“I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph.”
Ken Kesey (1935–2001) novelist
Source: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), Ch. 1 : Black Shiny FBI Shoes
“What can only be taught by the rod and with blows will not lead to much good; they will not remain pious any longer than the rod is behind them.”
The Great Catechism. Second Command (1529)
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Martin Luther214
seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483–1546Related quotes
“I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph”
Tom Wolfe book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
On Ken Kesey, in Ch. I : Black Shiny FBI Shoes
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)
Context: He talks in a soft voice with a country accent, almost a pure country accent, only crackling and rasping and cheese-grated over the two-foot hookup, talking about —
"—there's been no creativity," he is saying, "and I think my value has been to help create the next step. I don't think there will be any movement off the drug scene until there is something else to move to —"
— all in a plain country accent about something — well, to be frank, I didn't know what in the hell it was all about. Sometimes he spoke cryptically, in aphorisms. I told him I had heard he didn't intend to do any more writing. Why? I said.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph," he said.
He talked about something called the Acid Test and forms of expression in which there would be no separation between himself and the audience. It would be all one experience, with all the senses opened wide, words, music, lights, sounds, touch —
lightning.
“[Henry, to Rod] "Hell's not a place, Rod, it's something people do to each other."”
Michael Nava (1954) American writer
Source: The Burning Plain (1997), p.304 (Chapter 23)
“Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl?”
William Blake The Book of Thel
The Book of Thel, Thel's Motto (1789–1792)
Context: Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl?
John Sterling (1938) Sports broadcaster
Alex Rodriguez Pennington, Bill. (October 1, 2011). Voice of Yankees Draws High Ratings and Many Critics. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/sports/baseball/voice-of-yankees-draws-high-ratings-and-several-critics.html The New York Times. <br class="br">Specific home run calls
“This is Prince Charles & Camilla. Or, as I like to think of them, Rod Hull & Emu.”
Linda Smith (1958–2006) comedian
A Brief History of Timewasting, Room 101, The News Quiz
“There is nothynge that more dyspleaseth God,
Than from theyr children to spare the rod.”
John Skelton (1460–1529) English poet
Magnificence, A goodly interlude, line 1954 (published c. 1533), reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: He that spareth the rod hateth his son, Proverbs xiii. 24; They spare the rod and spoyl the child, Ralph Venning, Mysteries and Revelations (second ed.), p. 5. 1649; Spare the rod and spoil the child, Samuel Butler: Hudibras, pt. ii. c. i. l. 843.
“They spare the rod, and spoyle the child.”
Ralph Venning (1621–1673) English minister
Mysteries and Revelations, p. 5. (1649). Compare: "There is nothynge that more dyspleaseth God, Than from theyr children to spare the rod." John Skelton, Magnyfycence, line 1954.
John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs
Part I, chapter 2.
Proverbs (1546)
Dennis Skinner (1932) British politician
A reference to Labour's election campaign slogan "New Labour, New Britain". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1551880/General-Sir-Edward-Jones.html Daily Telgraph 1997 <br class="br">1990s