Scholarly thought

"Pascal famously observed that "[m]ost of our miseries do stem from the fact that we have lost sight of the importance of being silent, for even a short period, every day of our lives." As I continue along my academic path, Pascal's observation becomes ever more true. How often is it that any of us can obtain the interior quietude that is required for serious thinking and true scholarship?"

-Laura Appleman in a post on concurringopinions.com

Tick?

I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.
- James Thurber