Natural Blindness

William Tyndale, p. 44: “That thou mayest perceive and feel the thing in thine heart and not be a vain sophister disputing about words without perceiving, mark this. The root of all evil the greatest damnation and most terrible wrath and vengeance of God that we are in, is natural blindness. We are all out of the right way, every man his ways: one judgeth this best, another that to be best.

Love Enables Happiness

Jay McCarthy, on Love: “There seems to be the assumption that those of us in love are suggesting that our lovers are the source of our happiness, meaning that they create it. I think this is a poor model to use. Without Love we could not create our own happiness because happiness is defined as having love for something and having it love you in return.

Power Comes First, Second, Third, and Last

Samantha Power, in an interview, on how Robert Mugabe consolidated power in Zimbabwe: “the invasions of white farms were Mugabe's attempt to kill three birds with one stone—to get the war veterans off his back, to further satisfy his cronies, and to get rid of the white farmers, who had begun teaming up with the black opposition as a political force.

Difficult To Dislodge

Michael Suileabhain-Wilson: “Social fallacies are particularly insidious because they tend to be exaggerated versions of notions that are themselves entirely reasonable and unobjectionable. It's difficult to debunk the pathological fallacy without seeming to argue against its reasonable form; therefore, once it establishes itself, a social fallacy is extremely difficult to dislodge.”

You Have Freed Yourself From The Belief

Roger Ebert: “If you understand why "Kill Bill" is a good movie and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is not, and "Bad Santa" is a good movie and "The Cat in the Hat" is not, then you have freed yourself from the belief that a movie's quality is determined by its subject matter. You instinctively understand that a movie is not about what it is about, but about how it is about it.”

Seasonal Wassailing And Gorging

George F. Will: “Today's problem, in addition to the toll taken on the body by seasonal wassailing and gorging, is shopping that includes stocking up on "retaliation presents." They are used to counter unexpected gift-giving by persons not on your list, which by now includes family, friends, the stockbroker who got you out of Enron in time and the person who cleans your gutters.”

Calling Them Red-Hair

Adrianna: “Here, we call expats angmohs instead of gweilos - calling them red-hair is politer than white devil, if you ask me - but The Angmoh Diaries definitely sounds less appealing than The Gweilo Diaries. Ditto for Just An Angmoh instead of Just A Gwailo.”

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