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.

A Four-Page Learning Support for United States History

This year, I’ve been assigned to co-teach a United States History class. I’ll spare you the details other than to say that a student I’ve worked with several years, and who is developing into an exceptional human being, asked me for some textual support in the course. So I assembled these four pages of short articles on U.S. history from The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002).

Can you use them?

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Book of Answers: Troilus and Criseyde, Troilus and Cressida

When was Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde written?  Between 1385 and 1390.

When was Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida written? It was first performed around 1602 and first published in 1609.

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Contraction

“Contraction (noun): The shortening of word or phrase by omitting a letter or letters, especially within the word, and a curtailment reflected in its pronunciation; an internally truncated word or phrase, with the omitted letter or letters usually indicated by an apostrophe. Adjective: contractional, contractive; Verb: contract.

‘The word that excited Swift to greatest fury was mob, a vulgar contraction of mobile vulgus.’ Ernest Gowers, Plain Words.”

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

Motivation

“motivation: Factors within a human being or animal that arouse and direct goal-oriented behavior. Motivation has long been a central subject of study in psychology. Early researchers, influenced by Charles Darwin, ascribed much of animal and human behavior to instinct. Sigmund Freud believed that much of human behavior was also based on irrational instinctive urges or unconscious motives. Walter Cannon proposed that basic human drives served homeostatic functions by directing energies toward the reduction of physiological tensions. Behavioral psychologists, in contrast, stress the importance of external goals in prompting action, while humanistic psychologists examine the role of felt needs. Cognitive psychologists have found that a motive sensitizes a person to information relating to that motive: a hungry subject, for example, will perceive food stimuli as larger than other stimuli. See also behavior genetics, human nature, learning.”

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

Alexandre Dumas on Education

“How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.”

Alexandre Dumas fils

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

“Minor” Arts

“Minor” Arts: Generally, all art forms except the major ones of painting, sculpture, and architecture. See “Low Art,” Decorative Arts, Applied Arts.

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

Term of Art: Standard

“standard: An officially sanctioned description of what a student is expected to learn and how well it should be learned in specific subjects taught in school. Standards may be created by school districts, states, federal agencies, subject-matter organizations, or advocacy groups. Although the federal government is by law barred from creating or influencing curriculum, various federal agencies have done so, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S Department of Education. Following the example of the National Assessment Governing Board, which supervises the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress, most states identify achievement levels on their tests as basic (adequate); proficient (skilled); or advanced (superior). See also content standards; performance standards.”

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

Comma Spice

“Comma Splice: Improper use of a comma, above all between clauses requiring either a conjunction or a full stop (semicolon, colon, or period). Also COMMA BLUNDER, COMMA FAULT.

‘Mr. Mudrick is rude, contentious, incorrigible comma spliced, headlong, raunchy, scornful and know-it-all.’ John Leonard, The New York Times.”

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

Write it Right: Deliver

“Deliver. ‘He delivered an oration,’ or ‘delivered a lecture.’ Say, He made an oration or gave a lecture.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, AmbroseWrite it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

George Steiner on the Book

“The age of the book is almost gone.”

George Steiner

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