Explorations

It has been suggested that the world is overpopulated with solipsists. — Umberto Eco

Uncertainty is intrinsic to the scientific process, and sometimes you have to have the courage to stand up and say, “Maybe.” — Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post.

Editorials and columns are a short form of essay writing, often about complicated, interwoven matters. Though we worked hard to bring new reporting and analysis to our arguments, the pieces still had to fit into a limited space. Being young and earnest, I wrote long, to explain it all. I can still hear Tony saying, as he slashed sentences and paragraphs, “You don’t have to tell them everything you know. You’ll get another crack at it.” — Lisa Schiffren remembering Tony Snow.

“Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory.” — Sir Bernard Ingham

“I think if God is dead he laughed himself to death. Because, you see, we live in Eden. Genesis has got it all wrong. We never left the Garden. Look about you. This is paradise. It’s hard to find, I, I’ll grant you, but it is here. Under our feet, beneath the surface, all around us is everything we want. The earth is shining under the soot.” — Justin Playfair, Esq.

“Take a single sentence: ‘The fireball exploded twenty billion years ago at the beginning of time.’ That sentence required nothing less than the full twenty billion years of cosmic development.” — Brian Swimme, via Rob Brezsny

[W]hen you remove your most important problem, your second most important problem becomes your most important problem. — Nicole Tedesco in a comment at PJM.

I think this childish quest to assign moral or ideological cowardice or weakness because of a different interpretation of the lay of the political landscape to be wholly unpersuasive. — Jonah Goldberg

This is a Presidential campaign, not a search for reason and perspective. — Tom Maguire

Too often, I think “work in progress” means “Help! I don’t have any clue on where I’m going.” — Warren Murphy