Category: Best Line of the Day

Clever turns of phrase, special splashes of wit, provocative insight — all in a sentence or two.

Are we there yet?

NewMexiKen is taking the day off. Even so, if I see things I think you should read, I’ll list them here.

You can begin with Tanya at Dinner without Crayons.

Karen went Walking On The Moon, a must read. Views like that — and chiles — are why I stay a New Mexican, Karen.

As The King’s Speech moves toward its coronation by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on the 27th, you might want to read The King’s Speech: good movie, very bad history by Christopher Hitchens.

And a best line from Krugman:

“[A]s far as right-wing politicians are concerned: for the most part they know that Obama was born here, that he isn’t a socialist, that there are no death panels, and so on, but feel compelled to pretend to be crazy as a career move.”

Last night after finishing Iris Chang’s important The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, I read Sarah Vowell’s Radio On: A Listener’s Diary. As the subtitle implies, Vowell annotated her radio listening — for a year (1995). It’s dated, and not equal to her more recent work, but it has its moments. Today I am into Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne. I read the free Kindle sample of this book in January and have been eager to read the whole book but wanted a dead tree edition. UPS delivered it last Friday, the day after I ordered it, but to the vacant house across the street. The painter working at the house over the weekend took it inside — go figure — but fortunately the owner dropped by yesterday and had sense enough to walk it across the street.

Best line of the day

“Termites don’t team with Orkin.”

Michael Norris, analyst for Simba Information, in news story about Borders’ bankruptcy. He is referring to Borders decision to contract it’s electronic sales to Amazon in 2001.

Borders is named for Tom and Louis Borders, brothers who started selling used books in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1971. Kmart bought the company in 1992, united it with Waldenbooks, then spun it off as a separate company in 1995.

The Wall Street Journal Online has a sortable list of the stores being closed (including one in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe).

Man, one of my favorite pastimes used to be to browse Borders or Tower Records.

Best line of the day

“But the most important thing, I think, is that when you’ve found a partner, you should take the time to kiss them often. We should all be kissing more. For the important relationships in our lives, it matters tremendously.”

Kissing scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum quoted in an interview with The Book Bench: Ask an Academic, Valentine’s Edition: The Kiss : The New Yorker.

Best line of the day

“She seemed determined to conjure a display so stunning it would propel Plutarch to Shakespearean heights, as it would elicit from Shakespeare his richest poetry. And she succeeded. In the annals of indelible entrances—the wooden horse into Troy; Christ into Jerusalem; Benjamin Franklin into Philadelphia; Henry IV, Charles Lindbergh, Charles DeGaulle, into Paris; Howard Carter into King Tut’s tomb; the Beatles onto Ed Sullivan’s stage—Cleopatra’s alone lifts off the page in iridescent color, amid inexhaustible, expensive clouds of incense, a sensational, simultaneous assault on every sense.”

From Stacy Schiff’s fascinating biography of Cleopatra. She is describing the queen of Egypt’s arrival at Tarsus in the late summer of 41 B.C. to meet Mark Antony.

As Plutarch told the story 1900 years ago:

She had faith in her own attractions, which, having formerly recommended her to Caesar and the young Pompey, she did not doubt might prove yet more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a girl, young, and ignorant of the world, but she was to meet Antony in the time of life when women’s beauty is most splendid, and their intellects are in full maturity. She made great preparations for her journey, of money, gifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her own magic arts and charms.

…she came sailing up the river Cydnus in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes.

…perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part running out of the city to see the sight. The market place was quite emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal; while the word went .through all the multitude, that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus for the common good of Asia.

On her arrival, Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should come to her; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of lights; for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares, and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has seldom been equaled for beauty.

It has been estimated that in modern terms, Cleopatra’s wealth was around $100 billion. She was 27 when she met Mark Antony. He was 42.

Best line of the day

CINCINNATI … – An Ohio man today claimed that he had heard of the musical performer Esperanza Spalding, who won the Best Newcomer award at the Grammys last night.

Tracy Klugian, 24, became the first person in the United States to say he had heard of the musical artist, besides Ms. Spalding’s family and, presumably, Ms. Spalding herself.

There’s more on this story from the Borowitz Report.

Best line of the day

[Bill] Russell is often asked about his reaction to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he will receive from President Obama on Tuesday, as will former President George H. W. Bush, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Stan Musial and 11 others.

Is this the greatest personal honor in his life?

“A close second,” Russell replied.

Umm, what’s first? The tentativeness of the question elicited the familiar whooping roar of laughter occasionally emitted by this publicly serious man.

“When he was about 77, my father and I were talking,” Russell answered. “And he said: ‘You know, you’re all grown up now, and I want to tell you something. You know, I am very proud of the way you turned out as my son, and I’m proud of you as a father.’ 

As told by George Vecsey, New York Times

Best line of the day

However, it’s one thing to be a would-be adulterer and another to be an incredibly stupid would-be adulterer. In his re-election campaign, Lee bragged about his work providing students with instruction on the hazards of having personal conversations on the Internet. Yet he was working under the assumption that the best way to conduct an extramarital social life is to pretend to be a different person online, while using one’s real name and photograph.

Nobody wants to be represented by a person who has to be reminded of the existence of Google.

Gail Collins

Best line of the day

“[S]ometimes it seems like my own sex life is going the way of my gym membership: less frequently used as time goes by, with sessions that are hard on the knees and don’t last nearly as long as I intended.”

The Chart – CNN.com Blogs

The blog recommends that for Valentines Day, “Skip the fancy meal and go straight to the sex!” Among the tips:

2. Before we go head off to work, I’ll give my wife a 30-second hug. Sounds like a long time, but studies have shown that hugging for 20 to 30 seconds boosts levels of oxytocin, the feel-good “cuddle hormone” that helps bring couples closer.

3. If we speak during the day, I’ll make an effort to stay positive. Experts believe that the happiest couples have five positive interactions (like cuddling, kissing, or having upbeat conversations) for every one negative interaction (such as bickering).

Best line of the day

“The delusions of dictators are never more poignant—or more dangerous—than when they are in their death throes. To watch Hosni Mubarak today in his late-night speech in Cairo, as he used every means of rhetorical deflection to delay his inevitable end, was to watch a man so deluded, so deaf to the demands of history, that he was incapable of hearing an entire people screaming in his ear.”

David Remnick : The New Yorker beginning a brief commentary.

Don’t Worry. Be Happy.

Gail Collins thinks we have enough to worry about, so we should quit worrying about stuff like this. (You really should just go read her whole column.)

In South Dakota, we recently learned that Representative Hal Wick, a Republican of Sioux Falls, dropped a bill into the hopper that would require every adult in the state to own a gun. In Georgia, Representative Bobby Franklin, a Republican of Marietta, introduced legislation that would eliminate the requirement that Georgia drivers have licenses, arguing that he was tired of “agents of the state demanding your papers.”

And, people, you do not need to worry about it! These bills are not going to pass. Besides, if we worried about every nutsy idea tossed around in state legislatures, we would never have adequate time to devote to work, family and the fate of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man.”

About 10 percent of a state legislature is composed of people who are totally loony. This is in a good state. It’s possible that in yours, the proportion is much, much higher. That is probably something to worry about, but not today.

The point is, they only introduce these bills to get your attention. Resist. Although Representative Franklin is not making it easy, having also proposed that suburbanites be permitted to keep cows and other farm animals in their yards and that the state be required to pay all of its debts in gold or silver.

Hmm line of the day

“Joining a group that meets just once a month produces the same increase in happiness as doubling your income.”

David Brooks in a fascinating article, What the science of human nature can teach us, from the January 17th New Yorker.

Though I thought he started off slowly — where are we going with this? — it’s a fascinating essay about you and me and everybody else.

I urge you to take the time to read and enjoy it. I could have posted another dozen remarkable lines.

Thanks to Rich for the pointer.

Silliest line of the day

“[T]hose who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.”

How Meditation May Change the Brain – NYTimes.com

I can’t remember the last time I meditated and I don’t understand the people who do meditate. Life is too busy. Who has time for that shit?

Best lines of the day

As an aging baby boomer, I remember the 1970s; and one of the things I remember is that it was the era of unfortunate acronyms. Nixon had the Committee to Re-Elect the President, which everyone, and I mean everyone, referred to as CREEP. Ford had the Council on Wage and Price Stability, which everyone referred to as COWPS, pronounced phonetically.

Since then, politicians have acquired consultants, who create names that are embarrassing, but in a different way.

But as many people have pointed out, the apparent new Obama slogan — Win The Future — has some of the old problem.

Paul Krugman