"Religion decays, the icon remains." —Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

"The naïve question often proves to be the central one."  —Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10.5 Chapters

"When a King dies, we, who have to put into words the strange grief and grievous strangeness of the time, then know how ill we have served ourselves." —James Cameron, What a Way to Run the Tribe, 1968

From our Magic Words outpost at Blogger:

"I believe that everybody is singing an inner song, and the question isn't whether we are or not — we are! — the question is whether this is a song of power or a song of weakness; whether it is a song of love or a song of hatred.  That's the question."

—Eugene Burger, from his interview in The Magic Circular (May 2009)

"There's nothing beautiful and excellent left.  You must dream up beauty and goodness and justice.  Tell me, do you know how to dream?"  —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

"Something great and audacious must happen in secrecy and silence, or it perishes and falls away, and the fire that was awakened dies again."  —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

"People who get bored are ones who always reckon that something amusing ought to come at them from outside."  —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

"If one thinks, one resists, and that is always so ugly and ruinous to things.  Thinkers, if only they knew what harm they do.  Anyone who industriously does not think, does something, he certainly does, and that is more necessary."  —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

It's windy today, and we saw a crow valiantly flying against the current, making no headway.  From our less-windy vantage on the wooded cliff side, we were tempted to tell the crow to take the forest route, but then we remembered that you can't tell a crow how to fly from point A to point B.

Enriqve Enriqvez turns every U into a V on his blog. Here's why: "Like the stvdent who devovrs covntless books on the tarot and still feels thirsty, the letter U has a blvnt edge.  No matter how mvch information it holds, it is never ready to povr that knowledge back into the world."

"Go on yearning for a bit longer.  You've no idea what bliss, what grandeur there is in yearning, in waiting.  So wait."  —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

"I know it, somewhere here there are marvelous things." —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

"Cheesy" movies are not limited to Spaghetti Westerns.  Why not specify the type of cheese?  If the film simply stinks, it undoubtedly qualifies as a Limburger, Vieux Boulogne, or perhaps Gorgonzola.  If there are too many plot holes, call it Swiss Cheese.  If the film suffers from stiltedness, why not call it a Stilton?  Overly dry humor or wit suggests a Parmesan or Romano, while bland or insipid content might be called Buffalo Mozzarella.  A film made quickly and cheaply (even if glossily) recalls American Cheese, while overly mushy emotionality suggests Cottage Cheese.  And, of course, so-called "blue movies" would be Bleu Cheese.  Cheesy movies are often quite entertaining and good in their own way, in which case we might call them Gouda.

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Jonathan Caws-Elwitt writes:

Today is the day to teach your brain to play!  We're pleased to announce the publication of our new puzzle book, Presumptive Conundrums: Rhetorical Math Questions (+ Answers).  It's been called our most surprising, thought-provoking, and laugh-inducing creation to date.  Take advantage of the introductory price at Amazon.com, or drop us an e-mail for a signed or review copy (our e-mail address is on this page).

"Bare reality: what a crook it sometimes is."  —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten

In the song ""Where Your Eyes Don't Go," They Might Be Giants mention a filthy scarecrow that mocks one's every move:


Imagine our surprise to find an explanation of this filthy scarecrow in the astonishing novel Mercurius by Patrick Harpur:

"If a man could pass through Paradise in a dream, and have a flower presented to him as a pledge that his soul had really been there, and if he found that flower in his hand when he awoke—Ay! and what then?" —Coleridge, Anima Poetae, qtd. in John Livingston Lowes, The Road to Xanadu, 1927

"Only delight forgives what depravity has undertaken." —Robert Walser, Jakob von Gunten