Hal Johnson's Blog, page 25

A garland of quotations LVIII

You can still preorder this keen book!

Who may disporte them diversly,
Finde never tedious day,
And ease may have varietie,
As well as action may.
•Samuel Daniel “Ulysses and the Siren” (1605).

On the 8th a large house-fly was seen. This interesting event spread cheerfulness through our residence and formed a topic of conversation for the rest of the day. •John Franklin, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819–20–21–22 (1824).

He was like someone in love for the first t...

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I write, for a living, books

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Ogden Whitney!

A garland of quotations LVII

Perhaps you like books?

Then Lé fri flaith, son of Conaire, died under Mac cecht’s armpit, for the warrior’s heat and sweat had dissolved him.
•The Destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel (c. 1100).

Only one giant had sprung out of ice, he has to beget children on himself, an office performed by his hands and feet together.
•Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (1835).

That little dog, it licks your mouth and lips.
I’m not surprised, for dogs love eating poop.
•Martial, Epigrams I (86).

They have the gentle voice o...

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I write, for a living, books

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The King, baby!

Weird Books part 1

•The First Little Pet Book with Ten Short Stories in Words of Three and Four Letters by Aunt Fanny (1867).

Long before the dawn of Oulipo, well-established children’s author Aunt Fanny (not her real name) contrived a challenge for herself: to write a book entirely made up a words with four or fewer letters. In fact, about half the book is in words of three or fewer letters, with the occasional cheat (“mam-ma”). In true Oulipian style, Fanny describes writing this way as engendering is her “the pl...

A garland of quotations LVI

Perhaps you like books?

For instance, if you feel like a train is running through your head, it is. And if you feel like putting eggs inside your bottom, you should.…There’s so much freedom in the world that you can pick anything you want and put it in your butt.
•Björk, interview with Chris Heath (1994).

This is another reason why I didn’t go into theater, because when you take the philosophy of somebody like Artaud, and then build a theater or ideas around it, you're approximating what he was doi...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

I write, for a living, books

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PMS/Wiacek!

A garland of quotations LV

Consult your local library

Leviathan heard that you were famous for being exceedingly wise, and said, “Let me slit his belly and eat his heart so that I will become wise.”
•The Alphabet of Ben Sira (C9?).

There are plenty of teachers of wisdom in this city, but where is wisdom? Why do so few tread in my footsteps?
•Ibsen, The Emperor Julian (1873).

I remember how he would often tell us that in his early youth he was often tempted to drink deeper of philosophy than was allowable for a Roman and a futu...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

I write, for a living, books

Thanks for reading Hal Johnson Books! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Sheldon Moldoff!

A garland of quotations LIV

Books make great Valentine gifts!

(I assume)

“We know what gentlemen are,” put in the widow. “As well grasp a hedgehog as seek justice from one of them. A fistful of prickles is all you get.”
•Mika Waltari, The Adventurer (1948).

Fox knows many,
Hedgehog one
Solid trick.
•Archilochus, fragment (C7 BC)

I tell you, Madam, it was all a Trick,
He made the Giants first, and then he kill’d them;
As Fox-hunters bring Foxes to a Wood,
And then with Hounds they drive them out again.
•Henry Fielding, Tom Thumb (1730)...