“How could poetry and literature have arisen from something as plebian as the cuneiform equivalent of grocery-store bar codes? I prefer the version in which Prometheus brought writing to man from the gods. But then I remind myself that...we should not be too fastidious about where great ideas come from. Ultimately, they all come from a wrinkled organ that at its healthiest has the color and consistency of toothpaste, and in the end only withers and dies.” MenShouldWritingIdeasEndsDiesLiteratureColorStoresBarsVersionsCodeOrgansConsistencyGroceriesGreat IdeaGrocery StoresToothpastePrometheusFastidiousCuneiform Author:Alice Weaver Flaherty
“The alphabet was a great invention, which enabled men to store and to learn with little effort what others had learned the hard way-that is, to learn from books rather than from direct, possibly painful, contact with the real world.” MenWorldWayLittlesBookRealHardLanguageEffortDirectPainfulStoresInventionContactReal WorldAlphabetHard WayGreat Inventions Author:B. F. Skinner
“Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands.” MenFirstsHumansHas BeensHandsStepsProgressHeardMajorityPossessionValuableStoresDestroyedAbyssSeekersEvery StepStirringHuman ProgressValuable ThingsTruth Seekers Author:H. L. Mencken