One Thing & Another

Word for the Wise

Pinguid (PING-wid) – fat and oily. Here’s a lovely sentence from The Bunsby Papers by John Brougham that includes it alliteratively: “Peter was pinguid, plump, and plethoric – she was thin to attenuation.”

Did You Know… ?

If you add up all the numbers from 1 to 100 consecutively, the total is 5050. Keep that in mind. You never know when it will come up in conversation.

 

From My “Work-in-Progress” Basket

Principles of Wealth: #5 of 61

Wealth and income inequality are realities that exist in every economy – even those committed in principle to the distribution of wealth.

Many people today, believing that equality is an intrinsic and achievable good, seek to flatten financial inequalities through government programs and social action. A smaller group, sympathetic to the notion of equality but less trusting of governmental solutions, seek to create substantial personal wealth and then distribute some of that to others. Still others are dubious that financial inequality is intrinsically good and practically achievable. And a final group is sure that equality is intrinsically bad and can only be partially achieved and that only by severe repression.

My view is that human nature is innately opposed to equality. You can, by force, make a community financially equal for a moment in time. But an hour later, individuals within that community will get to work recreating inequality. Some will seek to have more. Some will be satisfied with what they have. And some will seek to have less.

This is the fundamental reason why history has shown us that the goal of achieving financial equality has never been achieved or even attempted.

From my book How to Speak Intelligently About Everything That Matters https://smile.amazon.com/Speak-Intelligently-About-Everything-Matters

Shakespeare is said to have contributed (by far) more words to the English language than any other person in history. He has also contributed some of the best loved and most often repeated quotations. Consider the following:

“All that glisters is not gold.” (The Merchant of Venice)

“Something wicked this way comes.” (Macbeth)

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” (Hamlet)

“It was Greek to me.” (Julius Caesar)

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” (Henry VI, Part II)

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” (Twelfth Night)

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” (Henry VI, Part II)

“I smell a rat…” (Hamlet)

Look at This…

Racing Through Edinburgh