Tuesday, July 10, 2007

"Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back -- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you."
-Frederick Buechner

Sorry guys... when I was looking for a quote yesterday I found this one too, and I couldn't help but post it. I promise, there'll be something different tomorrow! >.<

-Shosetsu
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Monday, July 9, 2007

"Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business."
-Henry David Thoreau

And just to clarify from yesterday, those are Japanese proverbs. I do not know how old they are, but I would wager on pretty old. I did not write them, I only wish I did. ^-^

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Sunday, July 8, 2007

Japanese Proverbs:

Aite no nai kenka wa denkinu.
-One cannot quarrel without an opponent.

Ayamachitewa aratamuruni habakaru koto nakare.
-If you make a mistake, don't hesitate to correct it.

Baka ga atte riko ga hikitatsu.
-Due to the presence of fools wise people stand out.

Kokai saki ni tatazu.
-Repentance never comes first.

Naite kurasu mo issho, waratte kurasu mo issho.
-It is the same life whether we spend it crying or laughing.

Baka wa shinanakya naoranai.
-A fool is only cured by dying.
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Saturday, July 7, 2007

"For all their variety of appearance, people were as predictable as the plot turns in a film that he had commited to heart. A man whom [he] admired had once said that human beings were sheep, and in most matters, that was true.

In [his] experiences, however, as regarded his most intimate work with the species, human beings were inferior to sheep. Sheep were docile, yes, but vigilant. Unlike many people, sheep were always aware that predators existed and were alert for the scent and the schemes of wolves.

Contemporary Americans were so prosperous, so happily distracted by such a richness of vivid entertainments, they were reluctant to have their fun diminished by acknowledging that anything existed with fangs and fierce appetites. If now and then they recognized a wolf, they threw a bone to it and convinced themselves it was a dog.

They denied real threats by focusing their fear on the least likely of Armageddons: a massive asteroid striking the Earth, super hurricanes twice as big as Texas, the Y2K implosion of civilization, nuclear power plants melting holes all the way through the planet, a new Hitler suddenly rising from the ranks of hapless televangelists with bad hair.

[He] found people to be less like sheep than cattle. He moved along them as if invisible. They grazed dreamily, confident in the security of the herd, even as he butchered them one by one."
-The Good Guy (Page 52) By Dean Koontz

What do you think? Are Americans more like sheep or cattle?

And even if you agree with Koontz, that Americans are cattle, do you think this is necessarily a bad thing?

Is the fact that we may be neglecting what is around us enabling us to focus on our progress?

Or are we never going to achieve progress because of said neglect?

Post your thoughts or comments if you wish.

Hope I've left you with something to think about.

-Shosetsu
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Friday, July 6, 2007

"A man's called a traitor - or liberator
A rich man's a thief - or philanthropist
Is one a crusader - or ruthless invader?
It's all in which label
Is able to persist."
-Wicked ("Wonderful")

In today's world, it is true that there are many different ways to label a person.

My question is weather or not both (or all) labels are accurate.

I'm sure most of you have heard the quote "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." It seems to be quite popular nowadays, and for good reason.

All this just goes to prove the point that there are two sides to every story.

Although being strong in your beliefs is an admirable quality, you should not be completely blind to the opposing opinion.

-Shosetsu
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