the great thoughts

[squamous]

When I was in high school, I borrowed this big fat book of quotes from my friend Jeremy. It was called "The Great Thoughts" (I am surprised I remembered that title after all this time).

If one of the quotes in this book struck my fancy, I would type it into this AppleWorks file on the old Apple //e. I dunno why I did this; it was just some high school kid thing to do I guess. I printed the file out at some point on my shitty dot matrix printer and kept it with my 'important papers' throughout most if not all of college, although I don't recall looking at it much.

Here is one of the quotes I particularly liked, and that I still think of from time to time:

"I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred, to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden." - Richard Rumbold - (English Rebel - spoken on the scaffold - 1685)

When I first read that, I am sure that I thought something along the lines of 'Right on man!' and maybe even felt a little thrill. Rebel! Executed, but unrepentant til the end! And so on. I realized tonight that I am really not sure I agree with him anymore. That thing he said he didn't believe? I am starting to wonder - worry, sort of - if that isn't exactly how things work. And I am not thinking of material circumstances, more the patterns of behavior that people seem to fall into.

I am not complaining. Just 'journaling'. Thought and further research required. As always.

Comments

[gooddreams.livejournal.com]

i too have an apple IIE file of quotes somewhere. and i still do it, today. when i look at the old ones, i can't understand why i chose most of them.