Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance", Essays: First Series, 1841

 A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance", Essays: First Series, 1841

Book First Lines

 "On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach."

Tender is The Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1933

"In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul."

Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965

“When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventyifirst birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”

The Fellowship of The Ring, Tolkien, 1954

"THE SNOW in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation."

The Secret History, Donna Tartt, 1992

"The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended."

2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clark  1968

Edgar Allan Poe, "Ligeia" 1838

"Buried in studies of a nature more than all else adapted to deaden impressions of the outward world..."

Edgar Allan Poe, "Ligeia" 1838

Shakespeare quotes

"Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,

And banish hence these abject lowly dreams"

--Taming of the Shrew Induction II.13

"The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye." -- Richard II II.ii

the worship of revenge

"Til I have set a glory to this hand

By giving it the worship of revenge"

King John IV.iii

chess axioms

If you are behind in material, trade pawns, not pieces. If you are ahead in material, trade pieces, not pawns.

when attacked on the wing, open the center. 

a flank attack is best met by a reaction in the center. 

"Chess, like love and music, has the ability to make man happy." -- Tarrasch

the longer it takes to win, the more difficult it is to win.

"As a rule, you should try to occupy a blockading square with a piece." - Karpov

if the tactics aren't working out, switch the move order. 

For a plan: ask yourself what you would do if you had two or three moves in a row.

Make your opponent make the captures in your favor.

Throw out the move, but not the idea.

Patzer sees a check, patzer plays a check.

When behind in space, trade pieces.

If your opponent's pieces are working better than your own, trade them off.

Fixed or blockaded pawns become stationary targets.

"...a winning position can and has to be improved and perfected before material is won and it becomes a technical win." --Seirawan

Try to create play on the side of the board on which you have the advantage.

When faced with e choice of protecting a passed pawn by a rook (passive role) or sacrificing the pawn to make more active use of the rook, after careful consideration, sac the pawn.

The rook belongs behind the passed pawn, yours or the opponent's. --Tarrasch

In isolated pawn positions, trading pieces benefits the player who is facing the isolated pawn.

The player who has more space tries to keep pieces on the board.

Open positions favor the player who is better developed.

Invite all your pieces to the party!

Should I participate in social media?

Should I participate in social media? Should I engage with it, spend my time on it, pay attention to it? What is it? The gibbering of millions of [REDACTED__1123ho], extorting me with their dumb ideas. Now I am one of these [REDACTED__ax58433] as well, begging for attention, spewing forth nonsense, unwelcome and unasked, unto an apathetic non-audience of imaginary people. Yet here I am, and here it is, a collection of half-wit words, tapped carefully on a keyboard, a non-message, a scream into the void. [REDACTED__55321x3] Should I participate in social media?

Of course. And here I am. This thing unposted will be cut. It will then be pasted! To multiple platforms! A platform, like the trapeze platform. I am ready to do my tricks. Now can I say something outlandish? Something controversial and new? Of course not. For if an infinity of monkeys on an infinity of typewriters can accidentally reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare word-for-word, then with the Internet, everything has been said, whether it should have been said or no.

These are the words that I have typed. If you are reading this, I have participated in social media. Should I participate in social media? 

This was a writing exercise. Should I participate in social media?