November 8, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Stephen Fry’s BBC mini-series “Fry’s Planet Word” discusses The Odyssey: “Homer’s genius was to create vivid, archetypal scenes that transcended time and place. The Sirens episode is only a few paragraphs long, yet has become embedded in our collective memory.” Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W4i6sWCbk0&t=8m22s
October 12, 2011 at 10:14 am
The sweetest and most inoffensive path of life leads through the avenues of science and learning; and whoever can either remove any obstruction in this way, or open up any new prospect, ought, so far, to be esteemed a benefactor to mankind. – David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
October 7, 2011 at 11:23 am
When any one, or more, shall take upon them to make laws, whom the people have not appointed to do so, they make laws without authority, which the people are not therefore bound to obey… [and] may constitute to themselves a new legislative, being in full liberty to resist the force of those, who without […]
February 28, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence. — William Blake, “The Fly.” Fun Fact: Esperanza Spalding put out a song based on this poem.
February 25, 2011 at 5:51 pm
The 1940 Census had revealed that some 10 million Americans had not been schooled past the fourth grade, and that one in eight could not read or write. This, primarily, was a southern problem. A higher proportion of blacks living in the North had completed grade school than whites in the South. — Ira Katznelson, […]
January 27, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. — often attributed to Confucius, whose Analects are studied in the second-semester freshman humanities, CC102: Antiquity and the Medieval World. [Tertiary research suggests this is derived from 寧可玉碎，不能瓦全, a Chinese proverb meaning roughly “Better be a piece of broken jade than unbroken tile.” Why this […]
December 10, 2010 at 4:37 pm
‘Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.’ She read, and indeed could read, no farther, but closed the book and stood up quickly. ‘That is all about the raising of Lazarus,’ she whispered abruptly and sternly, and stood without moving, turned away […]
December 9, 2010 at 2:12 pm
This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum Of Wisdom; hope no higher, though all the Stars Thou knew’st by name, and all th’ ethereal Powers, All secrets of the deep, all Nature’s works, Or works of God in Heav’n, Air, Earth, or Sea, And all riches of this World enjoy’dst, And all the rule, […]
December 7, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Democracy…is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. – Plato. Today’s analect, suggested by Sarah Cole (Core ’10, CAS ’12), addresses democracy, as does today’s panel discussion in CC101
December 6, 2010 at 12:09 pm
It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself. – J. S. Bach (whose St. Matthew Passion is studied in CC201)
