Quotations Weblog

I’m all a flutter. The news came to me Sunday from Mike that he had seen something about a new tomb on CNN. I was in a frenzy as he described the short news story which said that an undisturbed tomb had been found in Egypt. I immediately looked at CNN online and looked for the story, but it wasn’t on their home page. After about a half hour of searching, I found the story my husband talked about.

An undisturbed tomb of the pharaonic priest, Iufaa, was found in 1995. On February 27, 1998, the archaeologists opened the sarcophagus, revealing the wooden coffin lid. I’m excited and wishing for a passport at this point. I can envision the privileged few who were allowed into the tomb to see the opening of the sarcophagus. I can smell the dust in the air and the anticipation oozing from the pores of all involved. I am insanely jealous of the archaeologists who have finally come to this point.

Then, I think about the man, Iufaa, who died in 525 B.C. He was a contemporary of Pythagoras, Aesop, Theognis, Confucius and Heraclitus. He lived in an Egypt that was under Persian rule, and may have even hated the Persian pharaoh he worked for. What kind of world did this priest live in? This is the sort of learning that school never gave me. I was force-fed information that didn’t interest me and starved for the data that did. Step into the philosophy of Iufaa’s world.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Friends share all things.”

Pythagoras, from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

• The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen Paperback by Howard Carter – This book was written by the archaeologist that discovered King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Considered by some to be embellished greatly, it was originally released in three volumes in the years 1923, 1927 and 1933. The version I own (published in 1972) has 17 color plates and 63 black and white pictures. This paperback version may have more or less illustrations, but it is worth it just for the story.
• Life of the Ancient Egyptians Hardcover by Eugen Strouhal – Nearly three hundred color and black and white photographs illustrate the life of a citizen of ancient Egypt. The twenty chapters cover all aspects of life from birth to death, marriage to war (they’re the same, aren’t they?) and education to dress and adornment. All walks of life are covered, including farmers, scribes, temple workers, shipbuilders, and managers. This is not the myopic view of ancient Egypt through the eyes of the pharaohs.
• Akhenaten : King of Egypt Paperback by Cyril Aldred – Akhenaten, the heretic king, who believed in worshipping only one deity, the sun. Nefertiti, his loving queen, her image is still used today to symbolize beauty and grace. Written by the late Cyril Aldred, this book follows the lives of the most controversial pharaoh and his wife, Nefertiti.
• The Complete Valley of the Kings : Tombs and Treasures of Egypt’s Greatest Pharaohs Hardcover by C. N. Reeves, Richard H. Wilkinson, Nicholas Reeves – A book that covers the Valley of the Kings. Includes diagrams of the tombs and pictures of treasures. Read the customer comments about this great book.

• Archaeologists Open Ancient Tomb in Egypt – The Reuters press release at the opening of priest Iufaa’s tomb written by Miral Fahmy.

Salt Lake City, like many of her counterparts in the United States, is divided by railroad tracks. They are quite active and the trains that rush past the busy city streets are very audible, no matter how far away you live from them. The whistles from these trains are so noisy during the wee hours of the night that I have trouble sleeping at times (even though we live at least 15 miles from the tracks). I hated trains.

During a particularly sleepless night, I tried a relaxation technique. I imagined that the trains were boats. When my husband and I visited San Francisco, we stayed at a lovely hotel in Oakland called the Waterfront Plaza Hotel. Right on the bay, we could hear the horn blasts from the boats all night, but it was relaxing to us. The image of the huge ships gracefully sailing past us, announcing their presence was romantic. That sleepless night in Salt Lake, I pretended that the whistles I heard were from the gently floating ships on the San Francisco Bay. I fell asleep quickly that evening.

It didn’t take me long to realize how silly this was. Only a couple evenings of thinking led me to the conclusion that there might be residents of Oakland and San Francisco that abhor the sounds of the bulky and overloaded ships. Boats aren’t romantic if you see them every day. Then I remembered the romance of trains. People all across the nation build model trains, elaborate tracks, and beautiful minature houses and buildings, all to be serviced by the epitome of transportation in the nineteenth century. Trains are romantic.

Now, as I lie awake at night, listening to the resounding whistle blasts, I hear trains, clanking and blustering along the rails. I imagine them bringing supplies to my favorite stores and transporting people from there to here and back. Unfortunately, none of this has really helped me to sleep any better or more than I did before.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

They hand us now in Shrewsbury jail:/ The whistles blow forlorn,/ And trains all night groan on the rail/ To men that die at morn.

A. E. Housman

• Across the Columbia Plain : Railroad Expansion in the Interior Northwest, 1885-1893 Paperback by Peter J. Lewty – A history of the growth of the railroads in Northwest America. Includes a map of the railways and a glossary of terms.
• Always in Camera : Archive Photographes of the Great Age of Steam from the Public Record Office, 1860-1913 Paperback by Robin Linsley – Pictures of the steam monstrocities that streamed past the plains of the United States.
• America’s Railroads : The Second Generation Hardcover by Don Ball – Modern trains are featured in this book. Enjoy the newest in railway technology (circa 1988).

• California State Railroad Museum – Located in Sacramento, this museum features the history of trains. On permanent display are artifacts that defined the romance of the train era.

On February 22, 1989, the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” won a Grammy award for Song of the Year. At that time, I not only was oblivious to the Grammy Awards (still am), but I was unaware of the idea of not worrying and being happy. It’s not that I hadn’t heard the song (Who could have avoided it?), but that I thought it was silly foppery. The attitude of that song, actually angered me and I turned away from it in disgust.

I had kept worry with me like a friend. I was under the impression that it protected me. The more I worried, the more ideas I would come across that would eventually help me with my problem. In that sense, worry is a friend, but I kept it too close to my bosom. At times, I would come across an amazing idea that would be sure to fix the problem, but the solution would take more than a few days. During those few days, I still worried. My mind would still nag me about the problem, even though I was well on the way to fixing it. It is then that worry was not my friend.

I was still “cleaving unto” worry when I was in college. Taking finals and nearing graduation, I was consumed by the almost irrational worry about what would happen if I didn’t graduate. I let this worry eat me from the inside until I was sick and lashing out at all of my loved ones. Even at graduation, the worry grabbed at my intestines.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally gained some grasp of the benefits and disadvantages of worry. I am finally able to worry about the things that need solutions, and use the energy of worry to work on the solutions once I get them. I’m finally able to turn this very negative emotion in a positive one: happiness.

Here are some quotes that helped me along the journey.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”

Charles Schultz

• Life 101 Hardcover by Peter McWilliams – A wonderfully positive book with lots of quotations. This book will not only tell you how to harness negative emotions like fear and worry, but tell you a myriad of other ways to be happy.
• Life 101 Quote Book Paperback by Peter McWilliams – If you are just interested in the quotes from Life 101 (and several other books by Mr. McWilliams), this is the book for you. None of the positive discourses here, just the quotes he uses to back them up.
• How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Paperback by Dale Carnegie – I haven’t read this book, but many of the quotes I’ve found are from Dale Carnegie. The Amazon.com site has tons of reviews of this book, and none seem displeased. Plus, with a title like that, the book must be good (how’s that for shallow?).
• Meditations for People Who (May) Worry Too Much Paperback by Anne Wilson Schaef (Editor), Cheryl Woodruff (Editor) – If meditation helps you, this book might just do the trick. Instead of imagining your most comfortable place, these meditations get to the root of why you’re not comfortable.

• The Motivational Quotes of the Day – This page is generated daily by choosing four quotes from my collection of over 1000 quotations (it’s almost 1500 quotes now). If you’re a regular visitor, you probably already know about this page, but I just can’t resist giving myself a plug.

I recognized Andre’s name immediately when I perused the list of births and deaths. I knew him because I had so many quotes by him in my collection. Every quote I’ve seen from him has ended up with my motivational quotes. There are few people who are in touch with truth so clearly; here is a glimpse into his world.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”

• The Immoralist Paperback by Andre Gide, Richard Howard (Translator)- A psychological novel.
• Madeleine Paperback by Andre Gide, Justin O’Brien (Translator) – A novel describing his marriage to his cousin Madeleine.
• Andre Gide Hardcover by Thomas Cordle – A biography on the life of this author. This book is part of the Twayne’s World Author Series.

• Andre Gide – This site recommends biographies to read and provides rememberance of Gide’s contemporaries. Excerpts from Gide’s work are available.

I know it’s not fair to think of her this way, but I feel really betrayed by Ayn Rand. It started when I was in junior high, actually. My eighth grade teacher had assigned Anthem. I read it and it was great science fiction. This was from the point of view of a child who had not yet read George Orwell’s 1984 or had even seen the many doomsday future movies (Bladerunner, Mad Max, etc.). I sincerely enjoyed the book and was eagerly talking to my father about it. He was ecstatic. He loved Ayn Rand and told me to read Atlas Shrugged and then we would talk. You can imagine that I didn’t read that book in the eighth grade, although I did try to read it. It wasn’t until high school that I was actually able to read a book that long (remember when difficulty of reading material used to be judged solely on how many pages it contained?).

After reading Atlas Shrugged, I went insane. Not the kind of insanity that drives people to murder or nudity in public, nor even the sort of madness that sends a person into a shell of isolation. I systematically analyzed everything that surrounded me and reformatted it to selfishness. I truly believed everything she said. Doing anything for anyone else is wrong unless you get compensation. Self-sacrifice is not a virtue. Love is conditional (I still believe that). Any form of communism is evil, that includes the welfare department at the State of Utah, the welfare that the local churches provide and giving clothes to the Salvation Army after you’ve outgrown them. This sort of thinking makes for a very lonely and bitter teen.

Then, in college, I was doing research about McCarthyism. The era in which senator Joseph McCarthy accused countless people of committing “Un-American Activities” happened to coincide with the time during which Ayn Rand wrote her novels. After further research, I was shocked to find that she testified at the trials decrying communism. I came to the realization that her novels were propaganda. For years I had laughed at the wartime posters telling people to buy bonds and plant “Victory” gardens, but, now, I was face to face with the fact that the novels and philosophies I had based my life on were merely propaganda plays for the Cold War. More importantly, a dark chapter in our history was helped a little by Ms. Rand. She didn’t invent the black lists, but she did testify in their favor.

Now, after recovering from the philosophy (I’m much happier now) and partially recovering from the betrayal (or at least my perception of it), I feel that I can finally review her work with a clear mind. Some of her thoughts still live with me today, while others have been buried away with Santa Claus and Trickle-Down Economics. Ironically, my father and I never did talk about Ayn Rand. Here are some quotes that I agree with and some I don’t. See which ones strike a chord in your heart.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.”

The Fountainhead, 1943

• Anthem 50th Anniversary Edition Hardcover by Ayn Rand – Still my favorite of all her books. The science fiction feel of the novel allows me to step out of our own society and explore the dangers of “we.”
• The Fountainhead Hardcover by Ayn Rand – This beautiful book is perfect for the library of any full blown capitalist (I must admit that I have the paperback). The novel follows Howard Roark, an architect with a style all his own. See how he refuses to allow “The Man” to crush his will and determination.
• The Fountainhead VHS Tape starring Gary Cooper – This movie was so enjoyable for me to watch. Gary Cooper, everyone’s favorite actor of the day, played the architect, Howard Roark. Great viewing!
• Atlas Shrugged Hardcover by Ayn Rand – The book that sent my psyche over the edge may be less damaging for you (especially if you’re not 15 years old). Follow the adventures of Hank Rearden, Dagny Taggart, and the elusive John Galt. Don’t forget your dollar sign cigarettes.

• Ayn Rand Says… – Need even more quotes from Ayn Rand? This site generates them randomly.