Mr.Piffka's Quotes - Part Deux

"Secret law is an instrument of tyranny." - Peter Swire (1958- )

"To make the child in your own image is a capital crime, for your image is not worth repeating. The child knows this and you know it. Consequently you hate each other. " - Karl Shapiro (1913-2000)




(Ed. note: I'd say we're more like brothers in arms - both working for the same DNA...)

So much needless tragedy--Iraq, Darfur, Somalia and on and on. I somehow keep thinking of the Paul Simon song, Born at the Right Time especially the words, "Never been lonely, never been lied to."

Here are the last lines of the song:

Too many people on the bus from the airport
Too many holes in the crust of the earth
The planet groans
Every time it registers another birth

But among the reeds and rushes
A baby girl was found
Her eyes as clear as centuries
Her silky hair was brown

Never been lonely
Never been lied to
Never had to scuffle in fear
Nothing denied to
Born at the instant
The church bells chime
And the whole world whispering
Born at the right time

Quote for December 24th
"[Children] dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music."

- William Stafford (1914-1993)

Quote for December 25th
"For as long as space endures
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world."

- Shantideva (8th century)

Quote for December 26th
"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives."

- Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Quote for December 27th
"All the people like us are We,
And everyone else is They."

- Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Pif, I love William Stafford and have tried my best to find "The Animal that Drank up Sound" without success. Google just doesn't work for me. It has become a money tree.

Hi Letty -- You mean to buy it? I Googled it, putting the title in quotes and found a lot. Maybe it will help you. Looks like you can get a $45 first edition, a $5 edition from abebooks and several $1 editions from Amazon.

Mr.P says that William Stafford was one of the guest professors at the University of Washington when he was getting his degree in creative writing. Stafford was the Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress from 1970 to 1971 and the post is now called Poet Laureate. Hmmm. Mr. P was in Viet Nam then, so it must have been after that.

Here are the first few results from Googling: "The Animal that Drank up Sound" Stafford --

Amazon.com: The Animal That Drank Up Sound: Books: William Stafford
Amazon.com: The Animal That Drank Up Sound: Books: William Stafford by William Stafford.
www.amazon.com/Animal-That-Drank-Up-Sound/dp/0152035648 - 97k - Cached - Similar pages

TomFolio.com: The Animal That Drank Up Sound, Stafford, William ...
The Animal That Drank Up Sound, Stafford, William and Frasier, Debra (Illustrator), Plum Books.
www.tomfolio.com/bookdetailsmem. asp?book=28695&mem=302 - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

TomFolio.com - William Stafford Biography and a list of his Books ...
William Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1914. He graduated from the University of Kansas in ... The Animal That Drank Up Sound (children's book). ...
www.tomfolio.com/AuthorInfo/authors/WilliamStafford.asp - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

0152035648: The Animal That Drank Up Sound - AbeBooks.com
The Animal That Drank Up Sound (ISBN: 0152035648) William Stafford. Bookseller: Wonder Book (Frederick, MD, U.S.A.), Price: US$ 4.99 [Convert Currency] ...
www.abebooks.com/ sm-search-0152035648-the-animal-that-drank-up-sound--is!0152035648.html - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

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"Every law is an infraction of liberty."

- Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
.

No, honey. I have no intention of buying it, and that is the problem. I had all that stuff when I taught and we also had a poet in the school program. I just wanted to find the poems of William Stafford on line. Another one was "Fifteen", which was simply a "rights of passage" type thing.

As I said, google no longer allows me to find stuff that is free.

Oh, I see. Well, that explains all the library editions for sale on Amazon. You think it is Google keeping us from free stuff? I thought it was the poets (or their estates) not allowing their poetry online.

I don't know WHERE that poem is in the jumble which is Mr.Piffka's office. He has a small booklet of Stafford's poems, probably from that class he took. I imagine that's where the poem came from if you can't find it online. (And I couldn't either.)

I'll look for the book. If I can find it, I'll copy those poems and send them to you. xxp

"Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term. One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism."

- Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Ah, Piff. Carl Sagan. I became very intrigued with the man after seeing that movie with Jodie Foster. Can't recall it right now.

Love this one as it is so perfect for today:

weasel words (e.g., The separation of powers of the U.S. Constitution specifies that the United States may not conduct a war without a declaration by Congress. On the other hand, Presidents are given control of foreign policy and the conduct of wars, which are potentially powerful tools for getting themselves re-elected. Presidents of either political party may therefore be tempted to arrange wars while waving the flag and calling the wars something else -- "police actions," "armed incursions," "protective reaction strikes," "pacification," "safeguarding American interests," and a wide variety of "operations," such as "Operation Just Cause." Euphemisms for war are one of a broad class of reinventions of language for political purposes. Talleyrand said, "An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public").

Saturday, December 30th --

"Morality is of the highest importance…but for us, not for God."

- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Sunday, December 31st -- Happy Old Year!!!

"What I am saying is that if we cannot define a clock, we cannot give a meaning to time."

- Leon Max Lederman (1922- ), The God Particle

Loved the Tolstoy quote...

Yup Osso, Tolstoy had a slightly jaded but accurate view of peeps.

I see I missed January 1st... here it is:

"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."

- Carl Jung (1875-1961)


And here's for January 2nd:

"Some are mathematicians
some are carpenters' wives
I don't know how it all got started
I don't know what they do with their lives."

- Bob Dylan (1941- ), Tangled Up in Blue

"I learn by going where I have to go."

- Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)




.... and Yesterday's


"I had not loved enough. I'd been busy, busy, so busy, preparing for life, while life floated by me, quiet and swift as a regatta. "

- Lorene Cary (1956- )

Both seem so true for me... <SIGH>