“Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for the others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish for ever.” WorldNeedsHas BeensReasonGivenResultsQualityMoralStruggleModernSecurityPossibilityGoes OnMachinesMethodProductionsFoolishChosenEaseNo ReasonStarvationEnergeticGood NatureOverwork Book:In Praise of Idleness Source: In Praise of Idleness
“Hat head is a sad affliction wherein the chosen hat and the selected hairstyle are grossly incompatible. The unfortunate combination results in a condition that can be hidden only with the application of another hat.” ResultsConditionsChosenCombinationHatsApplicationUnfortunateAfflictionSelectedHairstyles Book:Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks Source: Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks
“Nonviolent action involves opposing the opponent's power, including his police and military capacity, not with the weapons chosen by him but by quite different means. Repression by the opponent is used against his own power position in a kind of political "ju-jitsu" and the very sources of his power thus reduced or removed, with the result that his political and military position is seriously weakened or destroyed.” KindMeanDifferentActionPoliticalUsedResultsPowerMilitaryPositionSourceWeaponsCapacityPoliceIncludingChosenDestroyedOpponentsRepressionOpposing Author:Gene Sharp
“I am convinced that in the arts, committees are useless. What is necessary are people like Karajan, [fellow recording producer John] Culshaw and me; we know not only how to achieve the best artistic results but how to attract the public and carry out the whole operation with carefully chosen collaborators. Democracy is fatal for the arts; it leads only to chaos or the achievement of new and lower common denominators of quality.” PeopleKnowsArtWholeResultsCommonQualityDemocracyAchieveAchievementFellowsChaosConvincedChosenProducersArtisticUselessOperationsCommitteesCollaboratorsCommon DenominatorBest Artist Author:Walter Legge
“A convention is a social pattern we have chosen to prefer over whatever the raw world simply proffers. It is a sign of the operation of the mind, drawing the assent of a sufficient number of other minds so that the agreement will be widely operative. A convention is not a custom; a custom is a habit in which a sufficient number acquiesce. A custom can appear as a convention, but it is really a lesser act, the result of passive acceptance rather than of the imposition of design. It is the difference between learning to live by the annual flooding of the river or by a calendar.” WorldMindSocialDifferencesResultsNumbersDesignAcceptanceHabitRiversPatternsDrawingChosenOperationsSufficientAgreementLive ByCustomsConventionsPassiveCalendarsAnnualsFloodingImposition Author:A. Bartlett Giamatti
“Last evening attended Croghan Lodge International Order of Odd Fellows. Election of officers. Chosen Noble Grand. These social organizations have a number of good results. All who attend are educated in self-government. This in a marked way. They bind society together. The well-to-do and the poor should be brought together as much as possible. The separation into classes--castes--is our danger. It is the danger of all civilizations.” WayShouldWellsSelfGovernmentTogetherLastsOrderSocialPoorResultsNumbersClassDangerCivilizationOrganizationElectionFellowsInternationalNobleSeparationChosenEducatedEveningOddOfficersCastesSelf-governmentLodgesSocial Organization Author:Rutherford B. Hayes