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Time To Send Boris To A Finishing School?
I know you are all shocked at the thought of Boris Johnson, BoJo to the Daily Mail, representing the United Kingdom at the grandest of Ferrero Rocher diplomatic soirées (and even those grand enough not to dream of offering Ferrero … Continue reading
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Tagged Boris Johnson, Finishing School, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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Cheese: Clifton Fadiman
Cheese is milk’s leap towards immortality. Clifton Fadiman Any Number Can Play (1957)
My Last Duchess: Robert Browning
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will’t please you sit and look at … Continue reading
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Tagged Duchess of Ferrara, Fra Pandolf, My Last Duchess, Robert Browning
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Unendurable Gambling: Rebecca West
The only people who can endure gambling are those who have a special neurosis on the subject…or people who have said ‘No’ to the universe, who do not want to find out about things. If one has said ‘Yes’, time … Continue reading
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Tagged Casinos, Gambling, Peter Wolfe, Rebecca West, time-wasting
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A Recipe For Living: Stephen Mackenna
One great use of keeping such a record as this is that one learns what blank things most of one’s days are: reading, talking, eating, writing without interest or emotion, the days go by, blank: and it is life that … Continue reading
Moonlight Sonata: Beethoven
Not a song, this time, but the extremely well-known Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. Somehow, although we know it so well, it never fails to work its magic for me, and I hope you too. The Piano Sonata No. 14 in … Continue reading
The Grandiose: Osbert Lancaster
A taste for the grandiose, like a taste for morphia, is, once it has been fully acquired, difficult to keep within bounds. Osbert Lancaster 1908-80 Home, Sweet Home (1939)
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Tagged grandiose architecture, grandiosity, Osbert Lancaster
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Che Fece … Il Gran Refiuto
For some people the day comes when they have to declare the great Yes or the great No. It’s clear at once who has the Yes ready within him; and saying it, he goes from honor to honor, strong in … Continue reading
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Tagged Choice and destiny, Choices, Constantine P. Cavafy, Edmund Keeley, Philip Sherrard, Yes or No
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Turning The Other Cheek: Sir John Vanbrugh
Belinda: Ay, but you know we must return good for evil. Lady Brute: That may be a mistake in the translation. Sir John Vanbrugh The Provok’d Wife (1697) Act I, scene i
The World Is Divided Into Two Classes: Dwight Morrow
The world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class. There’s far less competition. Dwight Morrow 1873-1931 Letter to his son, quoted in Harold Nicholson‘s … Continue reading
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