Monday, October 01, 2018

The Internet is an Ocean of Unsourced Quotations

Today I was asked for the source of 

That which is so universal as Death, must be a blessing.

Several sites claimed Friedrich Schiller said it (replacing "blessing" with "benefit'), and maybe he did say something like that in German.  I did a lot of searches in various places just using "universal as death."  It turns out Jonathan Swift said something similar: "It is impossible that any thing so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind."

  • Thoughts on Religion (1765), published posthumously


In 1765 Schiller was only 6 years old. Even if he read Swift and came up with a shorter version, Swift had the idea first! See: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Friedrich_Schiller


The Woodlawn Cemetary in Palm Beach, FL has 

"That which is so universal as Death, must be a blessing" inscribed on its gate, and as of 2006 the inscription was unsourced

http://historicpalmbeach.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2006/02/01/inscriptions-origin-still-a-mystery/



Friday, January 06, 2017

Friday, March 04, 2016

Friday, February 19, 2016

Fairy Tale Friday

This week's collection is Folk Tales from Tibet, with Illustrations by a Tibetan Artist and Some Verses from Tibetan Love-Songs, collected and translated by Capt. W.F. O'Connor.
I recommend The Story of Room Bacha and Baki.  It has themes from the story The Giant Who Had No Heart in his Body.

Illustration from the book.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Thursday, February 04, 2016

Fairy Tale Friday--The Heavenly Messengers

From Old-World Japan: Legends Of the Land of the Gods retold by Frank Rinde, with illustrations by T.H. Robinson, enjoy The Heavenly Messengers, in which the gods try and try again to bring order to the Earth.


Friday, January 29, 2016

Fairy Tale Friday

Enjoy Ancient Tide Lore and Tales of the Sea, From the Two Ends of the World, also, Some Highly Curious Ancient and Legendary Little-Known East Coast Maori Stories collected and translated by William Colenso.