Il faut cultiver notre jardin

 Excerpted from Candide by Voltaire, ©1795:

"I was in hopes," said Pangloss, "that I should reason with you a little about causes and effects, about the best of possible worlds, the origin of evil, the nature of the soul, and the pre-established harmony."

At these words, the Dervish shut the door in their faces.

During this conversation, the news was spread that two Viziers and the Mufti had been strangled at Constantinople, and that several of their friends had been impaled. This catastrophe made a great noise for some hours. Pangloss, Candide, and Martin, returning to the little farm, saw a good old man taking the fresh air at his door under an orange bower. Pangloss, who was as inquisitive as he was argumentative, asked the old man what was the name of the strangled Mufti.

"I do not know," answered the worthy man, "and I have not known the name of any Mufti, nor of any Vizier. I am entirely ignorant of the event you mention; I presume in general that they who meddle with the administration of public affairs die sometimes miserably, and that they deserve it; but I never trouble my head about what is transacting at Constantinople; I content myself with sending there for sale the fruits of the garden which I cultivate."

Having said these words, he invited the strangers into his house; his two sons and two daughters presented them with several sorts of sherbet, which they made themselves, with Kaimak enriched with the candied-peel of citrons, with oranges, lemons, pine-apples, pistachio-nuts, and Mocha coffee unadulterated with the bad coffee of Batavia or the American islands. After which the two daughters of the honest Mussulman perfumed the strangers' beards.

"You must have a vast and magnificent estate," said Candide to the Turk.

"I have only twenty acres," replied the old man; "I and my children cultivate them; our labour preserves us from three great evils—weariness, vice, and want."

Candide, on his way home, made profound reflections on the old man's conversation.

"This honest Turk," said he to Pangloss and Martin, "seems to be in a situation far preferable to that of the six kings with whom we had the honour of supping."

"Grandeur," said Pangloss, "is extremely dangerous according to the testimony of philosophers. For, in short, Eglon, King of Moab, was assassinated by Ehud; Absalom was hung by his hair, and pierced with three darts; King Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, was killed by Baasa; King Ela by Zimri; Ahaziah by Jehu; Athaliah by Jehoiada; the Kings Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, were led into captivity. You know how perished Crœsus, Astyages, Darius, Dionysius of Syracuse, Pyrrhus, Perseus, Hannibal, Jugurtha, Ariovistus, Cæsar, Pompey, Nero, Otho, Vitellius, Domitian, Richard II. of England, Edward II., Henry VI., Richard III., Mary Stuart, Charles I., the three Henrys of France, the Emperor Henry IV.! You know——"

"I know also," said Candide, "that we must cultivate our garden."

"You are right," said Pangloss, "for when man was first placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ut operaretur eum, that he might cultivate it; which shows that man was not born to be idle."

"Let us work," said Martin, "without disputing; it is the only way to render life tolerable."

The whole little society entered into this laudable design, according to their different abilities. Their little plot of land produced plentiful crops. Cunegonde was, indeed, very ugly, but she became an excellent pastry cook; Paquette worked at embroidery; the old woman looked after the linen. They were all, not excepting Friar Giroflée, of some service or other; for he made a good joiner, and became a very honest man.

Pangloss sometimes said to Candide:

"There is a concatenation of events in this best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of a magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunegonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbed the Baron: if you had not lost all your sheep from the fine country of El Dorado: you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts."

"All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden."

I'm taking a break from politics.  It upsets me.  The bad guys always win, and-- despite what they teach you in school-- there's not a damn thing that can be done about it.

I'm off to cultivate my garden.

Candide by Voltaire is (of course) in the public domain, and can be read online or downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg HERE or Standard Ebooks HERE.

 

Wodehouse

P.G. Wodehouse’s books have such a timeless quality that I didn’t realize until today that quite a few of them have passed into the public domain.

You can read them online or download them for free from Project Gutenberg HERE, or Standard Ebooks HERE.

Attains Peace

 Three translations of The Bhagavad Gita 9:30-31:

Ranchor Prime:

Even one whose behavior is deeply harmful, but who serves me with faithful devotion, should be accepted as a worthy person of right intention.  This soul very soon becomes righteous and attains peace.

Sir Edwin Arnold:

If one of evil life turn in his thought
Straightly to Me, count him amidst the good;
He hath the high way chosen; he shall grow
Righteous ere long; he shall attain that peace
Which changes not.

Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in determination.  He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace.

I was reminded of this line when I saw yet another anti-John Lennon thread making the rounds, criticizing him for writing idealistic songs while living an imperfect life.  John was well aware of his flaws and was doing his best to live a better life, and that moves him ahead of most.

I've read several translations of the Bhagavad Gita.  The first I read was the 19th century translation by Sir Edwin Arnold.  It's in the public domain and can be downloaded or read online for free from Project Gutenberg, HERE.  It's rather flowery and ornamental.  I think he was trying to emulate the King James Bible.

Srila Prabhupada's version is very complete, analyzing the text line by line.  It's for more advanced scholars.

My favorite version is by Ranchor Prime, and it's the one I would recommend to someone reading the Gita for the first time.  It analyzes the text story by story, and that makes it very easy to follow and understand.  It's a great introduction.

Marcus

The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus seems to be having a moment.  Quotations are popping up all over the internet.

The book is in the  public domain, and you can read it online or download a copy for free from Project Gutenberg HERE, or from Standard Ebooks HERE.

Towels and Cats

 

That's my favorite dish towel.  It's pretty old, but there's something about the cat that I find very appealing.

And that reminded me of this:

 “Cheshire Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. “Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?”

“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Alice didn’t think that proved it at all; however, she went on “And how do you know that you’re mad?”

“To begin with,” said the Cat, “a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”

“I suppose so,” said Alice.

“Well, then,” the Cat went on, “you see, a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”

“I call it purring, not growling,” said Alice.

“Call it what you like,” said the Cat.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol is in the public domain and may be read online or downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg, HERE.

HP

 "Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane."  ~H.P. Lovecraft

Something tells me that H.P. Lovecraft would be a real load to have around.

His books are all in the public domain, and can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg, HERE.

I Was I Shall

In this excerpt from Autobiography of a Yogi,  Paramahansa Yogananda talks with Anandamyi Ma:

"Father, there is little to tell." She spread her graceful hands in a deprecatory gesture. "My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father, I was the same. As a little girl, I was the same. I grew into womanhood, but still I was the same. When the family in which I had been born made arrangements to have this body married, I was the same... And, Father, in front of you now, I am the same. Ever afterward, though the dance of creation change around me in the hall of eternity, I shall be the same."

Autobiography of a Yogi is in the public domain and may be downloaded or read online freely at Project Gutenberg.org.

A Christmas Carol

Everybody knows the story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol from the uncountable number of Christmas specials that flood the airwaves every year, but if you've never read the book for yourself, you're in for a treat.

It's in the public domain and is free to download or read online.  Project Gutenberg has the book available in multiple formats HERE, and Standard Ebooks has gorgeous editions available for Kindle or in Epub format, HERE.

 

Wonderful

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum probably isn't read very much these days, but it's a fun read and I recommend it.  It can easily be read in an afternoon.

There are a lot of things in the book that never made it to the movie.  The Winged Monkeys in particular are fleshed out and better explained- it turns out they're not really such bad guys after all.

It is in the public domain, and available for free download.  There is a nice edition available at Standard Ebooks HERE, and of course it's available at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

Whatever Remains

 

and that reminded me of this:

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”   ~Sherlock Holmes 

Pickles by Brian Crane is online HERE.

All of the Sherlock Holmes stories are in the public domain, and may be downloaded or read online for free at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

is/not;is/not

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”  ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 

There is a nice translation of Meditations available at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

"What a lovely thing a rose is!"

Excerpted from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, ©1894:

“Thank you. I have no doubt I can get details from Forbes. The authorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not always use them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!”

He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.

“There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,” said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. “It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”

Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between his fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in upon it.

“Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?” she asked, with a touch of asperity in her voice. 

This was an odd little aside that had nothing to do with the story.  My guess is that it's just something that was important to Mr. Doyle, so he sort of shoehorned it in.

All of Arthur Conan Doyle's books are in the public domain, and may be read online or downloaded freely from Project Gutenberg, HERE.

Enthusiasm

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about."  ~Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley's works are in the public domain and may be read online or downloaded freely from Project Gutenberg, HERE. 

Not In The Least

 Excerpted from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, ©1892:

"By the way, doctor, I shall want your co-operation.”

“I shall be delighted.”

“You don’t mind breaking the law?”

“Not in the least.”

“Nor running a chance of arrest?”

“Not in a good cause.”

“Oh, the cause is excellent!”

“Then I am your man.”

Somehow I always thought of Holmes and Watson as sticklers for following The Rules.  Apparently not.

Foundation

Excerpted from The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, ©1890:

“Winwood Reade is good upon the subject,” said Holmes. “He remarks that, while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician."

It's interesting, because that was the basis for Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, written more than fifty years later.

Arthur Conan Doyle's books are in the public domain and may be downloaded or read online freely at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

William Winwood Reade was a real historian whose books are also in the public domain  There are several sources for them listed at the bottom of his Wikipedia page, HERE.

Isaac Asimov's books are not in the public domain, but he died in 1992 and I have no moral qualms about pirating a book when it's not the author who gets the royalties.

Abhor

"I abhor the dull routine of existence.  I crave for mental exaltation."  ~Sherlock Holmes (source)

Never Entirely

“Women are never to be entirely trusted,—not the best of them.”  ~Sherlock Holmes

I'm re-reading the Sherlock Holmes stories, and this time through it's jarring how misogynistic and racist the stories are.  I'm only two stories in, and so far he has casually disparaged women, Blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Muslims, Hindus, and Mormons.

All of author Arthur Conan Doyle's books are in the public domain and may be downloaded or read online freely at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

Would you care to try it?

 I had forgotten that Sherlock Holmes was a dope fiend.  From The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, ©1890:

Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.

Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject, but there was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. His great powers, his masterly manner, and the experience which I had had of his many extraordinary qualities, all made me diffident and backward in crossing him.

Yet upon that afternoon, whether it was the Beaune which I had taken with my lunch, or the additional exasperation produced by the extreme deliberation of his manner, I suddenly felt that I could hold out no longer.

“Which is it to-day?” I asked,—“morphine or cocaine?”

He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. “It is cocaine,” he said,—“a seven-per-cent. solution. Would you care to try it?”

It's interesting to me that drug abuse is treated more like a moral failing than a criminal offense.  It's certainly an undesirable trait, but hardly worth getting too worked up over.

All of the Sherlock Holmes stories are in the public domain, and may be downloaded or read online freely at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

"For Country"

Knowlt Hoheimer
by Edgar Lee Masters

I was the first fruits of the battle of Missionary Ridge.
When I felt the bullet enter my heart
I wished I had stayed at home and gone to jail
For stealing the hogs of Curl Trenary,
Instead of running away and joining the army.
Rather a thousand times the county jail
Than to lie under this marble figure with wings,
And this granite pedestal bearing the words, “Pro Patria.”
What do they mean, anyway?

Spoon River Anthology is a wonderful book in which the fictional citizens of Spoon River are each described with a thumbnail of a poem.

It was published in 1914 so is now in the public domain.  It may be read online or downloaded freely from Project Gutenberg, HERE.

The Most Noise

 "I know your race. It is made up of sheep. It is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; but no matter, the crowd follows it."  ~Satan, in The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain, ©1916

I want him to be wrong.  But he isn't.

The Mysterious Stranger is in the public domain and may be read online or downloaded freely from Project Gutenberg, HERE.