#generalities — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Thoreau

All streams are but tributary to the ocean, which itself does not stream, and the shores are unchanged but in longer periods than man can measure. Go where we will, we discover infinite change in particulars only, not in generals.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
A Week on the Concord and Marrimack Rivers, “Monday” (1849)

More about this quote: wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thoroeau #henrydavidthoreau #change #details #era #generalities #macro #micro #particular #passageoftime #perspective #scale #time

A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

   I do not know Mr. Willkie, but the headline in one of the metropolitan papers yesterday said: “Willkie Aims At Unity, Defense and Recovery.” I’m discouraged. In Heaven’s name, will anyone aim at anything else?
   Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1940-07-01), “My Day”

More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/80…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #campaign #cliches #emptypromises #generalities #momandapplepie #pablum #policy #rhetoric #speechifying #vagueness

A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

   I do not know Mr. Willkie, but the headline in one of the metropolitan papers yesterday said: “Willkie Aims At Unity, Defense and Recovery.” I’m discouraged. In Heaven’s name, will anyone aim at anything else?
   Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1940-07-01), “My Day”

More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/80…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #campaign #cliches #emptypromises #generalities #momandapplepie #pablum #policy #rhetoric #speechifying #vagueness

A quotation from Robert Benchley

There may be said to be two classes of people in the world: those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not.

Robert Benchley (1889-1945) American humorist, columnist, actor, wit
Of All Things, ch. 20 “The Most Popular Book of the Month” (1921)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/benchley-robert/7523…

#quote #quotes #quotation #categorization #classification #division #generalities #humanity #people #types

This column (worth a read):
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/paul-graham-and-the-cult-of-the-founder?r=eeyg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

... reminded me of how much I dislike Paul Graham. Not personally; I've never met him. I read a bit of him online way back when, and then bought his book "Hackers & Painters", which was a collection of #essays that everyone was fawning over.

It struck me as an enormous pile of #obvious #generalities in which he spent WAY too much time trying to sound #Serious and #Important and that they were Novel Ideas. It's #garbage.

1/2

#PaulGraham

@ernie any more coverage of anything should be tested to get an idea of significance/interest unless you value editorial intuition and vagaries more (which may be valid too in some cases) #generalities #natchez ms #riverbooat gambling dens of iniquity

"Human beings... are far too prone to generalize from one instance. The technical word for this, interestingly enough, is superstition." — Francis Crick — — — #FrancisCrick #quote #quotes #humans #people #superstition #beliefs #generalize #generalities