All posts by Phil

Is it from the Bible of Shakespeare (3)?

Here’s the third round of our quiz. Which of the following statements or quotations are from the Bible (King James Version) and which are from Shakespeare’s plays?

1. “In much wisdom is much grief.”

2. “The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape.”

3. “Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.”

4. “You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.”

5. “Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

6. “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty.”

7. “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.”

8. Dreams “are the children of an idle brain.”

9. “A woman moved is like a fountain troubled.”

10. “God’s above all; and there be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved.”

Bonus: We all know you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, but does that comparison come from the Bible, Shakespeare, or somewhere else? Continue reading Is it from the Bible of Shakespeare (3)?

About the C.S. Lewis Lecture Last Night

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has an article about last night’s speaker at the C.S. Lewis Lecture. Dr. Charles Lippy addressed the subject of Christianity is a changing world. Lippy said our society has changed since C.S. Lewis made his case in Mere Christianity. For example, “the enemies” of England and the West “were referred to as ‘godless Communists.'” Now the godless are leading some of our churches.

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Nice Cover

I thought Susan Wise Bauer was working on an ancient history series, but somehow she squeezed in a modern history book called, The Art of the Public Grovel. Her publisher sent her an image of the cover. Eye-catching. Who is man? I know I’ve seen him somewhere recently.

How Can You Read That?

Harrison Scott Key writes about relationships with people who read books you can’t stand. He says, “In a pluralist culture, I suppose your Amazon Wish List is as much a cultural signifier as anything else. I somehow managed to marry a woman who not only reads books that I loathe, but who reads books that I find hard categorizing as ‘books.'”

I’m fairly easy-going about this, but then I haven’t been tested on this much. I don’t really read books anyway. I just read about them. . . .

‘Genuinely Democratic Discourse’

Some are worried that the blogosphere will simply promote the lower common denominator to the exclusion of serious journalism or commentary. Alisa Harris quotes Eric Alterman saying, “And so we are about to enter a fractured, chaotic world of news, characterized by superior community conversation but a decidedly diminished level of first-rate journalism.”

Commenter Bob Buckles notes, “When a cow is milked, the cream rises to the top. So to, the best of internet ‘journalism’ will be the stuff that is aid attention to, unlike the professional ‘journalism’ of Dan Rather.” Naturally.

Is it from the Bible or Shakespeare?

Here’s the second round of our quiz. I may be able to keep this up all week. Which of the following statements or quotations are from the Bible (King James Version) and which are from Shakespeare’s plays?

1. “The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks; they are all fire and every one doth shine.”

2. “The light of the body is the eye”

3. “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”

4. “There is no new thing under the sun.”

5. Life “is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

6. “My life I never held but as a pawn to wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it”

7. “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.’”

8. “Fears and scruples shake us; in the great hand of God I stand.”

9. “We would not seek a battle as we are; nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it.”

10. “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.”

Bonus: Does the saying, “the game’s afoot,” originate in the Bible, Shakespeare, or elsewhere?

Continue reading Is it from the Bible or Shakespeare?

Probably Global Warming’s Fault

Space radiation could be too high a fence to vault on our way to Mars. Charles Q. Choi writes, “The magnetic field of Earth protects humanity from radiation in space that can damage or kill cells. Once beyond this shield, people become far more vulnerable.”

They’ll probably figure it out in a several years.

Mommy, Are They Going to Stop Singing Now?

Terry Teachout is talking about opera.

Rarely, though, has a slogan puzzled me more than the one I saw on a Baltimore billboard a couple of weeks ago. It’s the motto of the Baltimore Opera Company: Opera. It’s better than you think. It has to be. I’m not averse on principle to self-deprecation, but why on earth does the BOC think that running down opera will induce people to change their minds about it?