Secret Time at the Library
I had a chance this weekend to do one of my favorite secret things: just go to a library and pick out 5 books and sit there for a couple of hours and see what I get. In one of the books there was an essay by Winston Churchill that he wrote just days after an escape he managed as a war correspondent in the Boer Ward. I thought I'd share a few passages that grabbed me:
(Regarding the propaganda being put out as "news") - "A month's feeding on such literary garbage weakens the constitution of the mind."
(On a moment during his escape from prison) - "I realized with awful force that no excuse of my own feeble wit and strength could save me from my enemies, and that without the assitance of that Higher Power which intereferes more often than we are always prone to admit in the eternal sequence of causes and effects, I could never succeed. I prayed long and earnestly for help and guidance. My prayer, as it seems to me, was swiftly and wonderfully answered. I cannot now relate the strange circumstances which followed, and which changed my nearly hopeless position into one of superior advantage."
(On the whole experience) - ".. all these things ate into my sould and have left an impression that will not prehaps be easily effaced."
I love a few good words put together well.
John Stuart Mill's Essay: On Liberty.
posted by J Piac @ 7:02 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
You two are much to smart for me, I am just glad that we have Monk and BYU football to bond on or I would be a complete outcast.
Is it just me or does it seem that people could express themselves much better than people today? I know this is a generalization. But I think this will change. Think of the millions of active bloggers (like ya'll). Blogging is very different than writing in a journal. There is just something about writing for an immediate broad audience that makes you think a bit more. And by just writing a few things a few times a week can improve your communication skills. In 10 years we will all be like Churchill (without the escape from prison). I currently subscribe to the podcast "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" in hopes of improving my poor english skills. But I can tell you now that I will never be able to spell.
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