Quarantined in October

[dayonfire]

I had a disease last fall. It took that month to quarantine it. I tried to kill it entirely, but I know its stronger than that.

October 2005I have a disease today, THE disease in fact that I stave off daily only through exhausting vigilance. The disease proper is inextricably bound with its medicine. I'm sure description can only be approached

Comments

[phlegming]

I really enjoyed this, especially in the context of what I've said recently about modern American scholastic poetry. I must say, though, old boy, this sounds like a different Michael Gause than the one I usually read. Maybe I don't know you that well. Maybe, we don't know ourselves very well at all. Could that be a symptom of the disease? Or the cause? Inscribed in stone at the base of the temple to Apollo at Delphi, were the words: "Know thyself". Maybe they had something there.

The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be. -- Socrates

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -- Aristotle

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there. -- Marcus Aurelius

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
-- Carl Jung

When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves. -- Confucius

The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one's self. -- Nietzsche

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. -- Tao Te Ching

Still I am learning. -- Michelangelo, on his death bed

When in doubt, read the manual. -- Charles Brittain Fleming