BS: Name the Author

Subject: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:13 PM

Who said "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instanly recognizes genius..." Who was the author?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Bagpuss
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:18 PM

Arthur Conan Doyle.

Do I get a prize?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Helen
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:20 PM

Without Googling, I would suggest Mark Twain, because it sounds a bit Twainish to me. My next thought was Oscar Wilde, but I don't think it fits him as well as some others.

[I'm going to try to resist Googling and wait until the answer is revealed here.]

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:23 PM

Hey, you got the Prize, Bagpuss! I hope you knew that all on your own because, like virtue, its it's own reward! Remember which story?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:27 PM

Yeah, Bagpuss has it. Arthur Conan Doyle. One of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but I'm not about to wade through my copy of "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" and try to find out which one.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:32 PM

I say Firth. The game's afoot and you have no desire to seek out the culprit?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 01:35 PM

Hint: Volume II, page 773

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Alice
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 03:02 PM

was it Valley of Fear?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 03:44 PM

Valley of Fear? Yeah, I think that's it.

Well, I did catche the culprit. I just that I'm not sure which window he crawled in through. I don't know where my wife put our copy, and she's not here right now.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: freda underhill
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 04:06 PM

who said:

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.

?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 04:08 PM

Another touch of genius! Of which the soul of is brevity! In short, I don't know!

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: John O'L
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 05:04 PM

Bill D?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 07:30 PM

Excellent guess!

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: kendall
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 07:41 PM

I've used that quote countless times and never knew where it came from. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 07:48 PM

How about (and everyone probably knows this):

"He that 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".

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 10:01 PM

Thomas Paine?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: freda underhill
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 10:20 PM

nope :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 10:24 PM

Sir Conan the Barbarian?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 10:33 PM

Pat Croce?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: freda underhill
Date: 28 Dec 06 - 10:35 PM

cold

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Janie
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 12:57 AM

Yep. Thomas Paine. (I cheated and googled it.)

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 01:48 AM

Yes. THE VALLEY OF FEAR. Alec MacDonald was the referent. the entire sentence reads "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius, and MacDonald had talent enough for his profession to enable him to percieve that there was no humiliation in seeking the assistance of one who already stood alone in Europe, both in his gifts and in his experience."

I've often reflected on that quotation and it has inspired me to seek the original thought. Not an easy thing to do.

There is an old dictim in the game of Chess: If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit. There is a lot of BS in our world today (and in this section of the web site! [ to which I have made my share of contributions!]). I keep looking for the brilliance and hope I have enough talent to recognize it when it comes along.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: freda underhill
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 06:24 AM

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.

-- Albert Einstein

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 09:17 AM

Ah, the man who said "God does not roll dice!"

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 09:33 AM

Kat (and Googlin' Janie) got it: Thomas Paine.

Slag, I do believe that's a misquote, or an incomplete one. Somewhere, there was a thread about religion and Einstein...

Sorry, Freda - I didn't know yours was still going. There is some sort of cultural norm that says that the more complex something is, the more intelligence must be behind it. I think of those who write convoluted, puffed up garbage, put computers to control the automatic you-name-it in cars, or perhaps play synthesizers. Some of these things are fun, but they're usually not too useful and often obscure the main point. This is probably what, in a lot of cases, these things are supposed to do. They're camouflage to hide some simple thing underneath, and make it look more important than all the other simple things.

I like to look for the kernal at the center of all the fluff. Sometimes, the fluff is nice, but mostly it comes off as a desperate attempt to tart up the insignificant.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 09:41 AM

Ok - the rolling-dice comment was about how Einstein thought quantum theory was crap. (My paraphrasing, of course.)

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 09:43 AM

That's not an exact quote. Words to that effect concerning the Heisenberg "Uncertainty Principle", I think. DON'T quote me! I'll look it up a little later!

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 03:42 PM

How about this now:

Who said---"He is modest and has much to be modest about?"

             No Googling---right?

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Amos
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 03:45 PM

"God does not play dice with the Universe".

A

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 05:43 PM

Blessings on your Soma, Amos!

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 07:20 PM

The modesty quote was Winston Churchill.
What I can't recall is who said:

"The problem with a friend who whill stand by you through trobles is that you're not likely to enjoy his company unless you're in deep shit."

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: freda underhill
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 07:43 PM

Jeri

i call it windybaggery (those sackville-baggins were big on it). it's like overdressing - the verbal equivalent of a tuxedo at a picnic.

freda

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 11:28 PM

One of Winnie's quotes was, "There, but for the grace of God, goes God!" but I can't remember to whom he was refering?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 11:37 PM

"It has always seemed strange to me... The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second."

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 11:40 PM

Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 03:33 AM

Alice...?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: alanabit
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 01:35 PM

Churchill's quote was about Clement Atlee. Good loser, wasn't he?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:07 PM

Yes, that's it! Seems SOMEONE had an ego problem!

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 05:10 PM

Okay, okay. It was Steinbeck in Cannery Row.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 09:44 AM

How about this one, then: who first said, "Talent does what it can; genius does what it must"? And who - it may have been the same person - used it as an epigraph to a publication?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Midchuck
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 09:56 AM

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 10:42 AM

Peter...Einstein? (sp?)

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:45 AM

Crap. I got the Albert part right. My wee grey cells have lost once again.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Amos
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:51 AM

Actually, Jeri, I am inclined (despite my florid language) to believe that the simpler something is the more intelligence must be behind it.

In the theory of complex systems one of the major breakthroughs was the discovery that in all sorts of complex systems. the apparent complexity can be boiled down to a small number of simple rules, plus a large numbers of transactions or instances based on those rules.

Seeing through the wide array of symptomatic results to the underlying simplicity of basic causes is a mark of brilliance, IMHO.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: GUEST,Captain Ginger
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:52 AM

OK, starter for 10:
Riverrun, past Eve and Adam... (1 mark)
Of course, Google will allow you to cheat
But how does it relate to
A way a lone a last a loved a long the ? (3 marks)
And of what is the vicus of circulation (3 marks)
And what about the apostrophe (where we get musical)? (5 marks)

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:19 PM

James Joyce, the first (and last) line in "Finnegan's Wake" of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:22 PM

And that's what I like about the Howth.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:42 PM

"We-ll," he said, "she's a long time since I made my last speech, but there's one thing I never forgit."
"What, Jake?"
"You gotta teeter. If she's gonna be a good speech, why you gotta teeter. A feller might get by without fiddlin' with his watch fob, but not without teeterin'..."

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 02:42 AM

"One cat is a pet. Two cats raise concerns. Three cats or more are symptomatic." Who said that?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 03:24 AM

Well done Cluin - that's four marks. But I see you've already blown your chances on the five-mark question!

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 05:32 AM

Oh yeah, I did. Brain fart, I guess. Mind in the commode. Any chance of recirculation?

How many Finnegans at that Wake anyway?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 05:50 AM

You're not alone - most newspaper sub-editors instinctively bung an apostrophe in there.
Full marks then, with the commode to boot.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: autolycus
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 01:41 PM

An Buachaill - very interesting. Won't give the answer yet 'cos I looked it up - not on the net but in a book, where the two phrases are the other way round. But 19th century yes?






      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: autolycus
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 01:43 PM

Who did not say,

"I may not agree with what you say but I will dwefend to thwe death your right to say it"?






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Slag
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 01:56 PM

Elmer Fudd???

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 05:58 AM

Bugs Bunny...?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: autolycus
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 12:00 PM

That's amazing.


   Nope.






      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: polaitaly
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 07:34 AM

Voltaire
paola

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Flash Company
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 10:52 AM

I think the Churchill 'modest little man' quote linked in with another one, 'He likes to be called Clem. I don't think I have to tell the constituents of Oldham what clem means!'

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: autolycus
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 03:31 PM

Correct,polaitaly.





       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: autolycus
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 03:33 PM

I mean, correct,polaitaly

    He didn't.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Cluin
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 03:34 PM

Actually, just about everybody since Voltaire.

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 04:35 PM

The phrase is widely attributed to Voltaire, but was in fact coined by a biographer as a representing a distillation of Voltaire's views.
It was first used in The Friends of Voltaire, written in 1906 by Evelyn Beatrice Hall.

Hall said that she had been trying to paraphrase Voltaire's words in his Essay on Tolerance: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 08:11 PM

Good old Evelyn, nice girl... terrific bum on her, always made me laugh...

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Fergie
Date: 08 Jan 07 - 09:59 PM

Eh! would that be commodious vicous Captain Ginger? Or some Anna Livia aswimming in the snot green sea?

Subject: RE: BS: Name the Author
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 09 Jan 07 - 02:59 AM

It would indeed be commodious, as hinted at by Cluin above. And the circularity is apparent in that the last line of the Wake runs seemlessly into the first, as Anna Livia dies and is carried out to sea to become, again, her source in an endless cycle of birth and death: ...A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam...
Interestingly Joyce was a fine singer with a much-admired tenor voice, and much of his work sits easier on the ear than on the eye; for me the Wake is a book that is best read aloud to appreciate its rollicking musicality, with the abstruse literary puns and allusions left to be picked over after the meal, as it were.
The same applies to many passages in Ulysses, and to some in Dubliners and Portrait - he was clearly a man with a marvellous ear for words. Populists claim that Shakespeare, were he living today, would be writing scripts for soap operas (which, incidentally, is arrant nonsense), but I like to think JJ would make a darned sight finer lyricist than many contemporary snigger snogwriters.
But enough - it's time for breakfast.