The People's Choice part 2

“Most people want—and need—to be told that they are right and to know that other people agree with them. Thus, the parties could forego their propagandizing only at considerable risk…So far as numbers of voters are concerned, campaign propaganda results not so much in gaining new adherents as in preventing the loss of voters already favorably inclined.”

Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet. The People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign

Drowned Hopes part 2

"I think you can't blow up the dam, Tom," Dortmunder said. "I think you can't drown a whole lot of people--hundreds and hundreds of people--in their beds, or in anybody's beds, for seven hundred thousand dollars."

"Three hundred fifty thousand," Tom corrected. "Half of it is yours, Al. Yours and whoever else you bring in on the caper."

Dortmunder looked frankly at his old cellmate. "You'd really do that, Tom? You'd kill hundreds and hundreds of people for three hundred fifty thousand dollars?"

"I'd kill them at a dollar apiece," Tom told him, "if it meant I could get outta this part of the world and get down to Mexico and move into my goddamn golden years of retirement."

Dortmunder said, "Tom, maybe you were inside too long. You can't do things like that, you know. You can't go around killing hundreds and hundreds of people just like snapping your fingers."

"It isn't just like snapping my fingers, Al," Tom said. "That's the problem. If it was like snapping my fingers, I'd go do it myself and keep the whole seven hundred."

Donald Westlake, Drowned Hopes

Drowned Hopes part 1

"Maybe so," Tom said, looking out the windshield, watching the road unwind toward them out of the woods. "Or maybe it's concealed rage," he said. "One time, inside, a shrink took a whack at me, and he told me I had a lot of concealed rage, so maybe that's some of it, coming out in disguised form."

Dortmunder, surprised, gave him a look. "You got concealed rage?" he asked. "On top of all the rage you show, you got more?"

Donald Westlake, Drowned Hopes

The People's Choice part 1

“Political campaigns are important primarily because they activate latent predispositions.”

Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet. The People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign.

Modern English Usage part 3

“meticulous. What is the strange charm that makes this wicked word irresistible to the British journalist ? does he like its length ? does he pity its isolation (for it has no kindred in England) ? can a Latin scholar like him not get meticulosus out of his head ? can so accomplished a Frenchman never be sure whether méticuleux or m. is the word he knows so well ? or what is it ? At any rate, he must have the word always with him, however unsuitable the surroundings.”

H.W. Fowler, Modern English Usage

Modern English Usage part 2

“Writers who are on the defensive apologize for change & mixture of metaphors as though one was as bad as the other ; the two things are in fact entirely different ; a man may change his metaphors as often as he likes ; it is for him to judge whether the result will or will not be unpleasantly florid ; but he should not ask our leave to do it ; if the result is bad, his apology will not mend matters, & if it is not bad no apology was called for. On the other hand, to mix metaphors, if the mixture is real, is an offence that should not have been apologized for, but avoided.”

H.W. Fowler, Modern English Usage

Modern English Usage part 1

“BARBARISMS is a hard word to fling about, apt to wound feelings, though it may break no bones ; perhaps it would be better abstained from ; but so too would the barbarisms themselves...That barbarisms should exist is a pity ; to expend much energy on denouncing them is a waste ; to create them is a grave misdemeanour ; & the greater the need of the word that is made, the greater its maker’s guilt if he miscreates it.”

H.W. Fowler, Modern English Usage

The Yellow Fairy Book part 9

“They entered the castle and walked through twelve splendid halls, all made of gold and diamonds. In the twelfth room they found the Mother Dragon seated on a diamond throne. She was the ugliest woman under the sun, and, added to it all, she had three heads.”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Yellow Fairy Book part 8

“Beloved Prince and son-in-law, if you love me, let your anger be turned to grace—forgive my daughter, and restore her to your heart and favour.”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Yellow Fairy Book part 7

“Listen to me before you ride any further; let me tell you that this wood hides in its depths a countless number of the fiercest tigers, hyenas, wolves, bears, and snakes, and all sorts of other monsters. If I were to cut you and your horse up into tiny morsels and throw them to the beasts, there wouldn’t be one bit for each hundred of them.”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Yellow Fairy Book part 6

“One day, when he was away hunting, the woman fell ill, and in a few days she died. Her husband grieved bitterly, and buried her in the house where she had passed her life; but as the time went on he felt so lonely without her that he made a wooden doll about her height and size for company, and dressed it in her clothes.”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Conduct of Inquiry part 1

“The child asks the magician to “do it again”, not to subject him to scientific test, but to enjoy once more the encounter with the miraculous.”

Abraham Kaplan, The Conduct of Inquiry

Talking About Politics part 1

“The identities that people seem to rely on…are those that fill two opposing needs—the need for affiliation and the need to differentiate oneself from others.”

Katherine Cramer Walsh, Talking About Politics

The Yellow Fairy Book part 4

“Being the youngest, he was naturally his mother’s favourite; but this did not blind her to his weaknesses, and she foresaw that some day he would suffer much pain through falling in love. So she thought the best thing she could do was to bring him up with a horror of women…”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Yellow Fairy Book part 3

“Then Ferko crawled to the edge of the lake and dipped his limbs in the water. No sooner had he done so than his legs felt as sound and strong as they had been before, and Ferko thanked the kind fate that had led him to the hill where he had overheard the ravens’ conversation.”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Yellow Fairy Book part 2

“As to the other King, he was really fond of his wife, Queen Constance, but he often grieved her by his thoughtless ways, and in order to punish him for his carelessness, the fairies caused her to die quite suddenly.”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Yellow Fairy Book part 1

“The Hunter was sorry for the poor old woman, and he felt in his pocket and gave her all he could spare…He was going on then, but the old woman stopped him and said...‘I will give you a present…in a short time you will come to a tree on which sit nine birds…shoot in the middle of them…one of the birds will be hit and will drop down dead…Take the heart out of the dead bird and swallow it whole, and early every morning when you get up you will find a gold piece under your pillow.’ ”

Andrew Lang, ed., The Yellow Fairy Book

The Craft of Political Research

“To the extent that our measures are not valid, what we do with them is irrelevant.”

W. Phillips Shively, The Craft of Political Research

Calde of the Long Sun part 3

“I came blind from the womb, Auk, and because of it I am incapable of formulating a visual image for you. Nor can I show you the Holy Hues, which are my brother’s and my sisters’ thoughts before they have coalesced.”

Gene Wolfe, Caldé of the Long Sun

Calde of the Long Sun part 2

“My life to you, Outsider, if you will forgive this man and this woman whom we burn today.”

Gene Wolfe, Caldé of the Long Sun

Calde of the Long Sun part 1

“I have searched my conscience, Outsider, to discover that in which I have displeased you. I find this…”

Gene Wolfe, Caldé of the Long Sun

Politics as Symbolic Action part 4

“In a caste system assumed by all its participants to be divinely sanctioned, subordination and unequal benefits mean that the world is as it should be; in a polity with a norm of social equality the same facts come to mean deprivation and an incentive to resistance.”

Murray Edelman, Politics as Symbolic Action

Politics as Symbolic Action part 3

“Political actions chiefly arouse or satisfy people not by granting or withholding their stable substantive demands, but rather by changing the demands and the expectations.”

Murray Edelman, Politics as Symbolic Action

Politics as Symbolic Action part 2

“Government affects behavior chiefly by shaping the cognitions of large numbers of people in ambiguous situations. It helps create their beliefs about what is proper; their perceptions of what is fact; and their expectations of what is to come.”

Murray Edelman, Politics as Symbolic Action

Politics as Symbolic Action part 1

“The significant “outputs” of political activities are not particular public policies labeled as political goals, but rather the creation of political followings and supports: i.e., the evocation of arousal or quiescence in mass publics.”

Murray Edelman, Politics as Symbolic Action

Dominic part 4

“In a water-polo game one day, the goslings played rings around him, and Dominic was abashed at being bested by such small creatures. But he said to himself: ‘If water polo was played on land, I could beat them.’”

William Steig, Dominic

Dominic part 3

“Manfred Lyon was disappointed to hear of the prison break, but he was satisfied that his painting had served the cause of justice, and he felt free to boast about it now and then.”

William Steig, Dominic

Dominic part 2

“Dominic felt glad to be on the road again. He strolled along, watching the day convert to darkness and reviewing the events of the previous night…Fighting the bad ones in the world was a necessary and gratifying experience. Being happy among the good ones was, of course, even more gratifying. But one could not be happy among the good ones unless one fought the bad ones.”

William Steig, Dominic

Dominic part 1

“Tell me this, am I headed in the direction of Grandville, where Barney Swain and Pearl Sweeney will be celebrating their wedding?”

“You’ve been walking in every possible direction—at times you must have been headed that way,” said Dominic.

William Steig, Dominic