“Valerius Maximus wrote that he [Aeschylus] was killed outside the city by a tortoise dropped by an eagle which had mistaken his head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile. Pliny, in his Naturalis Historiæ, adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avoid a prophecy that he would be killed …
Category: history
Aug 11
Quotable: Otto von Bismark
“If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some [expletive deleted] silly thing in the Balkans.” –Otto von Bismark And then this happened: Next stop: World War I. As quoted by Winston Churchill in an address given on August 16, 1945 in the House of Commons. Photo from the Smithsonian.
Jul 10
Title page
“His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”. –the self-bestowed title of African dictator Idi Amin
Jul 03
Happy Independence Day from Germany
“God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.” –Otto von Bismarck
Oct 17
Quotable: George Washington
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” Letter to Major-General Robert Howe
Mar 17
Gaels
“For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad.” –G.K. Chesterton, from The Ballad of the White Horse
Sep 11
Quotable: Ray Bradbury
“It affects us only one way: We’re angry as [expletive deleted]. And we have to find these people and kill them. It’s very simple, you can’t let them get away with this. This is a terrible, terrible thing they’ve done.” –Ray Bradbury in the Chicago Tribune, September 12, 2001.
Jul 04
Happy Independence Day
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Jul 16
Truman, Missouri, and music
President Truman was a musician and a Missourian. However, he didn’t care much for our state song, The Missouri Waltz: “It’s a ragtime song and if you let me say what I think–I don’t give a [expletive deleted] about it, but I can’t say it out loud because it’s the song of Missouri. It’s as …
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