Category Archives: Quotes

As every second post on this site is a quote. You’ll find a deep and broad variety of quotes under this category, which overlap with several other tags and categories. Many of the quotes are larded with links for deeper reading on the subject of the quote, or connections between the subject of the quotes and other people, things, or ideas. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Disparagement

Posted on August 28, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Disparagement (noun): The expression of low opinion; regarding or portraying unfavorably so as to lower in esteem; discredit or belittlement of one’s dignity. Adjective: disparaging; adverb: disparagingly; verb: disparage.

‘Some years ago Edna Ferber worte a book about a very tiny group of very rich Texans. Her description was accurate, so far as my knowledge extends, but her emphasis was one of disparagement.’ John Steinbeck, Travels with Charly”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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Alfred Adler

Posted on August 28, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Alfred Adler: (1870-1937) Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist. A disciple of Sigmund Freud, Adler later rejected Freud’s emphasis on the libido and developed a system of ‘individual psychology.’ Adler maintained that, because of their dependence, all children begin with a sense of inferiority, which they can successfully overcome by developing a sense of their competence and their secure place in the social order. He coined the term ‘inferiority complex’ to describe the neurotic reaction by which one either succumbs to or overcompensates for feelings of inadequacy. His major work on the subject is The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology (1923). Cooperation Between the Sexes (1978) is a collection of his writings on women, love, marriage, and sexuality.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Posted in Independent Practice, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Acanthus

Posted on August 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Acanthus: A stylized acanthus leaf; a much-used decorative motif in Greek, Roman, and Renaissance art and architecture.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Term of Art: Special Education

Posted on August 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

“special education: Programs to identify and meet the education needs of students with emotional, learning, or physical disabilities. Federal law requires that all students with disabilities be provided a free and appropriate education according to the specifications of an Individualized Education Program from infancy until 21 years of age. See also free appropriate public education (FAPE); Individualized Education Plan (IEP); Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

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Albion

Posted on August 21, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Albion: An ancient and poetical name for Great Britain. It is thought to have been so called from the white (Lat, albus) cliffs that face Gaul, but possibly from the Celtic ailp, “rock; cliff; mountain.” It was Napoleon who called England Albion Perfide (Perfidious Albion).”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Rotten Reviews Omnibus: Lillian Hellman

Posted on August 9, 2026 | Leave a comment

Toys in the Attic

“It is curious how incest, impotence, nymphomania, religious mania and real estate speculation can be so dull.”

Richard Findlater, Time and Tide

 “Lillian Hellman has chosen to write on a Tennessee Williams theme in an Agatha Christie style.”

Times (London) 

Scoundrel Time

“Scoundrel Time is historically a fraud, artistically a put-up job, and emotionally packed with meanness.”

Dwight MacDonald, Esquire

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.   

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Disinformation

Posted on August 9, 2026 | Leave a comment

 “Disinformation (noun): False or misleading information or documentation contrived to deceive or subvert, especially deliberate fabrication by an intelligence agency. Verb: disinform.

‘If I say the US is intervening in El Salvador to help a gang of nun-raping cutthroats with no popular support, I may be misinformed, or I may be disinformed.’ Alexander Cockburn, Village Voice”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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Heptameter

Posted on August 9, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Heptameter: In prosody, a line of verse containing seven metrical feet in any meter. It is usually identified together with the name of the meter: for example, iambic heptameter.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Mark Twain on Soap and Education

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre but they are more deadly in the long run.”

Mark Twain

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

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Term of Art: Reliability

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

“reliability: A statistical term that refers to the consistency of test scores in different contexts or with different populations. A judgment of a high degree of reliability indicates that a test is dependable and relatively free from random errors of measurement.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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