish yet sublime essay on man. if you can work through it ( i'm not particuarly interested in this type of poetry; but i do like crafting sentences betimes...) you will find more than afew pity sayings that are highmarks of our common vocabulary; also about how easy it is to chum up to evil. . - http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/pope-i.html

I was looking for some Shakes on "man" and wandered off for a leveler's epistle, a rather unknown but sublimely important, esp for those who would understand a main theme of the post rennaisance:

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/digger.html

A later writer of some wit is theodre adorno.

sorry it's late so...

Some not so sublime too as I kick around looking at quotes.

When nations grow old, the arts grow cold and commerce settles on every tree.

William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)


Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.

Amschel Mayer Rothschild, banker (1743-1812)


A successful man is one who makes more money than a wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

Lana Turner, actress (1921-1995)


Efficiency is intelligent laziness.

David Dunham


But man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep.

William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)
{ I seem to have confounded this q with anothre, now what was the other? some time please)



The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad.

James Madison, 4th US president (1751-1836)


The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.

Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809) ( worth a bit of reflection given the current social wars)


Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more
uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on "I am not too sure."

H.L.Mencken


To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919)


Never argue with an idiot, they will only drag you down to their level and beat you with years of experience.

Unknown (Dilbert's School of Thoughts ?)

Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? . . . And the creature run from the cur. There thou mightst behold the great image of authority--a dog's obeyed in office.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: King Lear (King Lear at IV, vi)

Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice Hath often stilled my brawling discontent.
Topic: Advice
Source: Measure for Measure (Mariana at IV, i)
Fare you well, my lord, and believe this of me: there can be no kernel in this light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes. Trust him not in matter of heavy consequence.

stuffed shirt

Here's a list of sources from the English Revolution. The proponents were largely silenced, by law, battle and/or being sent to suppress irish catholics, thus distracted, broken up, and'or killed/murdered. this is secret history, we should all know it well and yet after years of wondering i have only lately found the keys myself. :

http://www.constitution.org/lev/levellers.htm

quote:

the English Revolution. The proponents were largely silenced, by law, battle and/or being sent to suppress irish catholics, thus distracted,

wblakesx, you've not been posting in awhile, but I do appreciate this insight on history, and I see it didn't get noticed back in April when you posted it.

So, I'm a day late, but interested in this perspective on whassup about Ireland. I never did get that conflict.

quote:

Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself, abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rise and half to fall; ...

~Alexander Pope

Fancy that.

quote:

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.

quote:

Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,

quote:

Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,

Standing 4 foot 6 inches tall, one of the great poets of his time, noted for his ripping satire. Alexander Pope. I love satirists, the rude and the crude tremble before them, even when they are standing less than five feet.

quote:

He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;

(Morning, ren-)

quote:

In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;

Yep.

quote:

Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.

Is it getting warm in here?

quote:

Originally posted by PeeWee Returns:
Is it getting warm in here?

I guess your ears were burning, PeeWee.

quote:

But man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep.

quote:

Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,

The timing...
the timing...

Sublime reasoning/perspective, relates also to the quote 'efficiency is intellectual laziness'--which I disagree with,..being a confirmed reductionist.Economy of scale might be another term, as 'economics', and 'power' are also interchangeable in theories of history [Why what happened- happened], social science [What's happening now, and why],and resolutions [What will happen, what you can do about it, what you can't].

quote:

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.
Bob Dylan

Well said.