Shall we Pearl?

How much does it take to stand up to the universe in which you were born?…. Too much for most people, it seems; they’d rather blame it all on some supernatural fall guy…. Awfully convenient way to justify one’s own stupidity and greed…. Any who, here are seven pearls which indicate fairly well how I feel and think about it…. How can I lose, beginning and ending with Frankie Z?….

“Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned — I support your right to enjoy it.  However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture or necrodestination.” — Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book”

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

“Faith:  not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western religion, Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western science.” — Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” — Mark Twain

“During almost fifteen centuries the legal establishment of Christianity has been upon trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” — James Madison

“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher.  I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

“There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.” — Eric Hoffer

“Few people have the imagination for reality.” — Goethe

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot

“If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.” — Albert Camus

“The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject but man only.” — Thomas Hobbes

“Today is a good day to die.” — Apache warrior proverb

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Good enough. Hell, I don’t work for the government any more, so, it’s clearly good enough. Well, okay, let’s just not go there, okay? It’s done, how’s that? Yeah, that’s the ticket…. it’s done, and there’s nothing more any of us can do. We may as well be logical, and just take our leave, like good little bozoids…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should I end up anywhere close to reality by then….