“Some quotations," said Zellaby, "are greatly improved by lack of context.”
Source: The Midwich Cuckoos
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John Wyndham21
British author 1903–1969Related quotes
“Civilization is an enormous improvement on the lack thereof.”
P. J. O'Rourke book Holidays in Hell
Holidays in Hell (1989)
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
Supposedly from De Oratore, 78 ("...for women more easily preserve the ancient language unaltered, because, not having experience of the conversation of a multitude of people, they always retain what they originally learned..."), reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Loveliness / Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, / But is when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most", James Thomson, The Seasons, "Autumn", Line 204
Disputed
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator
Essay as "Mr. X" (1969)
Context: The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I'm down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse. There also have been some art-related insights — I don't know whether they are true or false, but they were fun to formulate.
Donald Rumsfeld (1932) U.S. Secretary of Defense
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110801579.html?nav=rss_politics
During the Nomination of Robert Gates for the next U.S. Secretary of Defense, November 8, 2006
2000s
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Quotation and Originality
Source: Prose and Poetry
Larry Sanger (1968) American former professor, co-founder of Wikipedia, founder of Citizendium and other projects
"Why Wikipedia Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism" at kuro5hin (31 December 2004).
Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist
Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia (2006)
Context: U. S. prostitution can be understood in the context of the cultural normalization of prostitution as a glamorous and wealth-producing “job” for girls who lack emotional support, education, and employment opportunities. The sexual exploitation of children and women in prostitution is often indistinguishable from incest, intimate partner violence, and rape.
“"Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation" yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.”
Willard van Orman Quine (1908–2000) American philosopher and logician
Quine's paradox, in "The Ways of Paradox" in "The Ways of Paradox and other Essays" (1976)
1970s