Monday, March 8, 2010

Quips and Quotations

All generalizations are false, including this one.

--Mark Twain

12 comments:

  1. Any general statement is like a check drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it. ~ Ezra Pound

    To generalize is to be an idiot. To particularize is the alone distinction of merit. General knowledge is those knowledge that idiots possess. ~ William Blake

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  2. I'd say you were quick with the quotes, but I don't want to generalize ;]

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  3. I generally agree with that!

    WV - ticku. Didn't want to ticku off by quoting on your quote post!

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  4. I'm particularly concerned with the level of generalization I'm reading in this generally topical post.

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  5. Actually, Les, I had a different quote posted for a couple of minutes yesterday, but then canceled it. I present it now:

    "Egotism, n: Doing the New York Times crossword puzzle with a pen"

    --Ambrose Bierce

    I thought it was pretty funny, but something didn't seem right, so I did some quick research. Ambrose Bierce died (or disappeared) 16 years before the first New York Times crosswords saw the light of day.

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  6. @Tag--What's been going on in the news lately has me generally dismayed.

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  7. I saw that up there yesterday. It was good, too!

    WV - rollin. Rollin myself eventually today, if I can pull my foot out of the sucking mudhole. Don't say it out loud, but business is BOOMING! Yay! For tomorrow, I could use a few more homes and a couple more war wagons. It's been a long time.

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  8. I agree with Mark Twain, Kirk. I hate generalisations they never allow you a toe hold.

    They're like racism and ageism and sexism all rolled in together and they do not allow for the uniqueness of people.

    Psychiatrists get into them all the time for their DSM diagnostic labeling and teachers to rank students.

    But we can't stop generalising, can we? And we all indulge in them a little - stereotyping, generalising, it's one way of reducing the complexity of the world.

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  9. Elizabeth, I think it's impossible to write without generalizing to some degree, which may just be what Twain was getting at with his comical turn of phrase. The man's been dead for a hundred years and he's still funnier, and wiser, then most of the wits around today.

    Of course, I could be generalizing.

    (the repeated use of the word "generalization" for comedic purposes in this post is getting kind of old, huh? Hey, I never said I was Mark Twain!)

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  10. so true... nothing is totally true nor false... so even this true maybe false ;)

    I like your blog!

    gabi

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  11. I'm going to give you a true-or-false test on this, Gabi. If you get the all the answers right, I'll know you're generalizing.

    Welcome to the blog, Gabi.

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  12. Can I answer: not so true or false Then I will not be generalizing ;)

    I’m glad I found your blog. Thank you for stopping by my blog.


    loveNlight
    Gabi

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In order to keep the hucksters, humbugs, scoundrels, psychos, morons, and last but not least, artificial intelligentsia at bay, I have decided to turn on comment moderation. On the plus side, I've gotten rid of the word verification.