It's cold

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
Albert Camus

"Links" of the week, 08/06/08

I like quotes. My original thinking is never that good, and other people have put in words exactly what I want to say. Besides, sometimes something said by Wilde/Churchil/Shakespeare/Julius Cesar¹ carries a lot more weight than something said by pocketsize.

I haven't found many links this week, due to various reasons, so I'd like to share instead some of the quotes I have recently found.

I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.

Mitch Hedbergb, Comedy Central Presents
American comedian (1968 - 2005)

May those that accept their fate be granted happiness; may those who defy it be granted glory.

Princess Tutu

Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.

John le Carre, "The Chancellor Who Agreed To Play Spy"
English suspense novelist (1931 - )

Finally, I have a quote whose author always surprises me. So here it is, for your amusement, and do let me know if he surprises you as much as it does me!

We trained very hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganised. I was to learn in later life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating an illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation.

Caius Petronius, 66AD

1: It is universally recognised that all the quotes in the world were, are, and will be uttered by one of those characters. The people I am attributing them here are just their pseudonyms ;-)

You can't take the sky from me

Every once in a while, when somebody asks me how I'm feeling, I answer "Still flying". While the people who used to asked me that understood exactly what I mean, I feel most people I tell it to now don't, and they think it's all going awesome. I clearly should stop saying it, because they end up thinking I am much better than I really am, but it's not my fault if they are uneducated!

So, when I say that I'm still flying, this is what I mean:

Simon, a doctor, has just been invited to form part of Mal's spaceship crew. They haven't exactly got along well so far
Simon: I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?
Mal: You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once. If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.
Simon: Are you always this sentimental?
Mal: Had a good day.
Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages, half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.
Mal: We're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough.

Once more, go see Firefly. Like now.
There will be a rather silly picture later. I seemed to have knitted some kind of monster. You'll see.