Friday, December 09, 2016

Pig quotes

Not all arguments are productive.

Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

This from Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love.

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On arguing with the argumentative.

"I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

Quoted by George Bernard Shaw. He should have said "enjoys".

This second quote featured in this:

Amazon link

More literary slumming.

James McGill is an everyteenboy action hero. The plotting is absurd and the tempo unrelenting. The writing is better than Lee Child: page-turning. Back to more serious stuff soon.

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Moving animals, on living in the moment.
One of your most ancient writers, a historian named Herodotus, tells of a thief who was to be executed. As he was taken away he made a bargain with the king: in one year he would teach the king's favorite horse to sing hymns. The other prisoners watched the thief singing to the horse and laughed. "You will not succeed," they told him. "No one can."

To which the thief replied, "I have a year, and who knows what might happen in that time. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die. And perhaps the horse will learn to sing.
Jerry Pournelle from "The Mote in God's Eye".


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