Quote of the Day

[AndreaDraco]

If you have something that you feel like sharing, please join.

I'll start with the first verses of a song I've recently discovered, Regaining Consciousness by NOFX. I found it during some researches for something I'm writing.

Here it is:

First they put away the dealers, then they put away the prostitutes, then they shooed away the bums, and beat and bashed the queers. Turned away asylum seekers, fed us suspicions and fears. We didn't raise our voice, we didn't make a fuss. It's funny, there was no one left to notice when they came for us.

[dotkel50]

In a similar vein...

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke quotes (British Statesman and Philosopher, 1729-1797)

[BBP]

Without music to decorate it, time is nothing but a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.
-Frank Zappa

[Rath Darkblade]

If you have something that you feel like sharing, please join.

I'll start with the first verses of a song I've recently discovered, Regaining Consciousness by NOFX. I found it during some researches for something I'm writing.

Here it is:

First they put away the dealers, then they put away the prostitutes, then they shooed away the bums, and beat and bashed the queers. Turned away asylum seekers, fed us suspicions and fears. We didn't raise our voice, we didn't make a fuss. It's funny, there was no one left to notice when they came for us.

This is very, very reminiscent of the poem "First they came..." by Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor and social activist in WW2-era Germany. Since he wrote it, the words had been altered slightly numerous times, including by Niemöller himself, but the most famous and well-known version is perhaps this one:

"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, here's a much less depressing quote:

"If you will only take the trouble always to do the perfectly correct thing, and to say the perfectly correct thing, you can do just what you like."
(from Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw)

[therogue]

Seeing some coverage of the Hillsborough disaster memorial yesterday. I'm reminded of Sam's speech from Life On Mars that somehow always hits close for me.

Sam: You know nothing about football! I used to go to football with my dad. United and City fans used to walk to the match together. Our next door neighbour, he had a City flag up in his window. Kids used to play together in the street - red and blue. But then people like you came along and you took it away from us.

Peter Bond: A good punch up's all part of the game! It's about pride. Pride in your team. Being the best!

Sam: No it isn't! This is how it starts and then it escalates. It gets on the telly and in the press, and then other fans from other clubs start trying to out do each other. And then it becomes about hate! And then it's nothing to do with football any more! It's about gangs and scumbags like you roaming the country seeing who can cause the most trouble. And then we overreact, and we have to put up perimeter fences and we treat the fans like animals! Forty, fifty thousand people herded into pens! And then how long before something happens, eh? How long before something terrible happens and we are dragging bodies out?

[Rath Darkblade]

Very true and gives some things to think about. (Incidentally, therogue, if you like Life on Mars, I think you'll love Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals - particularly the football subplot).

Here's a quote of the day...

There's nothing wrong with nepotism, as long as you keep it all in the family.
--Winston Churchill

[therogue]

I love Unseen Academicals but then I'm mad for the entire Discworld series =P

Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.
Nightwatch.

[Rath Darkblade]

YES! Yes yes yes! Night Watch is one of my favourite Pratchett books, and that's one of my favourite quotes from it.

You have the effrontery to be squeamish, it [the Dragon -Ed.] thought at him. But we were dragons! We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless, and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape - the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of his eyes - we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it... morality.

"Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett

[BBP]

If either one of you is looking for Thud!, just let me know.

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
-Tolkien

[therogue]

Nightwatch is also my favourite Discworld book even if I like them all.

T. Pratchett is responsible for so many good quotes.

"There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist."
— Terry Pratchett

Also, his non-Discworld books, my favourites of those are Good Omens and Nation. Nation is surprisingly heart breaking for a Young Adult book. It handles some very heavy themes.

"This was not the time to say “I don’t know.” The brothers had begging, hungry looks, like dogs waiting to be fed. They wanted an answer. It would be nice if it was the right answer, but if it couldn’t be, then any answer would do, because then we would stop being worried...and then his mind caught alight.

That’s what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there’s food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated, and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so that we don’t have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don’t fit the way we want the world to be."
— Terry Pratchett (Nation)

[Rath Darkblade]

Nation is amazing for a YA book. It's the kind of book I wish I could read when I was a YA. Good Omens was co-written with Neil Gaiman, so of course it's amazing.

BBP, what do you mean by "if either of us is looking for Thud!"? I got my copy the day it came out here, and devoured it from cover to cover within a few days.

'But there are causes worth dying for,' said Butterfly.

'No, there aren't! Because you've only got one life but you can pick up another five causes on any street corner!'

'Good grief, how can you live with a philosophy like that?'

Rincewind took a deep breath.

'Continuously!'
Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times"

(I think this quote sums up Rincewind quite nicely.)

[BBP]

Got curious after Terry Pratchett, bought Thud!, didn't like it and put it away after a hundred pages or so. I did later catch the Colour Of Magic series for... ahem... other reasons, and that was OK but I'm not tempted to read more of it.
Just so you know if you'd still be in need of a copy of Thud!, I have one up for grabs. In English.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. I already have a copy of Thud! - it's definitely worth reading, BBP, but if you haven't read the other Watch books (e.g. Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo and The Fifth Elephant) then I wouldn't advise reading Thud! first - there's a lot of back-story (and character back-story) that you've missed on, particularly about Sam Vimes, Lady Sibyl, Carrot and Angua.

Thud! definitely strikes a chord with me, with its twin themes of racial tensions and parental protection towards the young (especially as I've experienced racial prejudice and I've been an uncle now for six months). There's an over-riding theme of a supernatural, ageless entity attempting to take Vimes over, and his struggle to keep his humanity and keep his wits long enough to crack the case.

I definitely recommend Thud!, but as I said, I recommend the other Watch books first. They are all brilliant examples of the police procedural.

Anyway, enough about Thud!... now here's a quote...

'Ah... I see that the new traffic division is having the desired effect.' He indicated a large pile of paper. 'I am getting any amount of complaints from the Carters' and Drovers' Guild. Well done. Do pass on my thanks to sergeant Colon and his team.'

'I will, sir.'

'I see in one day they clamped seventeen carts, ten horses, eighteen oxen and one duck.'

'It was parked illegally, sir.'
(Lord Vetinari and Commander Vimes, The Fifth Elephant)

[Collector]

Guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people

-Ron Reagan speaking on the anniversary of the assassination attempt on his father.

[Tawmis]

Man who stand on toilet
High on Pot.