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.

Taino

“Taino: Arawak Indians of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. They also inhabited Puerto Rico and the eastern tip of Cuba. The grew cassava and corn, hunted birds and small animals, and fished. They were skillful at working stone and wood. Their society consisted of three tiers—nobles, commoners, and slaves—and they were ruled by hereditary chiefs and subchiefs. Their religious beliefs centered on a hierarchy of nature spirits and ancestors. They became extinct within 100 years of the Spanish conquest.”

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

Pablo Picasso on God as an Artist

“God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.”

Pablo Picasso, quoted in Francoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso (1964)

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Jose (Raul) Capablanca

“Jose (Raul) Capablanca: (1888-1942) Cuban chess master. He learned chess from his father at 4 and beat Cuba’s best player at 12. He defeated Emanuel Lasker to become world champion in 1921; in 1927 he was defeated by Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946). From 1916 to 1924 he did not lose a game. In 1921 he published an instruction manual, Chess Fundamentals.

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

Steve’s Trail Descriptions: Salisbury 2020 Trash Trail Connector to Eastern Marsh Bike Path

[My good pal Steve lives in Salisbury, Massachusetts, which is in the far northeastern corner of Massachusetts; indeed, Seabrook, New Hampshire is the next town north. I received this text from him this morning with the announcement that he plans, in his retirement, to o become a Bike Guide author. Here’s an excerpt from his upcoming article, “Salisbury on a Bike?” He asked me to read and critique the piece. I laughed out loud, then knew right away that I wanted to pin it to the top of this blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Riding the Trash Trail from the back door.

This short transit to the real bike trail gains a pathetic 20 feet of elevation over 1/8 mile cresting atop Garbage Truck Heights. 
A sassy eight foot section of single track along the way up will keep the short attention span crowd occupied for about 2 seconds.

The descent down Cemetery Ridge to the crossing of Route 1 should be uneventful save for Halloween and when the biker gangs are in town (no, not mountain bikers). Once across Route 1 ride south against traffic 100 yards or so and try not to get hit by someone texting in a car or pickup.

A left onto the dirt road known as Murderer’s Meander (M.M.) promises a thrilling 1/2 mile descent on dirt and gravel to one of the most scenic ambush locations on the North Shore.

You are now on The Eastern Marsh Bike Path

Something to look forward to coming back home?
 When you are huffing back up M.M. after a 16 mile ride heading home…don’t mind the 300 lb bearded gent with the giant German Shepard if he’s around.

He’s friendly. I promise the encounter will make you go faster up that last 70 feet of vertical than you thought possible.

Term of Art: Teacher-Directed Classroom

“teacher-directed classroom: A classroom in which the teacher is in charge and makes all the important decisions about the content and pace of instruction; also known as the teacher-dominated classroom. The teacher-directed classroom is sometimes used as a derogatory term compared unfavorably with the learner-centered classroom, where students are in charge of their own learning. See also teacher-centered instruction. Contrast child-centered education; learner-centered classroom.”

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

Dave Barry on Meetings

“Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other large organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot actually masturbate.”

Dave Barry

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

Modern Art

“Modern Art: In strict historical terminology, modern art began in the middle of the 19th century with the realism of Gustave Courbet. At that time, art began to free itself from the strict requirements of subject matter and developed increasingly toward preoccupation with form. In general, it also repudiated many of the techniques of pleasing the viewer devised by past canonical artists.”

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

Write It Right: Individual

“Individual. As a noun, this word means something that cannot be considered as divided, a unit. But it is incorrect to call a man, woman, or child an individual, except with reference to mankind, to society, or to a class of persons. It will not do to say ‘An individual stood in the street,’ when no mention of allusion has been made, nor is going to be made, to some aggregate of individuals considered as a whole.”

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

Catchword

“Catchword (noun): A word associated with a particular person or thing or crystallizing an issue; identifying slogan; in printing, a guideword at the top of the page; as in a dictionary, to indicate the first or last word on that page; a striking, catchy, attention-getting word heading an advertisement.

‘As he turned away, I saw the Daily Wire sticking out of his shabby pocket. He bade me farewell in quite a blaze of catchwords, and went stumping up the road.’ G.K. Chesterton, in The Man Who Was Chesterton.

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

Elbert Hubbard on Editors

“Editor: A person employed on a newspaper whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff and to see that the chaff is printed.”

Elbert Hubbard

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