“„Well James,“ he said addressing me, as he does the officers in his command, informally, „it is true that many of our recent inventions will become much improved with use, and one day soon we may even have engines which do not break down with so much wheezing and groaning every two days of use, but I firmly believe that, while machines are perfectible, men are not. Even a perfect machine must be run by men and, hence, subject to human errors. Take our situation as an example. Our machines keep us safe and warm, yet a simple mistake on our part, such as choosing one channel over another, could bring it all to naught and place us at the mercy of elemental nature. I believe we should work on the perfection of men before we worry overly about the perfection of his machines.” ProgressMankindIndustryMachinesHumankindInventionsPower Of NatureHumankind Human Nature Book:North With Franklin: The Lost Journals of James Fitzjames Source: North With Franklin: The Lost Journals of James Fitzjames
“Tickler: I hate novelties. Is the prosecution mania about to subside, think you? Now-a-days, every word is said to be actionable. You cannot open your mouth, or put pen to paper, without feeing a libel-lawyer. An Edinburgh Whig, and really some of the London ones seem no better, is an animal without a skin. [The Whigs] have entered into a cowardly compact to prosecute every syllable that shall ever be written against any one of their degraded and slanderous selves.” LibelLitigationWhigs Book:Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 63: 1822-04 Source: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 63: 1822-04
“Oh for a book and a shady nook, Either indoors or out, with the green leaves whispering overhead, or the street cries all about. Where I may read at all my ease both of the new and old, For a jolly good book whereon to look is better to me than gold” LooksMayBookStreetsCryGoldGreenEaseGood BookWhisperingOverheadShadyJollyGreen Leaves Author:John Wilson
