”I’m an actor. You weren’t supposed to recognize me.”
Harrison Ford, on his non-descript cameo in Apocalypse Now.
Harrison Ford, Actor
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Category Archives: Commonplace Book
Peace-loving
I’ll believe I live in a peace-loving nation when the bookshelves devoted to diplomatic history outnumber the shelves on military history.
Dunitz’ Disclaimer
My second favorite disclaimer in a book, from Jay Dunitz’ collection of photographs Pacific Light:
“DISCLAIMER and WARNING:
The process utilized by the Artist in the creation of the Pacific Light series is extremely dangerous, and may be injurious or lethal to person and hazardous to property. Neither the Artist nor anyone associated with the publication and distribution of PACIFIC LIGHT shall be responsible or liable in any way for any injury, death, or other damage arising from the reader’s or public’s application of the described process and its related materials.”
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Take that!, Anarchist Cookbook
Travel shopping, Lecler
”In general, people don’t travel to go shopping but they certainly go shopping when they travel.” — René Lecler
Thurber, inflammation
“With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.”
Joe Louis, Paul Morphy
“Imagine Joe Louis at his prime in a country where his most dangerous opponent was five-foot-six and weighed 150 lbs.”
Reuben Fine, on Paul Morphy’s chess career
Exploring
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time”
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Contradict
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 51
I usually misquote “large” as “vast.”
Proportion
”Sense of humor is ultimately just an acute sense of proportion… the funny person notices stuff first. You walk in a room, the funny person will know, ‘Hey, it’s cold in here.’ Or, ‘What’s that smell?’ You pull a car in front of me, a brand-new car from the showroom, and if it has a little scratch on it… my eye will go right to the scratch, ‘Hey, you got a little scratch here.’”
Eddie Murphy, Being Eddie, 44:45 or so. (Netflix)
I would add context. The more and broader stuff you know, the more cars from the showroom run in front of you.
Beginnings
“Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster.” —Sam Shepard