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.

12 Nights of the Round Table

Lancelot du Lac * Kay * Galahad * Perceval * Tristram * Gawain * Gareth * Lamorak * Gaheris * Mordred * Bors * Bedivere

It was the linkage of the legend cycle of Arthur with that of Charlemagne that seems to have encouraged an early listing of twelve knights of the Round Table. But there are over 100 named knights associated with Arthurian legends, and tables of thirty-four and fifty knights noted. Those listed above, however, are the Round Table’s twelve chief characters. They include knights close to or related to Arthur, such as his foster brother, Sir Kay, his nephews Sir Gawain and Sir Gaheris, and his illegitimate son and nemesis, Sir Mordred.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

Tolstoy on History

“History is nothing but a collection of fables and useless trifles, cluttered up with a mass of unnecessary figures and proper names.”

Leo Tolstoy

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

Term of Art: Stovepipe Organization

“stovepipe organization: An organization whose different functions are separated so that each department has a narrow, rigid set of responsibilities and there is little discussion or collaboration among the various sectors.”

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

The Lost Generation

“Lost Generation: Group of U.S. writers who came of age during World War I and established their reputations in the 1920s; more broadly, the entire post-World War I generation. The term was coined by Gertrude Stein in a remark to Ernest Hemingway. The writers considered themselves ‘lost’ because their inherited values could not operate in the postwar world and they felt spiritually alienated from a country they considered hopelessly provincial and emotionally barren, The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, E.E. Cummings, Archibald Macleish, and Hart Crane, among others.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cyril Connolly on the Civilized and the Uncivilized

“The civilized are those who get more out of life than the uncivilized, and for this the uncivilized have never forgiven them.”

Cyril Connolly

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

Cyril Connolly

Baptism

“Baptism: The rite of Christian initiation. Baptism is performed by pouring or sprinkling water on a person or by immersing him briefly in water, accompanied usually with the formula ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ The rite is held to wash away the stain of original sin and to make the recipient a member of the Christian Church. Much controversy has surrounded the mode of administration and the age and which baptism should be administered.”

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

Monograph

“Monograph: A catalogue of artworks comprising one artist’s production. Compare catalogue raisonne.”

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

Lord Salibury on Experts

“If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.”

Lord Salisbury

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

Term of Art: Semantic Cueing

“semantic cueing: A strategy used to help an individual retrieve or read a word by giving hints with words of similar meaning. For example, it an individual is trying to remember the word compliment, giving the semantic cue praise may help make a meaningful connection to the word in question.

Similarly, cueing can be used to help an individual read an individual word. For example, if a reader stumbles on the word psychologist, an instructor may give the semantic cue a therapist or a doctor for your mind rather than providing a phonetic or decoding cue, such as ‘psych is pronounced sike.’”

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

Rotten Reviews: Paul Goodman

“The worst written book I have read in quite a long time.”

W. Brogan, The Guardian

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