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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self-Reliance
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.

quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.

quote by Julie Arabi
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I Wanna Be Adored

I don't have to sell my soul
He's already in me
I don't need to sell my soul
He's already in me
I wanna be adored
I wanna be adored
I don't have to sell my soul
He's already in me
I don't need to sell my soul
He's already in me

I wanna be adored
I wanna be adored

Adored

I wanna be adored
You adore me
You adore me
You adore me
I wanna
I wanna
I wanna be adored
I wanna
I wanna
I wanna be adored
I wanna
I wanna
I wanna be adored
I wanna
I wanna
I gotta be adored

I wanna be adored

song performed by The Stone Roses from The Stone Roses
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I Wanna Be Adored

I dont have to sell my soul
Hes already in me
I dont need to sell my soul
Hes already in me
I wanna be adored
I wanna be adored
I dont have to sell my soul
Hes already in me
I dont need to sell my soul
Hes already in me
I wanna be adored
I wanna be adored
Adored
I wanna be adored
You adore me
You adore me
You adore me
I wanna
I wanna
I wanna be adored
Wanna
I wanna
I wanna be adored
I wanna
I wanna
I wanna be adored
I wanna
I wanna
I gotta be adored
I wanna be adored

song performed by Stone Roses
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In This Existence

A consistency of a love wanted and missed,
Seems as I age with desire for it...
To grow distant from my wishes.

I thought I had been in its midst,
On more than just one occasion.
But as misunderstandings go...
So did my feelings,
For a long lasting relationship.
Since this was not on someone else's list.
Someone I believed matched perfectly my wish.

A consistency of a love wanted and missed,
Seems as I age with desire for it...
To grow distant from my wishes.
But I'm hoping on my journey I will know,
What the having of true love means...
With a sharing it to grow.

I thought I had been in its midst,
On more than just one occasion.
But as misunderstandings go...
So did my feelings,
For a long lasting relationship.
This was not on someone else's list.
I learned to release with a letting go of it.

Although...
I am forever the optimist.
I'm hoping on my journey I will know,
What the having of true love means...
With a sharing it to grow,
In this existence.

That is my wish,
In this existence.
A consistency of a love,
Wanted and not to miss.

In this existence,
I remain optimistic...
For a consistency of a love,
Wanted and not to miss.

That is my wish,
In this existence.
For a consistency of a love,
Wanted and not to miss.

In this existence,

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

quote by R.W. Emerson, Self-Reliance
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Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society

Epigraph

Υδραν φονεύσας, μυρίων τ᾽ ἄλλων πόνων
διῆλθον ἀγέλας . . .
τὸ λοίσθιον δὲ τόνδ᾽ ἔτλην τάλας πόνον,
. . . δῶμα θριγκῶσαι κακοῖς.

I slew the Hydra, and from labour pass'd
To labour — tribes of labours! Till, at last,
Attempting one more labour, in a trice,
Alack, with ills I crowned the edifice.

You have seen better days, dear? So have I —
And worse too, for they brought no such bud-mouth
As yours to lisp "You wish you knew me!" Well,
Wise men, 't is said, have sometimes wished the same,
And wished and had their trouble for their pains.
Suppose my Œdipus should lurk at last
Under a pork-pie hat and crinoline,
And, latish, pounce on Sphynx in Leicester Square?
Or likelier, what if Sphynx in wise old age,
Grown sick of snapping foolish people's heads,
And jealous for her riddle's proper rede, —
Jealous that the good trick which served the turn
Have justice rendered it, nor class one day
With friend Home's stilts and tongs and medium-ware,—
What if the once redoubted Sphynx, I say,
(Because night draws on, and the sands increase,
And desert-whispers grow a prophecy)
Tell all to Corinth of her own accord.
Bright Corinth, not dull Thebes, for Lais' sake,
Who finds me hardly grey, and likes my nose,
And thinks a man of sixty at the prime?
Good! It shall be! Revealment of myself!
But listen, for we must co-operate;
I don't drink tea: permit me the cigar!
First, how to make the matter plain, of course —
What was the law by which I lived. Let 's see:
Ay, we must take one instant of my life
Spent sitting by your side in this neat room:
Watch well the way I use it, and don't laugh!
Here's paper on the table, pen and ink:
Give me the soiled bit — not the pretty rose!
See! having sat an hour, I'm rested now,
Therefore want work: and spy no better work
For eye and hand and mind that guides them both,
During this instant, than to draw my pen
From blot One — thus — up, up to blot Two — thus —
Which I at last reach, thus, and here's my line
Five inches long and tolerably straight:

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning (1871)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The Foolish Thing To Do

I was thinking just the other day
How it started in such a strange way
It ended in a strange way too
And this is why I am singing this song for you
Its a foolish thing to do
Such a foolish thing to do
Give your heart to someone new
Its a foolish thing to do
(yeah)
Weve all made the same mistakes
One foolish glance one smile we made
A hundred thousand feel this way
While other people are just waiting for the day
Its a foolish thing to do
Such a foolish foolish thing to do
Go when you want it
When you need it
Dont just believe it
For the first an last time
Stop !
Youd better look around
One day youll walk into the room
Your eyes will meet
Youll fall in love too soon
The next time you might hesitate
The chance is all those rooms have eyes
So dont forget
Its a foolish thing to do
Such a such a foolish thing to do
To go and give your heart and soul to someone new
Its a foolish foolish thing to do
So when you feel it
When you can touch it
And you believe it
For the first an last time
Stop !
Youd better look around
Its a foolish thing to do
Such a foolish thing to do

song performed by Heaven 17
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Adored Exploration

My midnights are not spent,
In low tides.
Or staring at the stars,
That twinkle bright.
I might,
Decide...
To shake awake imaginations.

I don't stay up to wonder why...
Some people rather sleep,
Away their time!
I might,
Decide...
To shake awake imaginations.

Give me a chance to fly and soar.
Give me a reason to want more...
To fly off shores to me that bore.
In adored...
Exploration!

And dance on mountaintops without stop!
Or 'rock' with a beat I like until I drop.
And not be mocked by folks who try to rob,
My adored...
Exploration!

Give me a chance to fly and soar.
Give me a reason to want more...
To fly off shores to me that bore.
In adored...
Exploration!

My midnights are not spent,
In low tides.
Or staring at the stars,
That twinkle bright.
I might,
Decide...
To shake awake imaginations.

Give me a chance to fly and soar.
Give me a reason to want more...
To fly off shores to me that bore.
In adored...
Exploration!

Give me a chance to fly and soar.
In adored...
Exploration!

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Philosophers Stone

Out on the highways and the by-ways all alone
Im still searching for, searching for my home
Up in the morning, up in the morning out on the road
And my head is aching and my hands are cold
And Im looking for the silver lining, silver lining in the clouds
And Im searching for and
Im searching for the philosophers stone
And its a hard road, its a hard road daddy-o
When my job is turning lead into gold
He was born in the back street, born in the back street jelly roll
Im on the road again and Im searching for
The philosophers stone
Can you hear that engine
Woe can you hear that engine drone
Well Im on the road again and Im searching for
Searching for the philosophers stone
Up in the morning, up in the morning
When the streets are white with snow
Its a hard road, its a hard road daddy-o
Up in the morning, up in the morning
Out on the job
Well youve got me searching for
Searching for, the philosophers stone
Even my best friends, even my best friends they dont know
That my job is turning lead into gold
When you hear that engine, when you hear that engine drone
Im on the road again and Im searching for the philosophers stone
Its a hard road even my best friends they dont know
And Im searching for, searching for the philosophers stone

song performed by Van Morrison
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Loveless

La, la, la, la
Whatcha doin', whatcah doin', whatcha doin' right now
Have you found another lover, are you out of town
I won't leave another message right after the tone
Cause I know you got the others and you still don't call
There's no magic (no magic) no sunshine (sunshine)
No rainbow (no rainbow) in my life
Look at all the things you took from me
Baby, I'm loveless (loveless)
Feelin' so hopeless (hopeless)
Feelin' so foolish (foolish)
For bein' so helpless
Baby, I'm loveless (loveless)
It's like you couldn't care less (care less)
If you did, you'd come right back to me
Oohla, la, la, la
Tell me what I'm gonna do about this feelin' inside
(What I'm gonna do)
Got me tossin' and turnin' in the middle of the night
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Like an animal strugglin' in a trap
Cause I can't go forward and I can't go back (I can't go back)
There's no springtime (no springtime) just winter (winter)
And each mile (and each mile) gets colder
Look at all that pain you took from me
Baby, I'm loveless (loveless)
Feelin' so hopeless (hopeless)
Feelin' so foolish (foolish)
For bein' so helpless
Baby, I'm loveless (loveless)
It's like you couldn't care less (care less)
If you did, you'd come right back to me
(Why did you leave me)
Why did you leave me
(Why did you leave me) [why did you leave me]
[Why did you leave me]
Why did, why did
And the sun don't shine
It's just wintertime
And every night
There's no one in my life
Look at all the things you took from me
Baby, I'm loveless (loveless)
Feelin' so hopeless (hopeless)
Feelin' so foolish (foolish)
For bein' so helpless
Baby, I'm loveless (loveless)
It's like you couldn't care less (care less)
If you did, you'd come right back
I'm loveless (loveless)

[...] Read more

song performed by Rod Stewart
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Tirocinium; or, a Review of Schools

It is not from his form, in which we trace
Strength join'd with beauty, dignity with grace,
That man, the master of this globe, derives
His right of empire over all that lives.
That form, indeed, the associate of a mind
Vast in its powers, ethereal in its kind,
That form, the labour of Almighty skill,
Framed for the service of a freeborn will,
Asserts precedence, and bespeaks control,
But borrows all its grandeur from the soul.
Hers is the state, the splendour, and the throne,
An intellectual kingdom, all her own.
For her the memory fills her ample page
With truths pour’d down from every distant age;
For her amasses an unbounded store,
The wisdom of great nations, now no more;
Though laden, not encumber’d with her spoil;
Laborious, yet unconscious of her toil;
When copiously supplied, then most enlarged;
Still to be fed, and not to be surcharged.
For her the Fancy, roving unconfined,
The present muse of every pensive mind,
Works magic wonders, adds a brighter hue
To Nature’s scenes than Nature ever knew.
At her command winds rise and waters roar,
Again she lays them slumbering on the shore;
With flower and fruit the wilderness supplies,
Or bids the rocks in ruder pomp arise.
For her the Judgment, umpire in the strife
That Grace and Nature have to wage through life,
Quick-sighted arbiter of good and ill,
Appointed sage preceptor to the Will,
Condemns, approves, and, with a faithful voice,
Guides the decision of a doubtful choice.
Why did the fiat of a God give birth
To yon fair Sun and his attendant Earth?
And, when descending he resigns the skies,
Why takes the gentler Moon her turn to rise,
Whom Ocean feels through all his countless waves,
And owns her power on every shore he laves?
Why do the seasons still enrich the year,
Fruitful and young as in their first career?
Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees,
Rock’d in the cradle of the western breeze:
Summer in haste the thriving charge receives
Beneath the shade of her expanded leaves,
Till Autumn’s fiercer heats and plenteous dews
Dye them at last in all their glowing hues.—
‘Twere wild profusion all, and bootless waste,
Power misemploy’d, munificence misplaced,

[...] Read more

poem by William Cowper
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Complementary viewpoints for friend Chandra

Philosophy and poetry
are not completely different.
Each represents a way to see
What is not always evident.

Philosophers and poets try
to understand the universe.
The answers which they can supply.
Expressed in turgid prose or verse.

Philosophers can be abstruse
and difficult to understand
Because of how they phrase their views.
I don’t dismiss them out of hand.

I much prefer the poets verse
To endless reams of complex prose.
I do not think I am perverse
Simplicity I must suppose.

Is really what appeals to me.
the poets seek to entertain
and yet express with clarity.
Philosophers try to explain.

Their reasoning in great detail.
They just succeed in boring me
Their efforts are to no avail
I will admit quite openly

I simply cannot spare the time
To plough through densely written prose.
But I find poetry sublime
I like the way it ebbs and flows.

The insight that a poet shows
can entertain and educate.
Philosophers try to impose
their views, discouraging debate.

Which does not sit too well with me.
Folks can’t stand being patronised
and will rebel instinctively.
A fact that poets recognise.

They are content to share their thoughts.
With anyone who chooses to
read the verses they have wrought.
Which may express a different view

[...] Read more

poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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The Interpretation of Nature and

I.

MAN, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature: beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.


II.

Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions.

III.

Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.

IV.

Towards the effecting of works, all that man can do is to put together or put asunder natural bodies. The rest is done by nature working within.

V.

The study of nature with a view to works is engaged in by the mechanic, the mathematician, the physician, the alchemist, and the magician; but by all (as things now are) with slight endeavour and scanty success.

VI.

It would be an unsound fancy and self-contradictory to expect that things which have never yet been done can be done except by means which have never yet been tried.

VII.

The productions of the mind and hand seem very numerous in books and manufactures. But all this variety lies in an exquisite subtlety and derivations from a few things already known; not in the number of axioms.

VIII.

Moreover the works already known are due to chance and experiment rather than to sciences; for the sciences we now possess are merely systems for the nice ordering and setting forth of things already invented; not methods of invention or directions for new works.

IX.

The cause and root of nearly all evils in the sciences is this -- that while we falsely admire and extol the powers of the human mind we neglect to seek for its true helps.

X.

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding; so that all those specious meditations, speculations, and glosses in which men indulge are quite from the purpose, only there is no one by to observe it.

XI.

As the sciences which we now have do not help us in finding out new works, so neither does the logic which we now have help us in finding out new sciences.

XII.

The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than to help the search after truth. So it does more harm than good.

XIII.

[...] Read more

poem by Sir Francis Bacon
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Who's Better Than The One Who's Done It

Who's best to deliver and with an expected...
Consistency.

'Who's better than the one who has already done it? '

Who's best to deliver the better effect,
And...
With consistency?

'Who's better than the one who has already done it?
Who's better than the one who has already done it? '

The one who's done it?
'Yes.'
And with a proving of to admit.
The one who's don't it...
'Yes...
And with consistent prolificness.'

Who's best to remove any left regrets...
And with a doing of consistency?

'Well...
The one who's done it.
And with a proving of to admit.
The one who's don't it...
And with consistent prolificness.'

Who's best to leave several people pleased,
And with a proven consistency?

'Well...
Who's better than the one who's done it?
Well who's better than the one who's done it.'

Who's best to remove any left regrets?

'Well...
Who's better than the one who's done it? '

Who's best to leave several people pleased?

'Well...
Who's better than the one who's done it?
And still manages to leave them stunned.
Well...
Who's better than the one who's done it?
Well who's better than the one who's done it,
And still manages to leave them stunned.'

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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These Foolish Things

A cigarette that bares a lipstick's traces
An airline ticket to romantic places
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things remind me of you.
A tinkling piano in the next apartment
Those stumblin'words that told you what my heart meant
A fairground's painted swings
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
You came,
You saw,
You conquered me
When you did that to me
I knew somehow this had to be
The winds of march that made my heart a dancer
A telephone that rings but who's to answer
Oh, how the ghost of you clings
These foolish things
Remind me of you
First daffodils
And long excited cables
And candle lights
A little corner table
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things remind me of you
The park at evening
When the bell has sounded
The pier in france
With all the gulls around it
The beauty that is spring
These foolish things
Remind me of you
How strange,
How sweet,
To find you still,
These things are dear to me
They seem to bring you near to me
The sigh of midnight trains
At empty stations
Silk stockings thrown aside
Dance invitations
Oh how the ghost of you clings
These foolish things
Remind me of you
Gardenia perfume
Lingering on a pillow
Wild strawberries
Only seven francs a kilo
And still my heart has wings,
These foolish things,

[...] Read more

song performed by Ella Fitzgerald
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Foolish Boys With Their Toys

Foolish boys with their toys
Written by Wilfred Mellers, Friday, November 23,2012

You are a foolish boy with your toys
You own the world and everyone in it
The hearts and souls you can't ever win it
Information access you spin it
You are a foolish boy with your toys

You spit hate and say you are great
You turn a blind eye when others die
Sure you can blow up the world if you want to
Tell me, then what will you do?
You are a foolish boy with your toys

When you see the world to its end
Will that mean that you are men?
Arrogant and so unwise
Surrounded by stooges to fill your heads with lies
How foolish can you be?

Masters of the world and ruler of none
Life you took solely for fun
The gun took everything you claim to own
What will you do when you are left here all alone?
You're a foolish boy with your toys

Coding your messages to the grassroots
Fictitious fantasy filled with pure untruths
So foolish and unwise
You can't even see you own demise
Foolish boys with your toys

You've gained the world yet lost your soul
The very land you stand on you stole
This very world you're going to destroy
No steeds left to herd by the cowboy
You've been very foolish boys with your toys

poem by Wilfred Mellers
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Foolish Heart

Carve your name
Carve your name in ice and wind
Search for where
Search for where the rivers end
Or where the rivers start
Do everything thats in you
That you feel to be your part
But never give your love, my friend,
Unto a foolish heart
Leap from ledges
Leap from ledges high and wild
Learn to speak
Speak with wisdom like a child
Directly from the heart
Crown yourself the king of clowns
Or stand way back apart
But never give your love, my friend,
Unto a foolish heart
Shun a friend
Shun a brother and a friend
Never look
Never look around the bend
Or check a weatherchart
Sign the mona lisa
With a spray can, call it art
But never give your love, my friend,
Unto a foolish heart
A foolish heart will call on you
To toss your dreams away
Then turn around and blame you
For the way you went astray
A foolish heart will cost you sleep
And often make you curse
A selfish heart is trouble
But a foolish heart is worse
Bite the hand
Bite the hand that bakes your bread
Dare to leap
Where the angels fear to tread
Till you are torn apart
Stoke the fires of paradise
With coals from hell to start
But never give your love, my friend
Unto a foolish heart
Unto a foolish heart....

song performed by Grateful Dead
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Oracle

The oracle said we would lose, its message was very clear.
'Abandon the bones of your fathers, your lands, businesses,
Round up your children, gather what articles of worth
Might feasibly be carried on your backs and get the heck out;
For the foe', it said, 'will descend like a whirlwind
Drink your blood and impress who's ever left
Into the vilest servitude.'.
Most believed and prepared to flee. Only one wise, old woman
Reluctant to leave her potato garden, shook a wise, gnarled finger
At the crowd and demanded a re-interpretation
(Which, of course, she got)
'Clearly', said the divines, 'on reconsideration
The oracle meant just to foretell the destruction of the foe';
We, ourselves, had nothing much to worry about
If we'd only take heart, think and manage our resources wisely;
Talk to each other with an extra measure of politeness and agree to agree;
Oh, and build a fleet.
Such was the re-interpretation of the divines.
That was ten years ago. Putting our faith entirely in the oracles
message;
As the divines bid we did, and when the foe invaded, won the day.
Truly these oracles have a way of changing that optimism never does.
Odd. Could it be that oracles are mostly a matter of interpretation?

poem by Morgan Michaels
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The Marriage Of Geraint

The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur's court,
A tributary prince of Devon, one
Of that great Order of the Table Round,
Had married Enid, Yniol's only child,
And loved her, as he loved the light of Heaven.
And as the light of Heaven varies, now
At sunrise, now at sunset, now by night
With moon and trembling stars, so loved Geraint
To make her beauty vary day by day,
In crimsons and in purples and in gems.
And Enid, but to please her husband's eye,
Who first had found and loved her in a state
Of broken fortunes, daily fronted him
In some fresh splendour; and the Queen herself,
Grateful to Prince Geraint for service done,
Loved her, and often with her own white hands
Arrayed and decked her, as the loveliest,
Next after her own self, in all the court.
And Enid loved the Queen, and with true heart
Adored her, as the stateliest and the best
And loveliest of all women upon earth.
And seeing them so tender and so close,
Long in their common love rejoiced Geraint.
But when a rumour rose about the Queen,
Touching her guilty love for Lancelot,
Though yet there lived no proof, nor yet was heard
The world's loud whisper breaking into storm,
Not less Geraint believed it; and there fell
A horror on him, lest his gentle wife,
Through that great tenderness for Guinevere,
Had suffered, or should suffer any taint
In nature: wherefore going to the King,
He made this pretext, that his princedom lay
Close on the borders of a territory,
Wherein were bandit earls, and caitiff knights,
Assassins, and all flyers from the hand
Of Justice, and whatever loathes a law:
And therefore, till the King himself should please
To cleanse this common sewer of all his realm,
He craved a fair permission to depart,
And there defend his marches; and the King
Mused for a little on his plea, but, last,
Allowing it, the Prince and Enid rode,
And fifty knights rode with them, to the shores
Of Severn, and they past to their own land;
Where, thinking, that if ever yet was wife
True to her lord, mine shall be so to me,
He compassed her with sweet observances
And worship, never leaving her, and grew
Forgetful of his promise to the King,

[...] Read more

poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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