The "Big Stuff" that gets written about on this little blog is usually not humorous. The stuff recently posted under Seeking the Soul of China was excruciating, for readers and the guy who posted them. The "ugly things" my friend refers to in his email are those posts I know, because he wrote me about them too, and the anguish he felt at reading them and seeing the photos, but also, as he says here, about the ugliness in the world generally that is there for all to see, and hard to avoid even if we don't want to see. We, or at least I, must see those things. But other things too, the humorous, and the beautiful.
Since, as I've come to realize and admit, all things really do come back to China with me, getting my friend's email reminded me of Jonathan Spence's beautiful, moving beginning to The Search for Modern China which I included in the post below, which may be the last time I posted under "What a Wonderful World." I laughed at the quotes in my friend's email and responded with some of my own and the subject of the post below was to me and millions of others truly "miraculous" (which is not going to get me off on religious Big Stuff right now). Enjoy my friend's email and Susan Boyle.
http://publicoccurrenc.blogspot.com/search?q=What+a+Wonderful+World:+Susan+Boyle
These glorious insults are from an era before the English language changed to 4-letter words.
A Member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
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"He had delusions of adequacy."
Walter Kerr
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"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Winston Churchill
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"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow
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"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
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"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas
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Hi, Ben:
You may enjoy reading the attached quotes, for a change from what surrounds us
in this world. Whenever I see ugly things, I always try to remember "the world
is neither so good not so bad as we think it is." (Guy de Maupassant).
You may enjoy reading the attached quotes, for a change from what surrounds us
in this world. Whenever I see ugly things, I always try to remember "the world
is neither so good not so bad as we think it is." (Guy de Maupassant).
A Member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
=================================================
"He had delusions of adequacy."
Walter Kerr
===============================================
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Winston Churchill
===============================================
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow
=============================================
"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
==============================================
"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas
===============================================
