Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Fab Fiction

The three greatest works of fiction are the Bible, the US Constitution, and the New York Times.

---Jay Taber

Monday, June 09, 2008

Faith and Behavior

The novel was forbidden in the Spanish colonies by the Inquisition. The Inquisitors considered this literary genre, the novel, to be as dangerous for the spiritual faith of the Indians as for the moral and political behavior of society, and, of course, they were absolutely right.

--A Writer's Reality by Mario Vargas Llosa

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Kick the Door Down

I take a very traditional view of democracy. When people want to be included they don't wait for an invitation; they kick the door down...

--Frank Furedi

Friday, June 06, 2008

The Waitress Was New

Apart from the fact that on the whole I didn't give a damn, the day was off to a good start.

---The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Lives Forgotten

Unlike the Jews, they share neither a Messianic visionary cult nor the consciousness of a great historical past. Oral traditions survive only through strong genealogical awareness; their memories do not extend beyond four, or at best five, generations, limited to those ancestors a living person still remembers---and at his death these ancient ones are forgotten, since no one else has known them alive. There are no mythical or legendary heroes, no stories about their origin, no need for any justification of their worldwide nomadism...

Close to half a million were exterminated by the Germans between 1939 and 1945.

---Jan Yoors' The Gypsies