“A mob never rushes to do a needed kindness.” – Anonymous
I think this is a great quote since it really makes you think about the nature of a specific event/idea and snaps it into focus for you. A mob (as opposed to just a large gathering) is a scary thing and they can’t be trusted to be rational or purposeful or ethical while in the mob mentality.
That is why talk radio can be so cancerous. It sometimes can be a dispersed mob led by a ranting ego. And while it is unlikely that dispersed mob will burn stores and maim people physically, all the sacrifice of care and compassion and ‘needed kindnesses’ are still going to be missing from their heart as they go about their business.
“There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This would seem to run counter to the idea that imagination is always a good thing. I would have to agree with the napkin, it can be pretty atrocious looking to see the results of someone with a fervent imagination but who is very tacky. Just think of anyone who has a Thomas Kincade print or painting for example. They probably think they are being creative and imaginative in picking the image and hanging it among the precious moment trinkets, right? But they would be wrong. So, let’s all promote good taste today, ok? Let’s start a movement!
“Every portrait painted with feeling is of the artist not the sitter.” – Oscar Wilde
I think this is true at a deep level but I don’t think that truth denies that the portrait is also about the sitter. I think it is like a crime scene. The obvious fact is the dead body or the car being missing or the house being broken into. But the deeper investigation into the event will usually lead to the person who committed the crime, not the person who the crime was against.
“The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light it gets, the more it contracts.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
That means you have to shine your light on them. It also means you have to be willing to have light shone on yourself since all of us have something we don’t understand or see correctly. We all have things to learn and areas in which we can grow and the first step in that is being open minded about new ideas and new ways of looking at things.
It is like Jesus said ‘Don’t worry about the speck in your friend’s eye until you get the log out of your own’.
“A wise person gets learning from those who have none themselves.” – Anonymous
So, what is the mechanism by which the person gets the education out of the uneducated? Perhaps by knowing how to ask questions, and having the interest and courage to do so.
If Everything On Earth Were Rational, Nothing Would Happen – Fyodor Dostoevsky
So, what does this mean? The more I read it, the less I understand it, or agree with it, or don’t. Depending. I mean, sorry, but I am not thinking rationally about it.
“When a person does not have a good reason to do something, he does have a good reason for not.” – Anonymous
I am torn on this one. I can see it being wise and true, then again I can see the philosophy of ‘who needs a good reason, just go and do something for the pure joy or interest of doing it’. But of course, just in the act of saying that you have your reason, right?
