books tagged “quotations”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery novel. [via]

With words of wisdom filling each page, this collection of thoughts represents diverse perspectives on the subject of life and is culled from world leaders throughout historyheads of state, captains of industry, philosophers, military leaders, and theologians. The book is compiled by the editors of a magazine that millions of business leaders look to for insight into the world of businessand into the business of lifeand this timeless series reflects the much-respected Forbes philosophy on life and leadership. [via]

This book was conceived by Safran Foer Foer, Nicole Krauss, and Dave Eggers as a way to bring over a hundred authors together to promote progressive causes in the November 2004 election. The book is an imagining of what a dictionary might look like about thirty years hence, when all of the world's problems are solved and our current president is a distant memory. The book is by turns funny, outraged, utopian, and dyspeptic.

Over 150 writers contributed to the book, including: Stephen King, Robert Olen Butler, Glen David Gold, Richard Powers, Susan Straight, Sarah Vowell, Billy Collins, C.K. Williams, Colson Whitehead, Donald Antrim, Jonathan Franzen, Edwidge Danticat, Edward Hirsch, Joyce Carol Oates, Katha Pollitt, Padgett Powell, Paul Auster, Anthony Swofford, Julia Alvarez, Susan Choi, Jim Shepard, Aimee Bender, and Art Spiegelman.

Hardcover editions of the book will also include a CD compilation, with all new songs by the best musicians working. Among them: David Byrne, R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie, Moby, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, Yo La Tengo, Bright Eyes, They Might Be Giants, Elliott Smith, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [via]

If you love Jeopardy you will love this book. [via]

Una de las mas bellas fábulas escritas por estos tiempos ha sido Juan Salvador Gaviota. Richard Bach ha vendido mas de 30 millones de copias de esta producción. El valor de la libertad, de la amistad, el despego de lo material; tales son los elementos que forman esta fábula. [via]

This is the first-ever French-English edition of La Rochefoucaulds Réflexions, ou sentences et maximes morales, long known in English simply as the Maxims. The translation, the first to appear in forty years, is completely new and aims  unlike all previous versions  at being as literal as possible. This involves, among other things, rendering the same word  for example, amour-propre as self-love  as consistently throughout as good sense allows. This also means that the translators have made every effort to maintain La Rochefoucaulds word order. This allows the reader the best vantage point for viewing La Rochefoucaulds dramatic and paradoxical juxtapositions of words and ideas, juxtapositions of the utmost importance to understanding his thought. Despite the translations concern with literalness, careful attention has been paid to the nuances of the literary character of the Maxims.

In addition, this work contains a series of detailed indices that will greatly aid the reader in finding just the right maxim. Also included is the original French index of the work.

At the heart of La Rochefoucaulds Maxims lies the attempt to disclose the great disparity between the exaggerated self-estimation of men and women and their actual condition. As La Rochefoucauld (16131680) unremittingly unmasks various pretenses, he elaborately exposes the complexity of motives which underlie and inform human conduct: whereas many endeavor to reveal a unity in plurality, La Rochefoucauld endeavors to reveal a plurality in unity. Playful, yet serious, humorous, ironic, yet direct, poetic, yet philosophical, the Maxims penetrate to themes at the center of reflection and judgment about the human situation. Worthy of study at any time, the Maxims are especially relevant in the strange times in which we live.

This edition includes the 504 maxims of the definitive, fifth edition of 1678, along with 137 other maxims which were either withdrawn from earlier editions or published posthumously. In addition to the maxims, La Rochefoucaulds self-portrait and Cardinal de Retzs portrait of La Rochefoucauld are also included. [via]

Old-time country wisdom is as timely and fresh today as it was a hundred years ago. This book is a collection of sayings and quotations that celebrate the old-fashioned common sense of rural America. Enjoy a message of humor, hope and inspiration from patriots, philosophers, humorists, and of course the founding father of American practicality, Ben Franklin. Other sources quoted include Thomas Jefferson, Josh Billings, Will Rogers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Grandma Moses, and many more [via]

Les Pensées sont une Suvre posthume de Blaise Pascal, publiée en 1670 soit huit ans après sa mort. Pascal y réunit des notes qu'il destinait à l'élaboration d'une apologie de la religion chrétienne. L'Suvre restée à l'état d'ébauche affichait donc un caractère fragmentaire après sa mort. En ont découlé deux façons différentes d'éditer le texte après sa mort. La première consiste à organiser les fragments selon un ordre supposé voulu par l'auteur, c'est le cas par exemple de l'édition Brunschwig, qui va jusqu'à proposer des titres de chapitre sous lesquels il réunit des fragments. Mais on peut aussi effectuer un travail sur la genèse de l'Suvre. Dès lors on s'aperçoit que Pascal procédait en réunissant les différents fragments dans différentes « liasses », suivant un plan de travail non plus chronologique mais thématique. Sellier, en examinant par exemple les origines des papiers, propose donc une édition dans laquelle il vise à reconstituer ces différentes liasses telles qu'elles devaient être au moment de la mort de Pascal.

Blaise Pascal (19 juin 1623, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne - 19 août 1662, Paris) est un mathématicien et physicien, philosophe, moraliste et théologien français. Enfant précoce, il est éduqué par son père. Les tout premiers travaux de Pascal concernent les sciences naturelles et appliquées. Il contribue de manière importante à la construction dune calculatrice mécanique (la « Pascaline ») et à létude des fluides. Il a clarifié les concepts de pression et de vide, en étendant le travail de Torricelli. Pascal a écrit des textes importants sur la méthode scientifique. Mathématicien de premier ordre, il crée deux nouveaux champs de recherche majeurs : tout dabord il publie un traité de géométrie projective à seize ans ; ensuite il correspond, à partir de 1654, avec Pierre de Fermat à propos de la théorie des probabilités, qui influencera fortement les théories économiques modernes et les sciences sociales. Après une expérience mystique à la fin de 1654, il délaisse les mathématiques et la physique et se consacre à la réflexion philosophique et religieuse. Il écrit pendant cette période les Provinciales et les Pensées, ces dernières nétant publiées quaprès sa mort qui survient deux mois après son 39e anniversaire, alors quil a été malade toute sa vie (sujet à des migraines violentes en particulier).

Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623  August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a civil servant. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method. Following a mystical experience in late 1654, he had his "second conversion", abandoned his scientific work, and devoted himself to philosophy and theology. His two most famous works date from this period: the Lettres provinciales and the Pensées, the former set in the conflict between Jansenists and Jesuits. In this year, he also wrote an important treatise on the arithmetic of triangles. Between 1658 and 1659 he wrote on the cycloid and its use in calculating the volume of solids. Pascal had poor health throughout his life and his death came just two months after his 39th birthday. - Wikipedia [via]

This is the authentic Havamal, the famous northern guide on how to manage everyday life, which gave spiritual nourishment to the Vikings on their long journeys across the seas to discover new lands. It advises on the art of living, friendship, money, happiness, eating, traveling and even positive thinking. [via]

A collection of unabashed sayings by Harry Truman is accompanied by hundreds of personal anecdotes, as well as excerpts from his diaries, letters, speeches, and press conferences. [via]