Why do we accept the idea that human beings are fundamentally parasitic?
Quotes
(re)formed
The restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ.
Essential Work
The fuller the narrative, the greater the hope. Even in the midst of a terrible season, and without wishing to diminish all of the real suffering, there has never been a better time to be alive. Our governments are becoming more accountable, our corporations more responsible, our lifestyles — and the places that enable them — better integrated.
All Beautiful Things
I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful.
OSCAR WILDE
Digging for Sunrise
At the back of our brains, so to speak, there was a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life was to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder; so that a man sitting in a chair might suddenly understand that he was actually alive, and be happy.
How To Be A Lunatic, The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton
Little Plans
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably in themselves will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hopes and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing intensity. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.
Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.
Daniel Burnham via ACW
Third Story
A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Monk’s Mood
Steve Lacy, undisputed sultan of the soprano sax, played with some of the greatest jazz composers who ever lived. He sat with the likes of Charles Mingus, Herbie Nichols and Duke Ellington. His most celebrated contributions to the world of jazz, however, took place under the watchful shades of Mr. Thelonious Monk.
Below are a handful of gems from the scrawled notes in Steve’s notebook under the heading ‘Monk’s Advice (1968)’. The pithy remarks have relevance across all creative work — whether at the keyboard of a Bösendorfer or a Macbook Pro.
- Just because you’re not a drummer doesn’t mean that you don’t have to keep time.
- You’ve got to dig it to dig it, you dig?
- Don’t play everything (or every time); let some things go by… what you don’t play can be more important than what you do play.
- When you’re swinging, swing some more!
- (What should we wear tonight?) Sharp as possible!
- A genius is the one most like himself.
- Stop playing all that bullshit, play the melody!
- Always leave them wanting more.
On Making
Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.
Paul Rand
Black / White / Red
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.
Mark Twain
Pixel as Mother Tongue
The era of transitioning human beings to the screen is over. Now is the time for designers and storytellers to fully embrace the ascendant platforms and invent a vernacular beyond the derivative language of engineers and marketers.
Lightbulb
Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson