Friday, January 14, 2022

A better writer on the lesson from the swan

 Here's yesterday’s note on the swan, better stated: “For what a man had rather were true, that he more readily believes.”

That’s Francis Bacon talking. The sentence is from Novum Organum, published in 1620. I’m only 402 years behind on this story.

at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Stafford: ‘Resilience’

 Here’s the opening of Kim Stafford’s poem “Resilience”: Is resilience being strong as iron, or perennial as grass? Is resilience standing f...

  • After the election
      People who are disappointed by elections ought to be careful about what they say — not out of fear of tyrants but out of concern for sprea...
  • When Willa Cather's life began
     Willa Cather had a maxim: “Life began for me when I ceased to admire and began to remember.” She liked what the Greeks called  anamnesis , ...
  • Captain Sands of Deephaven
     Captain Sands, an old seafarer, is “a great hand for keeping things.” His wife doesn’t mind all his clutter — as long as it stays out of th...