Hal Johnson's Blog, page 4
August 5, 2025
A garland of quotations CXXXII
As ass prefers a bed of litter
to a golden throne.
•Heraclitus, fragment #51 (ca. 500 BC?).
A frog would leap from a throne of gold into a puddle.
•Publilius Syrus, Sentences (C2).
For a much fool were the thief which that men led for to be hanged
and that he had a cord of gold about his neck
if he should make joy thereof
how be it that the cord were much rich and fair.
•Caxton, Esopvs (1484).
Even if there were a valley full of gold, Man would want two of them.
•Muhammad al-Bukhari, S...
August 3, 2025
Blvd. of Blood
Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.
(It begins…)
Seriously, these books are solid.
14.There are things you can only learn by trial and error, and practice. Colin knew that he was going to be passing cars quickly as they sped the other direction. If he squeezed the trigger when the target was “in his sights,” so to speak, it would be gone before he even fired. He had to lead the target, start shooting before it arrived in place. The first car he saw coming, as he got ...
July 31, 2025
Truly Wordless Comic Panels
Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Adams/Giordano!
July 29, 2025
A garland of quotations CXXXI
Please check out the books I write
Is there any cruelty or misery the spheres can inflict that I have not suffered?
Is there any pain or torment my wounded heart has not suffered?
•Babur, Baburnama (1530).
Gyff drerie d...
July 27, 2025
Blvd. of Blood
Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.
(The story so far: Colin and Bernie are on their way to Blande Boulevard. What else matters?)
9.Oberman was being punished, which meant Campbell was also being punished, which meant Campbell was mad.
The two of them had been assigned the absolute worst job a police officer could get. They had to go notify some civilian’s mother that her son had died of an OD last night.
“You are going to pay for this,” said ...
July 24, 2025
Truly Wordless Comic Panels
READ THIS BOOK! (and no other)
Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Milton Caniff!
July 22, 2025
A garland of quotations CXXX
Boast not that you have encircled the world in your travels, for it is only the sun and the moon and the stars that really make the journey around it.
•Vita Secundi Philosophi (C2?).
And is our life, then, bounded by a circle like the earth? Do we, unconsciously, continue to walk towards the spot from which we started? And as we travel nearer and nearer to the grave, do we again draw closer, ever closer, to the cradle?
•Dumas, The Wolf-Leader (1857).
I take my circle to be abov...
July 20, 2025
Blvd. of Blood
Continued from here. Table of contents for ease of navigation here.
(The story so far: It’s the morning of April 11. Nothing bad has happened yet (despite Officer Oberman’s suspicions). Maybe everything will be fine.)
6.Chief Wanamaker was having a great time. He ranted and fumed and strutted up and down his office. Oberman was an alarmist. He was bad for morale. He was fomenting panic in the streets.
“Chief, I just—”
Don’t interrupt, Oberman!
Oberman could see, through the w...
July 17, 2025
Truly Wordless Comic Panels
TOMORROW! Come see me tomorrow at the Old Wethersfield Book Walk!
(Those words are bleed-over from the following panel. They don’t count!)
READ THIS BOOK! (and no other)
Hal Johnson Books is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Kurt Schaffenberger!
July 15, 2025
A garland of quotations CXXIX
(Come see me July 19, 10–3, Book Walk, Main St., Old Wethersfield CT)
Don’t talk about “progress” in terms of longevity, safety, or comfort before comparing zoo animals to those in the wilderness.
•Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed of Procrustes (2010).
A life spent worthily should be measured by a noble line; by deeds not years. They only have lived long, who have lived virtuously.
•Richard Sheridan, Pizarro (1799).
