“You know the self primarily by knowing yourself; knowing another human being is immensely difficult, perhaps impossible, though in our youth or even in our middle years we deceive ourselves about this.” – Harold Bloom, Omens of Millennium
Author: Tetman Callis
“Christianity in the early barbarian West may have thought it was being assimilated by a warrior aristocracy, but it ended up—even before the Crusades—accommodating itself to the heroic values of the nobility. The blending of the two cultures would have begun at the time of conversion, but it was an extended process.” – Roberta Frank, “The Beowulf Poet’s Sense of History”
“Security consciousness in OPD [Operations Division of the General Staff, United States Army] was so well established by the end of the war that the author and associate historians, though explicitly authorized by the Chief of Staff and the OPD chief to see all War Department files, had many administrative battles with the executive office and the record room before officers in charge became convinced that the chief of OPD had really meant that anyone, particularly a civilian, should see everything in Division files. While the historians found most of the staff members extremely co-operative, the policy of tight security was very strong.” – Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations Division, United States Army in World War Two
“The War Department, like every other installation in the zone of interior, found it harder and harder to maintain high standards for its enlisted detachment. Toward the close of 1943 OPD [Operations Division of the General Staff, United States Army] was authorized to overcome its difficulties in staffing its secretariat by using enlisted women (Wacs [Women’s Army Corps]) as well as enlisted men and civilians. By recruiting increasing numbers of enlisted women, the Division added to the strength of its clerical staff and in general maintained its exacting standards of competence. By V-J Day enlisted women made up nearly one-third of the strength of the total Division secretariat, nearly equaling each of the other two components.” – Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations Division, United States Army in World War Two
“The enlisted men and the junior officers of the Army, who seemed always to be feeling the effects without ever getting a glimmering of the cause for the confusion, coined the word ‘SNAFU,’ a term roughly equivalent to ‘Situation normal, all fouled up.’ ” – Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations Division, United States Army in World War Two
“The wages of heroism is death.” – J. R. R. Tolkien, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”
“Myth is alive at once and in all its parts, and dies before it can be dissected.” – J. R. R. Tolkien, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”
“They often worked under pressure against time. During early periods of the war, many actions were taken without prior precedent in the War Department. One of the foremost requirements seemed to be, ‘get a sound, workable solution’ and apply the lessons learned in meeting subsequent problems of a like nature.” – Lt. Col. J. P. McKnight, U.S. Army (quoted in Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations Division, United States Army in World War Two)
“What I appreciated about New York was that it didn’t pretend to safety. On the best of days it was like living in a glorious brawl. Surviving this year by year was an honor mark that people wore proudly. After five years you earned bragging rights. At seven you began to fit in.” – Alice Sebold, Lucky
“To be named is to proceed from nonexistence to existence.” – John Bussanich, “A Theoretical Interpretation of Hesiod’s Chaos”
“What the American public doesn’t know is what makes them the American public.” – Justin King, “The Roads to Aid and Foreign Policy Dynamics”
“Stalemate is not armistice or ceasefire. It is a condition in war in which each side conducts offensive operations that do not fundamentally alter the situation. Those operations can be very damaging and cause enormous casualties. The World War I battles of the Somme, Verdun, and Passchendaele were all fought in conditions of stalemate and did not break the stalemate.” – Frederick W. Kagan, et al., “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 19 [2023]” Institute for the Study of War
“Red-haired men in Ireland and elsewhere are always rogues.” – Joseph Jacobs (ed.), Celtic Fairy Tales
“Mammals and dinosaurs diverged from a common ancestor about 260 million years ago. Dinosaurs subsequently evolved to fill every possible ecological niche, from which they ruled the earth for 160 million years and became the most successful vertebrates in the history of the planet. During all that time we mammals managed to evolve into nothing larger than a cat.” – Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, “First Fine Careless Raptor”
“The MacDonald of Saddell Castle was a very great man indeed. Once, when dining with the Lord-Lieutenant, an apology was made to him for placing him so far away from the head of the table. ‘Where the MacDonald sits,’ was the proud response, ‘there is the head of the table.’ ” – Joseph Jacobs (ed.),Celtic Fairy Tales
“I say nothing beats the art o’ man, barring the bees.” – Joseph Jacobs (ed.), “King O’Toole and His Goose,” Celtic Fairy Tales
“It seems clear that untreated trauma arising from abuse during childhood constitutes a major risk factor for a variety of mental health and social problems later in life. The implications of this relationship are substantial. They suggest that some significant proportion of the psychological and psychosocial difficulties of adolescents and adults are directly attributable to childhood maltreatment.” – John M. Briere, Child Abuse Trauma: Theory and Treatment of the Lasting Effects
“In the 21st century, a tendency toward the elimination of the differences between the states of war and peace is becoming discernible. Wars are now not even declared, but having begun, are not going according to a pattern we are accustomed to.” – General Valeriy Gerasimov, “The Value of Science Is in the Foresight: New Challenges Demand Rethinking the Forms and Methods of Carrying Out Combat Operations”
“I am grateful for the knowledge that people who love us do so because it is they who are good, not us.” – Mikhail Iossel, author of Love Like Water, Love Like Fire
“God gave you a penis and a brain, and only enough blood to run one at a time.” – Robin Williams, 2002
“We were proved right. It didn’t seem to matter.” – Dr. Kate Marvel, “I’m a Climate Scientist. I’m not Screaming Into the Void Anymore”
“Extreme poverty and homelessness exemplify ways in which American society fails to provide minimal support for many of its citizens and, as a result, indirectly maltreats large numbers of children.” – John M. Briere, Child Abuse Trauma: Theory and Treatment of the Lasting Effects
“Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.” – Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.” – Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
“It would astonish one, unaccustomed to a slaveholding life, to see with what wonderful ease a slaveholder can find things, of which to make occasion to whip a slave. A mere look, word, or motion,—a mistake, accident, or want of power,—are all matters for which a slave may be whipped at any time. Does a slave look dissatisfied? It is said, he has the devil in him, and it must be whipped out. Does he speak loudly when spoken to by his master? Then he is getting high-minded, and should be taken down a button-hole lower. Does he forget to pull off his hat at the approach of a white person? Then he is wanting in reverence, and should be whipped for it. Does he ever venture to vindicate his conduct, when censured for it? Then he is guilty of impudence,—one of the greatest crimes of which a slave can be guilty. Does he ever venture to suggest a different mode of doing things from that pointed out by his master? He is indeed presumptuous, and getting above himself; and nothing less than a flogging will do for him. Does he, while ploughing, break a plow,—or, while hoeing, break a hoe? It is owing to his carelessness, and for it a slave must always be whipped.” – Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
“I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most horrid frauds,—and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders, find the strongest protection. Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. For of all the slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have found them to be the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.” – Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
“In August, 1832, my master attended a Methodist camp-meeting held in the Bay-side, Talbot county, and there experienced religion. I indulged a faint hope that his conversion would lead him to emancipate his slaves, and that, if he did not do this, it would, at any rate, make him more kind and humane. I was disappointed in both these respects. It neither made him to be humane to his slaves, nor to emancipate them. If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways; for I believe him to have been a much worse man after his conversion than before. Prior to his conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty. He made the greatest pretensions to piety. His house was the house of prayer. He prayed morning, noon, and night.” – Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
“Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder. It required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer to affect him. He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin (a whip made of raw cowhide).” – Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
“Your cat wants to do more than disrupt your life. Your cat wants to be your life. And if your cat isn’t already your life, do you even have a cat? Don’t try to use a laptop. Don’t try to shut a door. Don’t you dare try to sleep in whatever part of the bed you want. You want to take a shit in peace? Absolutely not. You want to have adult alone time with one or more consenting fellow grown humans? Fuck you. Your cat definitely wants to rule your entire world and direct every single action you take. Your cat knows better than you, and you know this to be true, and your cat knows you know.” – Sara Benincasa, “Which Local Animals Are Plotting to Ruin You?” (emphasis in original)
“No position will stand if the attacker makes his assault long enough, strong enough, and skillful enough.” – Mark Skinner Watson, Chief of Staff: Prewar Plans and Preparations, Vol. 1-1, United States Army in World War II